With the continued quarantine and pestilence I continue to be self-taught with cooking and baking and making bread. I have experimented with a half dozen baguette recipes and promise this one is the easiest and quickest and made the absolutely best baguettes to date! It is simple enough to do at home and while cooking and enjoying breakfast you could if you want to bake 2 baguettes daily for use later in the day and slice them lengthwise for great French baguettes jambon and fromage lunch sandwiches.
French Baguettes(From FoodNanny.com
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups warm 105-115 degrees water, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons 2 packets active dry yeast
2 teaspoons sugar divided
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
Melted butter for brushing on loaves (optional)
Instructions
In a small bow, combine 1/2 cup of the water, the yeast, and 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Stir just to combine and cover with plastic wrap or a plate. Let the mixture stand about 5 minutes or until bubble or foamy.
In a heavy-duty mixer or food processor, blend the flour, salt, the remaining 1 teaspoon of sugar, and the yeast mixture. Gradually add water, up to the remaining 1 cup, and mix until the dough forms a smooth ball that is not too sticky to handle. (If the dough ends up too sticky, add a little more Kamut flour.) It should be a fairly large ball inside the food processor which I fully recommend. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead briefly, until the dough is smooth and elastic. You don't have to knead it forever, just enough to form a smooth ball.
Cut the dough in half and shape the halves into baguettes. This is a key shortcut. A lot of the recipes call for letting the dough set in a bowl for the first rise and then form the baguette for a second rise. It is simpler and turns out better to immediately form the baguette into two baguettes and then let it rise. Grease a baguette pan (available at kitchen stores) or just shape them by hand and place the loaves in the pan. Score the loaves down the middle with a sharp knife and cover with a dish towel, and let rise in a warm place about 30 minutes, or until doubled in bulk. Outside in our hot humid climate works great!
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450 degrees and place a shallow pan of water in the bottom of the oven to create steam. Bake the baguettes for 15 to 30 minutes or until they have a hollow sound when tapped with a knife. For a softer crust, brush with melted butter when they have finished baking immediately out of the oven. The butter wash really makes the crust much softer and a little tastier. But if you like the crust crunchy just skip the butter wash.
Within an hour you will have nice fresh baguettes for the rest of the day.
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