We'll give you a few hints: flour and water were the primary ingredients, we employed this technique while making them, and they eat a lot of these in Paris. Oops, did we give too much away?
If you guessed "baguettes" you'd be 100% correct! Of course, the better question is probably "WHY?"
Along with many of you, I've been trying to cut back on my use of plastic wrap lately. When my dad (an awesome baker) was visiting last weekend, he suggested putting shaped loaves of bread inside plastic bags to rise instead of covering them with plastic.
Not only can you re-use the same plastic bags again and again, but the bags work well to create a draft-free and humid environment for the loaves. You can also billow the bags around the loaves so that the dough doesn't stick to the plastic as it rises - a frequent problem of ours with plastic wrap.
It's easy too! All we did was slide two plastic bags around either end of our baguette pan and we were good to go. With a loaf pan, you can just use one plastic bag and then loosely knot the handles together, or you could just invert the plastic bag over the pan. You can do the same for a round "boule" loaf.
I think this is a pretty nifty trick and will be using it all the time in the future. Thanks, Dad!
Related: Tip: Freeze Bread Remainders
(Images: Emma Christensen)
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Great tip. I wonder if there are any type of toxins in these types of bags to cause concern.
See the video I just posted in the other thread. I don't use anything now that I started rising my bread in a pre-heated but switched off oven. Works like a charm. Before discovering that method I used to just use tea towels. Also worked well.
I use all cotton towels also--I guess that is what my grandmother used, so it has never even occured to me to use plastic.
my grandmother uses plastic bags for everything. I don't even think that she buys plastic wrap.
@alexis: i've heard that the inks used to print plastic bags can be toxic, so you'd have to be careful not to use them inside out. it would also probably be a good idea to give them a light wash before use.
Is the composition of the plastic bags food grade? I think they use a different type of polymer for the kitchen wraps than they do for the grocery bags and have more room for toxic compounds. I agree with the previous posts...a kitchen tea cloth or just leaving them to rise in a moist oven is the safest.
Now butter comes in waxed paper, bread used to come in it as well. My grandmother carefully cleaned, folded and saved all these things... and foil, and rubber bands, and string.... She was a nut. When she died we carried a couple of truckloads of these materials to the landfill.
I always use a moist warm kitchen cloth. It works great. For some reason, using an old plastic bag is icky to me.
I've heard supermarket plastic bags are unsafe and should only be used -- if at all -- for carrying things home from the market. They shouldn't be used for storage or anything else for that matter. Think it's the KIND of plastic used. These bags would have a "bad" number stamped on the bottom if they had bottoms. Could be BS, but better safe than sorry.
I usually let my bread dough rise in a glass bowl, cover it with a glass pot lid and stick it in the (off) microwave overnight.
I also use a damp kitchen towel. Works for me!
In the oven with a mug of hot water works GREAT for this.
I agree, you don't need the plastic at all. I use a damp towel and always have. Same for pie crust (although be sure to use a flour-sack type, not terry cloth).