I made sandwich #27, the Jambon Beurre which is literally just bread, butter, and ham but also at the same time not just bread, butter, and ham.
The bread is a ficelle (French for string) which is a skinny baguette but also not just a skinny baguette.
The baguette is flour, water, yeast and salt but if I tell you the proportions I use, they might not work for you because even getting the hydration right on a loaf of bread is – I have learned – its own technique. I have multiple stages for even getting the mix right.
First I feed my mother. I take 20 grams of mother starter and add 20 grams of water and 20 grams of 50% whole wheat and 50% unbleached all purpose. I mix that and let it sit until double in size or overnight.
The next morning I take 200g of (strong) bread flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill right now which is a 14% protein) add 200g of water (about 70-80F) and all of my starter. I mix that, cover, and let it sit until it’s bubbly. Right now that can take anywhere from 8 to 24 hours.
Once that’s developed nicely, I add 200g of bread flour and 70g of water, then I mix and let sit for an hour. In another bowl I mix 10-20g of water with 7g of salt and 20g of oil. Why 10-20? Well it depends on my dough. Is it very sticky? 10g. Is it drier? 20g. Usually 15g is what I go for. But here’s a thing: unless you use the exact flour I buy and which has been soaking up the ambient liquid in the air here in Washington state, you will need to adjust your water. It’s not as simple as saying “you should make baguettes with 62% hydration” because how much water your flour can hold is different for almost every house.
Once the dough has rested for an hour, I mix in the salt and oil. Then allow to rest for 30 minutes.
Then I do my first coil fold. Four coil folds, actually. What’s a coil fold? Uhh.. I better have someone show you:
Mine is bread flour so I can be a lot less gentle (whole wheat flour is sharp and can cut through the gluten cloak) but super important: keep wetting those hands!
See it’s not just “water, flour, salt, yeast.” It’s work. It’s time. It’s technique in folding the dough.
And it’s technique in shaping. How do I teach you to shape this bread? Well, once your dough is fully fermented and gassy, cut it into the portions you want and make each into a boule (ball). Then let that rest for 30 minutes, flatten it slightly, tuck it in like a letter and press that together, then tuck and roll again. Oh boy, I think you need another video:
Once you have them shaped and they are resting in their couche (see video), you still need to know how to score them! I think the trick here is that you can actually touch the loaf. In fact, you can pinch the loaf a bit when scoring. So get you a good, sharp razor, pinch a loaf, and score.
Now you’re in the home stretch! You just need to transfer the loaves from their bed to the baking stone, in your preheated 500F oven, and pour in a half cup of water into a pan that you also have heated in the bottom of your oven to get some steam going and before you know it (15-20 minutes), you’ll have bread.
And then to make the jambon beurre sandwich you will just need to get you some Jambon de Paris and some French butter! You cannot use American ham on this sandwich. The French ham is very different, less salty, more complex flavors, almost fermented slightly. My local “super fancy rich people store” has it labeled as “French Ham” in their deli section for $15 a pound. That same store also had butter from Brittany with some sea salt in it. I spread the butter, layered the ham, and well..
This is a sandwich like no other. It is one of the simplest sandwiches on the list but it doesn’t taste like ham and butter. Each ingredient stars and pops when you take a bite: the slightly funky ham, the sourdough, and the cultured, slightly salty butter. Distinct flavors and yet working together in concert. This sandwich is Wenger jazz. Avie said “it tastes like cheese!” and it really does, though also not exactly. Like cheese elevated. Ham elevated. Bread elevated.
Anyway, Arsenal play Dundalk United today in the real Champions League. What do I know about Dundalk? I know that it’s in Ireland and that any time Arsenal play an Irish side, commentators are legally obligated to mention the “Thierry Henry handball”. It’s a £3000 fine if they don’t mention it and speak about the tragedy that befell Irish football in the wake.
For my part, I’m watching just to see if Arteta will get a little bit inventive and maybe try to play that 4231 which he played in the second half against… Southampton? No, against Sheffield. Come to think of it, I’m not sure what Arteta will do here. Willian is injured so he can’t play in the “#10” and Ozil is in jail. Did we bring Smith-Rowe? Eh. At this point I think I just give up on guessing what Arteta will do.
In the back, David Luiz is injured, Saliba wasn’t included in the Europa League squad, Pablo Mari is injured, Rob Holding is injured, and Chambers isn’t 100% fit (I believe). That means 5th string option Mustafi will start.
