Sandwiches,Savoury
This baguette recipe comes to you after months and months of practice. Every time I got to come home for a few days from my last project, I went straight to the kitchen to give this one a shot. The beauty of this bread is the minimal ingredients, and a fairly straight forward procedure – although the first time I made it, it did not seem so. By the third time, this recipe and method became ingrained in my head that even after weeks of break, I still did not require to look at the notes or measurements again!
This baguette is free of gluten and bread improver – although I have tried this recipe with adding some of it, I found these came out better without the added interference.
Once you get the hang of this one, I assure you, you will never buy baguette from the stores again!
The Recipe
Serves 6-7 mini baguettes
Ingredients
- 50 ml warm water
- 1 ½ tsp instant dry yeast
- 1 pinch sugar
- 450g flour maida
- 2 tsp salt
- 285 ml cold water
- additional flour for dusting
- oil for greasing
- lots of ice for the oven
Instructions
- Measure the warm water in a small bowl and sprinkle the yeast on top. Set aside.
- Measure the bread flour into a large bowl and stir in the salt.
- Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture, and stir in the dissolved yeast.
- Add the cold water, a little at a time, while stirring, just until a shaggy dough has formed.
- Cover the bowl with damp cloth and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and gently press it into a rectangle and fold into thirds. Turn 90 degrees and repeat.
- Place the dough in a large oiled bowl, and cover with damp cloth.
- Allow it to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk (about 1 ½ to 2 hours).
- Divide the dough into 6-7 equal portions, and shape each one into a long loaf
- Place the loaves on a floured towel, cover with oiled plastic wrap, and allow to rise until doubled in size for 45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 250 C, and place a pan of water with lots of ice on the bottom rack.
- Uncover the baguettes and transfer to lightly greased baking sheets.
- Sprinkle with flour, and make 4 elongated slashes down each one with a lame, razor, or sharp knife.
- Bake the breads until crusty and brown for approximately 20 minutes
- The baguettes should give a hollow sound when tapped
