FRENCH STYLE BREADS

Recipe yields: 2- 17 inch, 14 ounce baguettes, or,
4- 9 inch, 7 ounce hoggie/sub/dinner rolls.

You are visiting this page because you would like to learn how to produce a thin, crackly-crusted French style baguette, having predictable results each time you bake them. I can assure you, the following simple system will enable you to create and produce a great baguette; having exceptional crust, crumb, and flavor, right in your own home kitchen oven. It will be the best baguette made, this side of a boulanger's shop.

The following instructions are quite simple, yet explicit and should be precisely followed. After you make the first batch or two, feel free to experiment.

Best of all, you do not need a lot of fancy equipment and if you are a home baker/cook; chances are, you will have everything on hand to begin producing great baguettes.

The first piece of equipment you will require is a large, lidded, turkey roasting pan. Plus, a dual loaf baguette pan and cooling rack that will fit into your turkey roaster. That's all the "specialized" equipment you will need. That is to say: Unless you prefer to mix and knead your dough by hand. I am lazy, so I use a heavy-duty stand mixer. You could also use a food processor, or re-scale the recipe, if need be, and use your bread machine to prepare (knead) the dough.

You will, of course, need liquid and dry measuring cups and spoons. That's it for equipment! Assuming you do have an oven!(g)

Instead of a turkey roasting pan, I use the inner tray and lid from a stainless steel buffet server, along with a 17 inch dual baguette pan and a cooling rack. See detailed view in picture 6.

		1	Two fully baked 17 inch long baguettes resting on cooling rack. If you look real close, you can see the crackled, thin crust. If you listen closely, you can hear the crust crackle from across the room. These family sized baguettes weigh 14 ounces each.
		2	This picture illustrates the interior airy, open crumb texture produced by this recipe and process.
		3	Baked and cooling hoggie/sub rolls. They are delicious and one may be served as a dinner roll for two. Or one roll makes a good sized sandwich for two. They are 9 inches long and weigh 7 ounces.
		4	This is a picture of my rig. It is made from the inside tray and lid from a stainless steel buffet server.See picture 6 for interior detail. That's how it will look when using a turkey roasting pan.
		5	Partially proofed baguettes resting in their baking pan and ready to be placed in the steam/baking contraption.
		6	Baguettes have been steamed and are now ready to be returned to the oven to complete the baking process.
		7	Partially proofed hoggie/sub/dinner rolls resting in their baking pan and ready to be placed in the steam/baking contraption.

Baguette dough is quite simple and easy to prepare; requiring only a few ingredients. all-purpose flour, active dry yeast, salt and water. I prefer to add two optional ingredients; a wee bit of whole wheat flour and malt powder or liquid, as flavor enhancers. The latter, also tends to add coloration to the finished product.

If you wish to change the yield of this recipe, just fill-in the new yield and your new ingredient quantity will appear in the right column.

I prefer to weigh all of my ingredients for accuracy. However, I have converted the weights to cups and spoons for your ease of use.

Flour quantities are based upon 5 ounce dry cups.

Water quantities are based upon 8 ounce liquid cups.

INGREDIENTS
Recipe yields: baguettes.	Required serving:
Cups all-purpose, unbleached flour.	Cups all purpose, unbleached flour.
Tablespoons whole wheat flour.	Tablespoons whole wheat flour.
Tablespoon yeast, or 1 pkg.	Tablespoons yeast.
Tablespoon salt.	Tablespoons salt.
Teaspoon malt powder (opt).	Teaspoon malt powder.
Cups water.	Cups water.

