Quick Baguettes with Browned Butter
I have a baguette secret. And a browned butter secret. I’m sure they’re not secret to those who know about them already, but for those who don’t, I’ll totally share.
On Tuesday when I made cheddar & ale soup for CBC, I also made fresh baguettes that required under an hour from start to out of the oven – but what everyone couldn’t stop talking about was the browned butter to go with. That show on which I watched Michael make ale soup? He also made no-knead bread, with browned butter – made spreadable. Because really, browned butter makes everything better – cookies, brownies, popcorn – but bread? Freshly baked? Slathered with browned butter – whipped and creamy, not a melted puddle? Hell yes.
Here’s what you do: take a slab of butter. Melt half of it in a small saucepan on the stovetop. Once it’s melted, leave it there until it starts to turn nutty and golden – you’ll see the foam change colour.
Take it off the heat and let it cool a bit. Then whip it with the rest of the butter. Use beaters. It will be all lumpy at first, but will then turn soft and whipped and spreadable. And nutty and browned.
You’ll need freshly baked bread to go with it. Here’s a recipe my friend Brooke shared awhile ago – a quick baguette you mix and knead and bake all in under an hour. True story.
Quick French Baguettes
AuthorJuliePreheat the oven to 425F. Fill a shallow cake pan with water or ice and put it on the bottom rack, and make sure another rack is in the middle. In a large bowl, whisk together the warm water, yeast, and sugar. Set the bowl on top of your preheating oven for ten minutes. Add half the flour and the salt, then add more flour a half cup at a time until you have a soft dough. Knead it for a few minutes, until it's smooth and elastic. (You can totally do this with the dough hook on your stand mixer, if you have one.)
Cut the dough into four pieces and roll each into a long, thin rope. Twist two together to make two baguettes and set them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Let it sit for another 15-30 minutes on top of your warm oven.
Bake on the middle rack of your oven for 15-20 minutes, until golden and crusty.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425F. Fill a shallow cake pan with water or ice and put it on the bottom rack, and make sure another rack is in the middle. In a large bowl, whisk together the warm water, yeast, and sugar. Set the bowl on top of your preheating oven for ten minutes. Add half the flour and the salt, then add more flour a half cup at a time until you have a soft dough. Knead it for a few minutes, until it's smooth and elastic. (You can totally do this with the dough hook on your stand mixer, if you have one.)
Cut the dough into four pieces and roll each into a long, thin rope. Twist two together to make two baguettes and set them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Let it sit for another 15-30 minutes on top of your warm oven.
Bake on the middle rack of your oven for 15-20 minutes, until golden and crusty.
Whaaaaa…?? Baguettes in under an hour? Browned butter? So this serves two, right? (One baguette each!). Love this!
What kind of yeast did you use…instant or active dry? It’s always so confusing.
I generally assume if there isn’t a long rise required then you use instant.
Can you shed a bit of light on this topic? Thanks.
Good lord, I love you and your browned butter. I am making this TODAY.
I cannot wait to try that with my butter next time!!
I made them today….oh my goodness.
Took under 1/2 hour, and they were in the oven, really truly, in the oven. And I kneaded by hand.
Thanks so much!! Any more recipes like this?
Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams
Jen – so glad!! Now I wish I had a loaf…
Will try to scare up more recipes like this!
That whipped brown butter sounds amazing!!
Made both the butter and the bread today (along with soup from Spilling the Beans)! I used 1 cup whole wheat flour in the bread. Amazing meal! I can’t stop eating this bread! Thank you!
Wow and wow! I’m making both tonight to go with my soup.
Absolutely a KEEPER recipe. I made the bread and the butter this morning. Took it next door to neighbors. The aroma attracted more neighbors…they moaned after each bite. Wonderful stuff!
Made the bread and browned butter for a dinner party on Saturday. Both were AMAZING! I couldn’t believe it could be done in less than an hour until I did it myself. Thank you.
Butter – my favourite food group.
11 yr old made this bread TWICE on the weekend. And the butter was a hit too. We made lots of extra butter, so I’ve been putting it on mashed potatoes, hot raspberry muffins, perogies….basically I’m cooking things just so I can use the browned butter. :O)
seriously. 1 hour.
seriously??
today is my birthday. i think this might be my most favorite gift.
gotta test it first, though.
seriously?!?
made the baguettes too! I love quick recipes like that. Do you have any more to share?
Thanks.
This bread was… revelatory. So. So. Easy. And delicious. Many thanks. (Also? The cheese and ale soup was fabulous!)
@Sunny I think her recipe likely references active dry yeast since she mentioned using one package of it and wrote that the equivalent amount is 2.25 tsp. Active dry yeast often comes in packets that hold 2.25 tsp of yeast and I don’t recall ever seeing instant come in that size.
Also, she references putting it in warm water with other ingredient as a preliminary step and that isn’t necessary wiith instant.
I am very eager to give this recipe a go!
Just made these, what a great easy recipe! We can’t wait to have them with dinner tonight.
Made this bread last night and it was delicious!! I think there is just a little left 🙂 This will def. be a repeat recipe. Thanks 🙂
I’d love to try these, but how do you replicate the warming process if you’re using wall ovens? Any advice would be appreciated.
M_S do you have a counter or anything right next to your wall oven? Or could you pull a work table or something up to it? If not you could try it with just skipping that step and see if it works. (Perhaps just allow a little longer for rising time.) Or do the “light on in the oven” trick for creating a warm place for bread to rise, but that’ll lengthen your time for sure because then you wouldn’t be preheating your oven at the same time.
M_S – sorry for the slow reply! I think so long as you put it in the warmest spot of your kitchen, you’ll be fine!
Just pulled this out of the oven to go with a Michael Smith stew we’re having for dinner. I couldn’t wait for dinner…so good!