Blue Ribbon Award Winner: Guava-Coconut-Orange-Walnut Stuffed Baguette

by Michelle

   I grew up in a rural area of central California where agriculture was at the center of the community due to the prevelance of farms, horse ranches and sprawling vineyards. The 4-H Club thrived at the high school. The agriculture students, referred to as "agies", drove Ford or Chevy trucks in various stages of being rebuilt. Where the farm kids divided was in style. Some wore Western Wear complete with Wrangler jeans, pearl snap button cowboy shirts and cowboy hats. The others wore weathered Levi button fly 501 jeans, t-shirts and John Deere baseball caps.
   What the entire student population looked forward to every year besides attending a barn dance, was attending the Santa Maria Fairpark, home of the Santa Barbara County Fair. But the 4-H students were especially excited about showing livestock and winning coveted blue ribbons for his or her prize-worthy effort in raising a lamb, sow or cow. I still have in my keepsakes box, film strips from a photo booth session with my high school boyfriend. I remember seeing Eddie Money in concert at the fair when he was still a hot ticket. On those rare occasions when I hear Two Tickets To Paradise on the radio, I will still belt it out like I did when I was sixteen, which correlates to annoying and off-key.



The Pima County Fair as viewed from the Ferris Wheel.

   At the beginning of the year, Juliette presented the idea to me of entering the Home Arts competition with Wild Yeast Naturally Leavened Sourdough Bread. Memories of the Santa Barbara County Fair came flooding back. Dust, straw, the faint smell of manure, and the sound of neighing horses. Taffy and cotton candy. Blaring music and neon lights. Spinning rides, including my favorite, The Zipper. Carnies hawking their wares. The bewildering desire to win cheaply made stuffed animals by paying hard earned money to play silly games with seriously unfavorable odds. Tri-Tip Santa Maria Style Barbecue with all the fixings prepared by smoke drenched pitmasters.

   I found my dog-eared copy of Blue Ribbon Winners on the bookshelf and flipped through it looking at recipes for jams, quick breads, yeast breads and pickles. After Juliette continued to prod me, and it looked as if my travel schedule would not conflict, I finally committed to competing at the 2013 Pima County Fair. I completed the entry form and mailed it in along with a check to pay the entrance fees. Leading up to the competition I became a bread-baking enthusiast. Every week I turned out boules, batards and stuffed baguettes. I'd call Juliette asking for guidance and checked-in with Linda gleening tips from her renewed interest in baking sourdough bread.

  The food submissions were due the Saturday before the fair started. Much to my chagrin, I rose on that Saturday at zero four hundred, to shape, rise and bake ten loaves. I received no sympathy from Juliette who routinely keeps baker's hours. My plan was to select the best loaf of each flavor to submit in the three categories in which I chose to compete: Sweet Bread, Mixed-Grain Bread, and uncategorized Yeast Bread. I made the stuffed baguettes first which are one of Juliette's favorite flavors: Guava-Coconut-Orange-Walnut. The loaves came out of the oven exactly as I hoped.
   The next two loaves were a bit of a fumble. I burned the prettiest loaves because I had to bake them at the same time and I didn't make the proper adjustments - if I only knew then what I know now. The next two loaves ended up being a bit over-proofed and I didn't get the oven-spring I desired. I had a mini-meltdown over the mixed grain sourdough braided boule and the Rosemary-Lemon Sourdough batard. I considered not submitting both the boule and the batard because they weren't up to my normal standards, but Jay and Maddie convinced me to go forward with the original plan. At least I was completely satisfied with the tropical flavored stuffed baguette.
   Jay and I drove to the fairgrounds and delivered the bread with an hour to spare. I tried to take a look at the competing entries, but it was impossible. As soon as deliveries were made, the items were whisked away to various areas within the hall. The judging was not open for public viewing, so I had to patiently wait over the course of a week to discover the judges' findings. Although Juliette assured me that she was feeling good vibes over the baguette, I was thrilled to see that the sweet bread indeed took the first place blue ribbon and my other two entries scored second place red ribbons. I did a little happy dance in the hall and my husband snapped the above photo so I could text it to my sisters.

Although I'm not a personal fan of taffy, I do enjoy watching the candy being pulled.

Caramelized turkey legs and tasty jalapeño poppers.  

   Now that my interest in the fair has been renewed, and after experiencing the boost in self-esteem that follows winning blue and red ribbons, I recently looked into the details for entering the sourdough bread for judging at the Arizona State Fair in October. Logistically it is more of a challenge transporting the bread from Tucson to Phoenix, but I think it will be worth the effort and loads of fun. Maybe I'll once again be willing to ride the Ferris wheel even though it makes my feet hurt... a genetic condition related to a fear of heights that was inherited from our maternal grandfather. Linda has it, too!

Guava-Coconut-Orange-Walnut Stuffed Baguette