PREPARATION

NOTE: Bread dough may be prepared using various mixing techniques. For this recipe I am going to outline the "Straight Dough" method using a stand mixer and utilizing it's paddle and dough hook attachments. Normally, this type of bread dough benefits from either long proofing periods or using the "Sponge" mixing method. To simplify the project, we will only discuss the very basic "Straight Dough" procedure; where all ingredients are dumped in the work bowl and mixed. Prepare pan. Lightly oil the pan and sprinkle with corn meal if desired. Reserve. Get your steam chamber ready. Place the rack on the bottom. Reserve. Carefully measure and dump all of the "DRY" ingredients into the work bowl of the mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment. Turn mixer to speed one to thoroughly mix the dry ingredients. A minute is adequate. Measure and add the water (Should be tepid. About 105° to 120° F.)(I use ice water because my kitchen temperature remains around 82°F.) to the dry ingredients in the work bowl. With paddle attachment, mix ingredients for one minute, to a real "shaggy-looking" mess. Remove paddle and replace with dough hook. Cover work bowl with a dampened tea towel and let the "shaggy mess" rest for 8 minutes. After the rest, turn mixer to speed two and mix for four minutes. Dough should be a bit soft, smooth and neither sticky or hard. If sticky add about 1 tablespoon flour and mix. If hard, add about 1 tablespoon water and mix. Do not over mix. Remove dough from work bowl and hand knead for a minute or two and shape into a tight ball. Return ball to work bowl, cover with a damp tea towel and let proof until doubled in bulk. About one hour. NOTE: Very little or no dusting flour should be required in the following procedures. When dough has doubled, flatten it out and divide in half or fourths depending on the type bread you are making. Dough should weigh about 28 ounces. You can make two 14 ounce baguettes or four 7 ounce hoggie/sub type loaves. Form each dough piece into a tight ball and permit to rest for 5 minutes, under plastic sheeting. After the dough pieces have rested; flatten, roll and stretch each dough piece into a rectangle, as per your requirements. For 17 inch baguettes you will require a 6 x 14 inch rectangle. For 9 inch hoggie/sub loaves, you will require a 6 x 7 inch rectangle. Carefully roll each rectangle, jelly-roll fashion, into a tight cylinder. Pinch seams and roll, back and forth, under your open palms to elongate the loaves to the desired length; while at the same time, rounding and sealing the ends. Place each shaped piece, seam side down, into your prepared pan. Slash the loaves. Using a lame or single edge razor blade, held at almost a 90° angle, make 4 quick slashes; no more than 1/4 inch deep, down the length of the 17 inch loaves, or, 3 slashes down the length of the 9 inch loaves. Lightly cover with plastic sheet for pre-proofing. This is the proofing contraption I use for all my proofing needs. Pre-proofing should take 45 to 60 minutes depending upon your kitchen temperature. When loaves have doubled, place the pan into your steam contraption atop the rack in the bottom of it. Add 2 liquid ounces of water to the bottom of the steam contraption and re-place lid. Place steamer in a cold oven directly on it's floor. Set thermostat to 400°F. and steam/bake for 30 minutes. PLEASE resist the temptation to look inside the steamer during this period of time. I can assure you, no harm will befall your loaves while basking in their sauna bath. After 30 minutes, remove steamer from oven and carefully remove the steamer lid. (Watch out for hot steam escaping!) Now, just as carefully, remove your baguette pan from the steamer and place it on the top shelf of your oven. Time 10 minutes. Half way through the time, turn pan to assure even browning. After 10 minutes, carefully remove pan from oven and carefully remove the fragile loaves from the pan. Place the partially baked loaves on the top oven shelf and time an additional 10 minutes. Once again turn loaves to permit even browning. Test for doneness. Loaves are baked when nicely browned and tapping their bottoms, produces a hollow sound. More accurately, use an instant read thermometer. It should register 210°F. When loaves have baked, remove from oven and place on a cooling rack outside of your warm kitchen area. In a few minutes, you should be able to hear the crust crackle. Loaves are at their best if eaten at almost room temperature, or, with-in two to three hours. They may also be frozen for future use. Past three to four hours, you might want to refresh their crispyness in a 400°F. oven, for 3 to 5 minutes.

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