🍞 New baguette recipe... but twisted!


New baguette recipe... but twisted!

With a thin, slightly soft crust and a salty, briny kick, these sourdough filoncini are hard to resist.

What are filoncini, you ask?

They may look like twisted baguettes, but instead, I like to think of them as low-pressure baguettes—fun to twist, roll, and shape without worrying about perfection.

The dough is mixed and prepped very much like baguette dough, save for the added olive oil and green olives—which are delicious—except instead of a super technical shaping process, the dough is just twisted and baked.

Fun? Yes! Low-pressure? Yes!

I mean, baking for a while sometimes starts to get too serious, especially as your expectations rise, but these green olive filoncini are here to reset that. They're easy to make and taste fantastic.

But first, I want to show you a few photos of the dough.

In this week's newsletter:

  • Recipes: Green olive filoncini, classic baguettes
  • Guide: How to score and bake sourdough
  • Baking Help: Srsly, how do you wash out your sourdough containers?
  • Sourdough Links: Pastries in a wood-fired oven!

Dreamy, right? Let's get into it!

🍞 Green olive filoncini (twisted baguettes)

In The Baker's Corner, the community here at The Perfect Loaf, Mark K. hilariously dubbed them the "Twisty Baguette Recipe for People Too Chicken to Do the Real Deal Recipe"—and honestly, he might be onto something!

I'm using Hayden Flour Mills' fantastic The Perfect Loaf blend in this recipe. If you order your flour from them this weekend, you'll get 10% off any new orders. Use the link in the post!

Or, if you're looking for traditional baguettes, my sourdough variant has you covered.

🍞 "Classic" sourdough baguettes

Okay, have I tempted you with "classic" baguettes? These are the real deal. Super thin crust, very open interior, and a mild and buttery flavor profile.

You'll love 'em.

💡 How to score and bake sourdough

Don't miss my new guide to the baking step of the breadmaking process!

I published this the other week, and if you've ever needed clarification on scoring, baking temps, or anything else at this step, this guide has you covered.


💬 Member Discussion of the Week

Question: Here's something I literally HATE. Cleaning the sourdough containers. How do you do it?

First, be sure to clean your containers immediately after you take your dough, starter, or levain out of them. I do my best to scrape as much flour/water as I can from the container, and then I'll take it right to the sink and wash it out with soap and warm water. This prevents almost all of the dough from going down the drain, and it's much easier to wash containers when the dough is still moist and pliable.

If the dough has dried in the container, I will put a little soap and warm water inside, let it soak for 30 minutes or so until it's softened, and then wipe out and clean the container.

If you have a mixer that doesn't have a removable bowl, you can take it into the sink. It's even more important to clean and wipe that bowl out immediately after you remove your dough. Once the dough dries, it's tough to take out!

I like using a reusable cloth to clean all of these things out, and then I wash the cloth in the sink. A tight-knit cloth is best for this; it makes it easier to take the dough out.

It's important to note, and she wrote back mentioning this, that you should be aware of the piping in your kitchen. If you have "sensitive" pipes, scrape out as much dough as possible from your bowls before washing them in the sink.


🛟 2 Ways I Can Help You Today

  • I recently found that some flour I had stored in my pantry had been in there for over a year. Somehow, I ignored my own advice and wasn't storing it properly.
  • Baking enriched buns, pie crust, or cakes lately? Take a deep dive into what butter does to bread dough (and impress your friends!).

📙 What I'm Reading and Watching

  • How a Popular Virginia Bakery Makes Hundreds of Pastries a Day Using Wood Fire. (YouTube) A beautiful look at some incredibly delicious-looking pastries. (LINK)

Happy baking!

Maurizio Leo

Join me in the member's community, master sourdough, and get baker's perks.

Thank you for subscribing 🩶. Sent from Maurizio at The Perfect Loaf, 8100 Wyoming Blvd NE Ste M4, #343, Albuquerque, NM 87113.
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