This is bakery-scale dough cut down to small rolls: 80 per cent strong flour, 20 per cent quinoa flour, and enough water to make the crumb open. Toasted chia goes in at the end so it does not break the gluten. The second bake, cut side down, is what gives the crisp surface.
French · Bread
Chia Seed Mini Baguettes With a Crisp Cut Face
A high-hydration dough with toasted chia and quinoa flour, baked twice so the split face turns golden and crisp. Small loaves, long proof.
- Prep40 min
- Cook25 min
- Serves12
- LevelHard
Ingredients
| 800 g | strong white flour |
| 200 g | quinoa flour |
| 6 g | fresh yeast |
| 10 g | salt |
| 650 g | water , at room temperature |
| 1 | vitamin C tablet , crushed |
| 30 g | chia seeds |
| 15 g | oil , for toasting the chia |
Method
- Heat the oil, add the chia seeds and stir until they smell nutty, then tip them onto a plate to cool.
- Mix the flours, yeast, salt, water and crushed vitamin C on low speed for 5 minutes, then on high for 5 to 7 minutes, until the gluten is fully developed.
- Add the cooled chia on low speed until evenly distributed. The dough should finish at 24C to 26C.
- Rest the dough at room temperature for 10 minutes, divide into 30 g pieces, roll each into a ball and rest another 10 minutes.
- Degas each piece, shape into a small oval and set them on a floured cloth.
- Proof at 35C and 80 per cent humidity for 80 minutes, then score the tops and slide them onto a baking sheet.
- Bake at 230C top and 200C bottom with three seconds of steam for about 12 minutes.
- Cool, then split each loaf lengthways, spread the cut faces with a little fat and basil paste and bake cut side down at 175C for 8 to 10 minutes.
Notes
- The dough is wet and wants a bench scraper rather than flour.
- Bag them once cool; the second bake softens if left in a closed tin.
Ratios and technique checked against 金龙鱼烘焙 on Douguo (奇亚籽轻法棍). The method here is written by Stellaok and the illustration is ours; no text or photograph from the source is reproduced.