I wanna say Trader Joe’s Mini French Baguettes are actually a returning item. I swear they had them, or something similar, like 5+ (maybe more) years ago. And if memory serves, the old ones were better.
Out of the bag, they’re roughly the same size as an Olive Garden bread stick. They go directly into the oven, no proofing, and mine at least…stayed about the same size. So when they say mini, they mean mini. It wasn’t even sandwich size for me.
Preheat the oven to 400F and bake directly on the rack for 4-6 minutes. For me, it took 8-9 minutes to get them a little bit golden. I smeared mine with a little of that new Trader Joe’s New Zealand butter (really creamy and good!!). And we had them with my favorite lentil soup.
But I gotta tell ya, these little baguettes were pretty meh for me. I wanted to like them for the convenience, I mean who hasn’t sacrificed half a loaf of bread that went stale on the counter?
Though they crisp up fine, they’re fairly dense. I was super surprised to see they’re Product of France, because they’re nowhere near as good as bakery quality, and from a country that prides themselves on their bread? Naaaah. (And if you’ve had the TJ’s frozen croissants, you know what’s possible from their frozen section!)
Don’t get me wrong, the baguettes aren’t BAD, they’re just not remarkable enough to buy again. Have you had a better result with these?
P.S. There’s a great butter analysis including that TJ’s New Zealand Salted Butter.
Check out some other We Tried’s from Trader Joe’s:
Trader Joe’s Oat Milk Strawberry Ice Cream
Sparkling Apple Cider Vinegar Beverage
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I just ate one. I started Breville oven at 410, then raised to 425-450 when the bread wasn't browning. After around 10 minutes total it was golden brown and very crispy on the exterior, exactly what I wanted. Inside it was too "bread-y," dense, but in a small piece, ok. I like a very crisp, and thick crust, with airy interior, hard to find. I ate it with a big wedge of cambozola cheese and a big pile of roasted garlic cloves. I have tossed innumerable half+ baguettes, so wanted to try these. In a regular size, I'd hate its dense bready-ness and too-thin crust. It's good for my purpose. And fyi, the quality of baguettes and everything else, varies, in France and elsewhere. Shop to shop on the same street-totally different product.