Four Hour Baguettes Recipe 465

CRUSTY FRENCH BAGUETTES 4 HOUR RECIPE - NO STARTER NECESSARY

Steps:

• Whisk together water and yeast in the bowl of a stand up mixer; let sit until yeast is foamy, about 10 minutes. Add flour, salt, and stir with a fork until dough forms and all flour is absorbed; let dough sit to allow flour to hydrate, about 20 minutes. Attach the dough hook to your mixer begin to mix the dough. Continue to knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
• Spray a large bowl with the vegetable spray and transfer the dough ball to it. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (we use a shower cap -- the kind you get in the hotels, they work perfectly) and place bowl in a cold oven.
• Let dough rest until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
• Transer dough to a lightly floured work surface, and shape into an 8" x 6" rectangle. Fold the 8" sides toward the middle, then fold the shorter sides toward the center, like a T-shirt. Return the dough, seam side down, to the greased bowl. Cover with plastic again, and return to oven. Let sit until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• Remove the bowl with dough from oven, and place a cast-iron skillet or heavy pan on the bottom rack of your oven; position another rack above the skillet/pan, and place a baking stone or upside down rimless sheet pan on it.
• Heat oven to 475 F. Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface, and cut into three equal pieces; shape each piece into a 14-inch-rope. Flour a sheet of parchment paper on a rimless baking sheet; place ropes, evenly spaced, on paper. Lift paper between ropes to form pleats; place two tightly rolled kitchen towels under long edges of paper, creating supports for the loaves. Cover loosely with plastic wrap; let sit until they double in size, about 50 minutes.
• Uncover; remove towels, and flatten paper to space out loaves. Using a sharp razor, knife, bread lame, or scissors, slash the top of each baguette at a 30-degree angle in four spots; each slash should be about 4 inches long. Pull out the oven rack with the stone or baking sheet on it and, using the corner of the parchment paper as a guide, slide the loaves, still on the parchment paper, onto the baking stone or pan.
• Place ice cubes in the skillet or pan (this produces steam that lets the loaves rise fully before a crust forms.)
• Bake the baguettes until darkly browned and crisp, 20 to 30 minutes; cool before serving.

FOUR HOUR BAGUETTES RECIPE - (4.6/5)

Steps:

• Whisk together water and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes. Add flour to water and yeast, and mix with a fork until a shaggy dough forms. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for about 20 minutes to hydrate the flour. Add the salt and loosely fold together. Transfer dough to a floured surface. Knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. The dough might be super sticky-just add flour a little bit at a time until the stickiness stops. Form the dough into a ball and transfer to an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. On a floured surface make an 8 by 6 inch rectangle. Fold the long edges of the dough to the middle, then fold the short edges. Place the dough back in the bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.* Put a rimless baking sheet on the middle rack in an oven. Place a cast iron pan on the bottom rack. Form the baguette loaves. Cut the dough into 3 even pieces. Roll each piece into an even 14 inch long rope. Twist the ropes to help them maintain their shape in the oven. Place 1 loaf in the middle of a parchment lined baking sheet. Lift the parchment to create a ridge on either side of the middle loaf and place the other two loaves on either side. On either side of the loaves place a tightly rolled dish towel under the parchment paper. This will help the loaves rise up and not out. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cover the loaves loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until the loaves have doubled, about 50 minutes. Uncover the loaves, remove the towels, and flatten the parchment paper. Use scissors to slash each baguette in 4 spots. You could also use a super sharp knife or a bread lame. Slide the parchment paper and the loaves onto the baking sheet in the oven. Pull on the parchment paper as a guide. Put the ice cubes into the skillet and quickly shut the oven. Bake the baguettes until brown and crispy-about 18-20 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Allow loaves to cool before cutting. *After this rise you can separate the dough into three pieces and freeze them in zip top bags. To bake the bread, allow dough to thaw, then continue through the recipe.