French Baguette

When you have finished preparing the bread, preheat the oven with a tin of water at the bottom of the oven - this stops the bread drying out as its baking!

This may not have looked like a Cuisine de France roll but it tasted good, so that's all that matters, right?

Preheat the oven to 230°C and brush a baking sheet with oil. I used a stand mixer and dough hook to make this bread. 

Ingredients 

450g strong white flour

1½ tsp salt

1½ tsp yeast 

325ml lukewarm water

Stage 1 

• sift the flour and salt into a bowl and then stir in the yeast. 
• pour in the lukewarm water and mix until it comes together.
• scrape down the sides of the bowl and add a dusting of flour - mix on a low speed for 10 minutes.
• brush a bowl with oil, add the dough, cover the bowl with cling film and leave to rise for 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size. 

Stage 2

• turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 1-2 minutes.
• cut the dough in half and shape each piece into a ball.
• shape each ball into a rectangle shape (approx - 7.5 x 20 cm).
• fold one-third of the dough down, then fold the remaining third of the dough (see picture), repeat for the second ball of dough.
• place them in a tin, cover with cling film and leave to rest for 10 minutes.
• repeat the folding process twice over, leaving the dough to rest for 10 minutes each time.

Stage 3

• lightly flour and pleat a tea towel, gently roll and stretch each piece of dough until its 30 cm long and an even thickness.
• support each loaf against the pleats of the tea towel, cover with a damp towel and leave to rise for 40 minutes. 
• gently roll the loaves onto the prepared baking sheet and slash the top several times with a knife.
• bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. 
• cool on a wire rack. 

♥ ♥

Wendy

XO

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