With an eye on the food allergy community as a unique group of consumers since 2008, we're on a quest to find and share ways to continue enjoying the good things in life.


18 January 2011

An Exercise in Baguette Baking

My 7 year old has been asking to try the French bread he sees at the supermarket for at least a year now. Try to find a baguette without the "made in a facility...with peanuts and tree nuts" warning--it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack. 

I finally decided it was time to try my hand at baking a baguette. A friend of mine gave me a recipe. I bought the bread flour, the yeast and corn meal and set aside today to undertake this baking experiment. It took much longer than I really expected--in total, it took about seven hours, on and off. I succeeded in producing 3 nut-free, peanut-free baguettes in my nut-free, peanut-free kitchen in my nut-free peanut-free house. 

I need to learn a few things about slapping and rolling bread dough, because two of the baguettes started to unroll themselves while baking! The third, however, looked close to the way I think baguettes look. The taste was not bad. I have to be honest, I have tasted better baguettes. Still, I was proud of my efforts. I am convinced I can learn to produce any food my son wants to eat, safely. It just might take a few tries!

What did my seven-year old think? Well, I guess I did something right. He happily ate almost an entire baguette by himself. 

Gee, I hope I haven't set a precedent....!


5 comments:

Lindsay said...

Good job! :)

Anonymous said...

Nice! There is nothing better than providing something delicious for your child than the feeling the effects of their peanut allergy . . . and isn't the smell of baking bread fantastic?! I love the process of making bread by hand, but making a loaf every other day is too time consuming for me. My husband and I invested in a good bread machine. Now we can have the joy of eating fresh bread while saving me a lot of time!

Libby said...

Hey, you're back! I once made Julia Child's French bread recipe as a Daring Bakers challenge, so I know what you went through!

Awesome job on the bread!

Colette said...

Brave you! Way to go!

Jen E. said...

It looks great!