How to Cook Part-Baked Baguettes in a Mini Oven

As you can tell from the photos, I’m too eager to get the baguettes out of the oven and get them eaten!  To brown them more just leave them in for another 1-2 minutes, I am just impatient.

To cook a part-baked baguette in a mini oven, read the pack instructions, but they’ll probably tell you to pre-heat your oven, then wet the outside of the baguette with water, then oven bake for 8-10 minutes on the middle shelf.

When cooking part-baked baguettes in a mini oven I’ll do it slightly differently and other settings need to be specified:

• Place the wire rack on the bottom shelf position. Turn the oven on to 180ºC (350ºF).  Turn the knob to show the top and bottom elements are in use (this grills as well as bakes)*.
• I don’t bother to wet the baguettes, there’s no need to do this in a mini oven.
• Slice the baguettes into two halves, then slice down the length of the baguette.  
• Place the part-baked baguettes directly on the bottom shelf, there’s no need for a tray or foil sheet. Close the mini oven door.  My mini oven, a 14 litre size, easily takes all four halves.
• Pace back and forth for the next 8-10 minutes, watching through the window until I finally snap and take them out! You can tell when they’re cooked by how they look, so how brown they get is entirely up to you! 

Quick Overview: 180ºC, bottom shelf, top/bottom elements on, 8-10 minutes.

Note: When you cook part-baked baguettes in a mini oven, within the first minute the glass door will completely mist over.  

This can make you go into a blind panic…. but after about 3-4 minutes the glass will start to clear again, so it’s OK!  As they bake they produce steam, which is why I don’t pre-dampen the baguettes before I put them into the mini oven.

*  Notice I said to choose the option where the top and bottom elements are turned on.  The bottom element is used for baking, the top element is for grilling/browning.  If you feel that the baguettes are browning too quickly for you, then you can either turn the temperature down a little, or turn the switch so that just the bottom element is on.

Once cooked I’ll then pop the cooled, uneaten, baguettes into plastic/lidded takeaway boxes.  I find that two halves of many part-baked baguettes handily fit perfectly into one plastic tub.  If you’ve none of these, then you can wrap them into foil.  If you’re super organised you can even fill the baguettes with fillings and then wrap in foil, so it’s a Grab & Go meal later on!

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