French Bread Baguette

Submitted by Elaniemay

"Baguettes are particularly crusty and light because they are cooked at extremely high temperatures and are vaporized. Even though domestic ovens can't go as high a real French bakery ovens, you can still make an excellent baguette, by remembering to put a bowl of water in the oven. And, of course by baking at a very high temperature.?"

 

• Ready In: 50mins
• Ingredients: 5
• Yields: 3 baguettes
• Serves: 12

ingredients

• 4 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon dry active yeast
• 1 -2 teaspoon salt
• warm water
• oil, for bowl

directions

1. In a bowl, mix together the flour and the salt.?.
2. In another bowl, combine yeast, warm water, and half of the flour/salt mixture. Using your hands, mix until it forms a dough. Then, cover with a dish cloth and let sit at room temperature for 3 hours. It should triple in size.
3. Gently incorporate the rest of the flour/salt, using your hands.?.
4. Place on a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes. It should be supple and elastic when you stop kneading.?.
5. Lightly oil a bowl. Place dough in bowl. Cover with a dish towel. Let sit for 1 hour. It should double in size.?.
6. Preheat oven to 450°F Knead again. Then cut dough into 3 parts and form each part into a long baguette. Place on a baking sheet. Let sit for at least 20 minutes.?.
7. Place a bowl of water in the oven. Bake baguettes for about 25 minutes (maybe less). Remove the bowl of water after 15 minutes of baking.?Voilà!
8. Variations:??Do you like whole wheat baguette recipes? Just use 1 cup White flour and 3 cups Whole Wheat flour!

Reviews

[Lavender Lynn]

The recipe did not specify how much water to use; I used 2 cups which was just a little much. After adding a little more flour to suit, I got a great result. This is just about as simple as bread can be, with no added sugar, eggs, or oil in the dough. The bowl of water permits the bread to bake in high humidity and makes the crust nicely light and crisp. Made for ZWT8.

 

[MomLuvs6]

Great baguettes!! I combined all the flour and salt with about 2 cups water. Had the first rise, then kneaded it for 10 minutes with additional flour about 3/4 cups. Nice crusty baguettes. Used 1 baguette for Recipe #390794 #390794 by alligirl. Thank You. Made for ZWT8.

 

[COOKGIRl]

Perfect! To prepare I used an ABM to prep the dough. Shaped the bread, proofed in the oven, sprinkled with little bit of flour and garnished with French grey salt. (The dark specks you see in the photo are the grey salt granules after baking.) I used 1 1/4 cups warm water and I was afraid one tablespoon of ADY would be too much but it was not. To serve: first I spread this butter mixture on the bread: Recipe #130132 followed by this: Recipe #390794. Reviewed for ZWT 8/France. Thank you!