I really hope we escape this one without an injury to Gabriel, Auba, or Thomas. That’s my whole hope.
That sounds like a very good sandwich, I must say.
I don’t have anything to say about tonight’s game as it’s not important but I did enjoy your baking tale. When I lived in New York it was easy to get good ingredients but on the road (I visited upwards of 40 states on business) food was more hit than miss. When my Parisian colleagues visited the US they hated the food but that’s the French for you. They invented the word Cuisine (lol).
When all this madness ends you should treat yourself and daughter to a European sandwich tour. Berlin is probably the most fun melting pot in Europe right now. Paris for the classics and somewhere like Positano for authentic Italian coastal living.
That’s a neat idea thank you!
The first place we want to go is Japan. Always wanted to see the Daibutsu in Nara.
On a related note, next up is the KatsuSando!
My personal view is that American food is very underrated, whereas French food is the complete opposite. Vastly overrated. I can’t remember the last time I had a decent meal in a French restaurant. Didn’t used to be that way, but they’re living on past glories. On the other hand, I’ve eaten really well in the States.
From a “neutral” Brit.
Really appreciate this. I never quite understood why this sandwich was special. I mean, I’ve had buttered ham sandwiches on a baguette before, and they were fine, but never thought of it as A THING. But your explanation does justice to this classic.
I think I sometimes shop at the same fancy rich people store that you did for this sandwich, and I’ve been tempted on many occasions to buy French butter there. I traveled to Provence many years ago and have never tasted better butter for buttressing bread.
Speaking of sandwiches, I made lamb shawarma over the weekend using a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe and it was unbelievable. That guy is a genius when it comes to spice combinations.
Aha! I made this two weeks ago, same recipe I’m sure. Did you get decent flatbread?
did you two go out and get sumac, cardamom pods, and fenugreek seeds? Also, did you actually make a full tablespoon of grated nutmeg? That seems unbearably spicy.
I have all of that stuff in my cupboard, but there’s so much in the recipe I think you can probably leave out what you don’t have and it will still be delicious. I’d try to get the sumac though, it’s got a delicious soft aromatic lemony flavour that you’ll miss otherwise.
First time I made it, I followed the recipe 100%. Next time I did it by eye.
Maybe not that much nutmeg, no.
I tend to back off on cloves and cardomom because to my taste they can easily dominate. I have no idea if you really need the fenugreek, I couldn’t taste it.
The freshly squeezed lemon brings it all together. And when you serve it in the soft, chewy flatbread, you can loosen up tahini paste with some more lemon to drizzle over everything
Also, not sure if any of you are aware (JOKES), but there’s an election in the US right now. Do we believe the early polls??? Some ridiculous numbers out there, and we all know how well the polls predicted the outcome four years ago…
I do believe the polls this time around. Trump is running against a candidate that way more people like than his last opponent. That and the attrition of the last four years and the dumpster fire that has been 2020, will give Biden a landslide victory.
Eventually.
Until then – it could be spring of next year – who knows when it will all be settled, get ready for a circus/s%$tshow:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/28/opinion/trump-biden-election-scenarios.html?searchResultPosition=2
The thing I do worry about is that while I do kind of think Biden will win it is also pretty clear that Trump and the Republicans are laying the ground work for calling any votes counted after election day as invalid or suspicious because they know the mail in votes will favour Biden , which is also why they’ve been talking up mail in voter fraud and restricting mail in voting access points to make it more difficult to vote by mail.
I do think Trump and the Republicans are either going to try to call the result on election day before all the votes are counted or are going to insinuate voter fraud regarding the post election day voting tallies.
He’s even convinced members of the Supreme Court like Kavanagh to declare the desire to have a result on election day.
So will this be another Bush/Gore or will American democracy be strong enough to take charge if Trump just insists he’s won.
It’s happened before and the current democratic party are weak as f*#k so I do worry.
It’s not about whether Biden wins or not. It’s about what happens when Trump says that the late votes for Biden are suspicious and shouldn’t be counted and that the early votes clearly indicate that he’s won and no more votes should be counted.
It’s kind of terrifying because I genuinely worry the democratic opposition in America isn’t strong enough to counter a Trump declared victory, even if it’s obviously illegitimate.
