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"Tout fait Maison" probably is the closest way to express how I like to live my life. I have always love making everything from scratch in my own kitchen since I was a little girl growing up in Hong Kong. Unfortunately kitchens in Hong Kong are much smaller and people do not always have the "real" oven there but only the toaster type oven. Therefore, things did not always turn out in my Hong Kong kitchen until I get my real kitchen here. To me, baking and working with dairy products are like doing science experiments. I get extremely excited when I see that my cheese is forming the way it should be or my bread is rising properly. When my end products come out perfectly, that is probably what I strive for. So I would like to share my secrets with all my friends who enjoy baking and enjoy kitchen experiments as much as I do. I have been a French trained aritsan chocolatier for the last 8 years and I still feel like there are so much to learn in the chocolate and pastry field. Having traveled the world and trained in two of the most amazing schools in France (Valrhona Chocolates and Lenotre),my goal is to spread my joy of baking to all of you.

Friday, March 30, 2012

Mini Baguettes

Baguettes are one of my favorite bread as they remind me of the streets of France and the crunchiness of the crust and these are the mini version of the classic and great with butter and jam or butter drizzle with honey!

These are great if you have a bread machine and let the machine do all the work for the dough and you just have to get the dough out and shape them.

Yield: 4 mini baguettes

2/3 cup plus about 1 Tbsp of water
1 tsp. salt (I prefer sea salt or Kosher salt)
1 3/4 cups bread flour
1 tsp. active dry yeast

Add all ingredient into either the bread machine and put it on dough setting for your machine and if you are not using a bread maker, then mix the dough by hand and knead until the dough is elastic cover and let rest for an hour until the size is doubled. Punch the dough down and knead for another 5 mins and cover and let rest for a second rise about another 45 mins.

Take the dough out of the bread machine or from the bowl if not using the machine

Preheat oven to 445 degree F

Cut the dough in 4 equal pieces


Shape each into a baguettes

Use a bread blade or sharp knives slid the top of the baguettes


Brush baguettes with water and put the seam side down on the baking sheet

Bake baguettes at 445 degree for 7-10 mins, then turn down the oven to 425 degrees and bake for another 5-7 mins until desired crust color


To test if baguettes are done, take one baguette out and knock on it, it should sound hollow

If you are adding topping, do that after you brush water on the baguettes

Suggested toppings:  Cheese, poppyseed, toasted sesame, dry herbs, oat, etc.

6 comments:

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  2. Your photos are just gorgeous...and the dough looks perfect!! You are so good at this blogging thing Ivy!! I love how you shape the baguettes!! With the pointy ends!! WOW!!

    Your top photo is brilliant btw...

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    1. Thank you so much for the compliment and I tried to make it so that people who do not have my machine can still make them =)

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  3. Again, I wish we still lived in neighboring cities! Photos are beautiful and your simple instructions make it seem do-able!

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