Tag Archives: couche

Considering France’s long and illustrious culinary history, I find it somewhat amusing that bread pops to mind immediately when we think of French cuisine.  Those who have been to France (or most any place in Europe) will surely recall the first encounter with its bread.  Crispy dark crust and an airy, almost nutty, inside.

I was excited to make this recipe for a couple reasons.  I had recently purchased an 8″ round banneton from Frieling and a 24″ x 20″ linen couche.  I liberally seasoned it with flour, shook it out, the floured in again.  Since I doubled the baguette recipe, the first batch used 1/2 (about 1 lb) of dough for the baguette and the other half for the banneton.  The second batch went into the banneton and made a very large loaf.  The banneton I bought because of its rustic look and ease in use; the couche because I felt I need a bit of a hand with shaping my baguettes.  I am happy to say that both work as hoped!  However (and there’s always a “but”), I wouldn’t waste the money on buying a couche from a cooking store.  Save the money and go to the fabric store and get some heavy linen.  If you’re good with the sewing machine, make a hem; if not, don’t worry.  To season the couche, rub the flour into the fabric.  You’ll be surprised at how much flour the cloth will soak up.  And also, don’t use non-stick spray on it; and finally, don’t wash it!  I found that the couche gave an added element to the shape of the baguette.  When I do this recipe again, I plan on giving the dough a slightly shorter ferment, then scale and shape, then a longer proofing period.  I didn’t get the larger holes in the bread that I wanted.  It was still quite tasty.  Thanks to my friend Michael, instead of slashing the top of the baguette, scissors were used to make the pattern on top.