When I first started selling bread at the City Market back in 2010, I used to make a lot of baguettes. At the time I thought they were pretty great! Looking back though, I have a good chuckle because they weren't great at all. They were very light in color, slightly flat, with no crispy crust in sight, and obviously telling that I was an amateur at baking. But I think what I lacked in skill, I made up for in blind enthusiasm because I just kept doing it. Fast forward to this day and I think I'm finally getting to a point where I'm starting to feel more confident about the baguettes we are putting out from the bakery. Of course, improvement is a never-ending journey.
Over the last couple of weeks we have been bringing them to the Edgebrook Farmers Market on Wednesdays and tweaking the formula a little bit each time to get them just right. With a combination of our sourdough levain as well as a yeast poolish mixed into a medley of strong and weaker organic wheat flours, these baguettes provide the best of both worlds in terms of flavor and consistency. We are debuting them tonight at Rockford City Market and at both the North End and Beloit markets on Saturday...I hope you like them!
This is the last weekend for Black Sage bread to appear on the menu alongside the Baguettes and Pain d'Epis (pictured above). Cranberry Walnut, Olive Oil Semolina, and Baker & Brewer spent grain loaves will be offered as well. We're looking forward to the cooler weather for a change this weekend and, of course, looking forward to seeing all of you.