Baguettes
Submitted by brianjwood on August 02, 2002 at 5:42 am

DESCRIPTION
Baguettes

SUMMARY
Yield 0 File under Yeast Bread/Rolls (not sourdough)

INSTRUCTIONS
Baguette recipe. It’s from Rustic European Breads, by Eckhardt & Butts, a book I like a lot. It is aimed at bread machines but can easily be adapted to free form baking.

Ingredients
2 ½ tsps instant rise yeast; 12 fluid ozs warm water; 17 ozs all purpose(ap) or bread flour (French baguette flour is ‘softer’ than most bread flours, try a mix of 50:50 ap and strong bread flour); 2 tsps sea salt (you can’t taste the difference despite what the gurus say, but somehow it sounds nicer!).

Combine and mix as in my previous description, pop in the oiled bowl and leave to TRIPLE in size,( that’s not a typo!) about 3 hours. Leave the dough in the bowl, uncover it and punch down lightly with damp hands . Cover with film again, and leave to DOUBLE in size this time, about 1 hour. All this is to develop the holey texture.. next, lightly flour a board and, with floured hands, turn the dough out onto the board. Divide the dough into 3 pieces, and let it rest for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, cover a large baking sheet with parchment (baking) paper, or lightly oil it. Again with floured hands, roll each piece into a cylinder, roughly 17 inches long. With the edge of your hand, or the back of a knife maybe, press a crease into the top of the cylinders, no more than ¼ inch. Pinch the tops of the creases together, and taper the ends of the cylinders. Lay each piece onto the baking tray ( I know the dough is floppy, but it’s easy with two hands, or get help!), at least 3 inches apart. Lightly mist the top of each cylinder with salt water*, cover lightly with film (or a damp cloth). Put in a warm, draft free spot and leave to rise to 1 1/2 times the original size, maybe 1 ½ to 2 hours. After 1 hour, preheat your oven to 450 F (230 C). When you think the dough has risen enough, test with your finger by prodding gently. If it is still springy, and hasn’t developed a light crust, leave it a bit longer, uncovered, until the crust develops. If the crust is there, gently roll the baguettes over (bottom to top). Slash the baguettes diagonally with a razor, or very sharp knife (it can help if the blade is dipped in water first) 3 times, evenly along the length, not more than ½ inch deep. Spray lightly with salt water ( I keep a hand spray just for baking, with salt water in, but after each use I thoroughly rinse the tube and nozzle to avoid it blocking when the water evaporates and leaves salt in the nozzle). Pop the try in the oven quickly, and pour a cup of boiling water into a pan (which is already in the oven when you pre-heat it) on the bottom shelf of the oven – DON’T pour straight onto the floor, it can cause buckling. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until they look nicely browned. Twice more in the first 9 minutes, pour ½ cup boiling water into the pan. When done, remove to a rack (not a solid sheet, they must get air all round or they go soggy) and leave to cool for 2 hours. Eat as soon as possible, they go stale very quickly. You can freeze the baguettes before the final rise –they are just as good. Let them thaw and rise to the required amount, then go as above. You can freeze the baked bread too. To use, place the frozen bread on a baking sheet and put into a 375 F oven (190 C) for about 25 mins until hot and crisp.
Each step is very easy in practice, and after a couple of tries you will do it automatically. This recipe has worked well for me every time. The original doesn’t have salt sprays, just plain water, but I find the salt makes a much crisper crust. I do this with my sourdough baking too.

Brian