My recipe for baguettes. Uses 4 ingredients, bread flour, water, salt, and active yeast.
A poolish put together the night before. It consists of 300g of water, 200g of bread flour, and 1/2 tsp of active yeast. Mix it all together, cover and let sit for 12-24 hours.
The next day, weigh out 500g of bread flour.
To the bread flour, whisk in 1 tsp salt.
Weigh out 220g of water.
Move poolish to a large mixing bowl. Mix the water into the poolish.
Mix the flour/salt into the poolish. You'll get a shaggy mass. Now it's time to do a slap and fold. Wet the surface, and your hands (keep a bowl of water handy to keep everything wet.) Slap and fold the dough ten times.
This is what the dough should look like after the first slap and fold. Put the dough back into the mixing bowl, cover and set aside for 45 minutes. You'll be doing an additional 3 slap and folds (total of 4), each followed by a 45 minute rise.
This is the dough after the first rise.
After a total of 4 slap and folds followed by a 45 minute rise, the dough is taut, firm and sticky
Now the dough is cut into four equal pieces, formed into balls and set aside to relax for 15 minutes. Cover them with a piece of oiled plastic wrap.
Now is a good time to prep you baker's couche. You do have a baker's couche, right? Anyway, lay it out and flour it. If you have no couche, you can lay the shaped loaves out on a greased baguette pan. You do have a baguette pan, right? If not, you can use a greased cookie sheet. The shape of the loaves will not be the same without the couche and baguette pan, though.
All balls of dough formed into loaves and placed on couche to raise for 30 minutes. Cover with oiled plastic wrap.
Greased, perforated baguette pan for 4 loaves.
Loaves on baguette pan to raise for 30 minutes. Cover with oiled plastic wrap. While loaves raise, heat oven to 450 degrees. place a pan in the bottom of the oven. Boil some water on the stove.
When oven is at temp, and loaves are raised, place baguette pan in oven. Pour hot water into pan and close door. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until loaves are golden brown.
Turn loaves onto rack to cool. I did miss one step before putting loaves in oven. Normally, I'd cut 3 or 4 diagonal slashes into the top of the loaves. I got distracted by visitors, and missed the slashes.