Funny thing about polls and actual results ………can you imagine if the roles were reversed and Trump was leading in the polls only to lose the election.
That alone would be proof enough election was stolen lol.
Democrats are $hiting bricks because the electorate are flaky enough to change their minds last minute, which is insane after four years of Trump and Eight years of Biden before that.
Just watched a segment in which Bernie supporters from 2016 explained why they voted for Trump, and their rationale was, shall we say, less than sophisticated.
There’s a whole sector of US society, who firmly believe that their country is on the verge of being overrun by “communists”, ie anyone who might have a broader view on how society should be run. The simple fact is that they wouldn’t recognise a real live, actual communist if one came along and smacked them in the mouth. I think this paranoia goes back to the 1950s. Donald likes to play on this and the “good ole boys” soak it up.
So yeah, come Nov 3rd, who knows who is going to come out of the closet and vote?
Fun fact: Dundalk FC has the same nickname (The Lilywhites) as Tottenham. So we’re doomed today is all I’m saying.
Tim, I think you have inspired me to try and make at least one of these sandwiches. The way you describe them makes me want to taste at least one of them.
I have never baked bread before, but I will be trying this Jambon Beurre tomorrow.
I just noticed that, compared to everyone here, I know very little about the ingredients of these sandwiches. Wont stop me from trying though.
Oh.. and good win.
This was a far more interesting post than anything to do with the (once) mighty Arsenal. 7 am KO is the only thing I read. Not even the Arseblog site or podcasts anymore. Not because Andrew, James et al are any less entertaining or funny but I just can’t be arsed to get excited about the club right now and those conversations bore me to tears. Or maybe it’s the onions I chopping right now for our lunch sandwiches. They don’t have a name but they’ll be on Italian ciabatta baguette from a real Italian ciabatta-iy type place (Tre Mari). I have a bunch of ingredients out but no concrete ideas. I’ll build them on the fly like tying together some good chord progressions for a killer guitar solo.
I have a quote that you may appreciate, Tim that my friend Marcello Perri’s nona (a great baker herself) would say to him, as she oversaw him doing all the hard work:)
“Pan di sudore, miglior sapore.” -Italian proverb.
Translation: (Literally) Bread that comes out of sweat, tastes better.
Bloody hell. Pepe’s got a right foot.
Not just a right foot, but an excellent right foot. He’s obviously a very talented boy.
I still don’t see why he is positioned in the “graveyard position” on the right wing.
We’re patently lacking ” creativity.”
Stick him in the middle of the park, where he can get on the ball and influence matters. He could be the solution to the fact that Mesut has gone missing.
You’ve got way more patience for bread-baking than I do. I bought Tartine Bread, which covers some of the same ground, but eventually punted and went back to a modified version of no-knead bread. But agree with you on the ham…French or Serrano are much better than the American versions.
Thought we played reasonably well today. Granted, not that hard of opposition, but we’ve certainly tripped up on minnows before.
Particularly impressed with Willock and Nelson. Willock in particular did enough in my mind to deserve a run in the first team.
willock got my vote for man of the match…although arsenal were only playing mickey-mouse united.
it was good that many first-teamers got a warmup and stretch in (as those never hurt) but they didn’t have to play a lot of minutes…some of them played no minutes. likewise, many of the youngsters and those returning from injury got much needed game time.
You can probably tell, after literally thousands of blog posts, that persistence is one of my traits.
btw, i love the devlin analogy on the previous thread about eating soup with a knife and fork. i get that people are ready for the discussion about mesut to go away but the fact remains; arsenal seem incapable of creating quality chances against decent teams. you can’t ignore this fact and hope it goes away.
no one is looking at mesut like he’s crazy…he hasn’t lost three of the last 4 in the league and he’s not the one trying to eat soup with a knife while ignoring the imperfect yet capable spoon that’s available.
There are spoons available at Arsenal but Mesut Ozil isn’t one. You all need to just let this go. He’s not playing football ever again.
Is 14$ for half-a-kilogram of ham a normal thing in the US? To my European eye this looks hell of a lot. Even considering the premium for imported and luxury food, it is still a lot.
How much does does a normal ham costs in the States? (I mean not the cheapest ultra-processed chemically-soaked brick-molded pile of animal leftovers, but also not one of those hipster-friendly bio organic products, whos high price is designed to make you feel good that you eat quality food. Just a normal, good ham.)