Page 20 - PowerPoint Presentation

FRENCH BREAD

Ingredients Method

0.55 kg bread flour (or all purpose In a big bowl, add the water, the yeast and half the
flour) flour. You can use a wooden spoon to mix all this
together, it will be a very wet and sticky dough, but
473 ml water (lukewarm) I always go in there with my hands to make sure it's
1/2 teaspoon salt all mixed well.
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
Cover this gooey dough with a clean towel, and
keep it in a warm place for a couple of hours.
Mix the remaining two cups of flour with the salt
and add it to the gooey dough. Mix it well and you
have to knead the dough for about 10 minutes. The
dough will be a bit sticky but that's how it should
be. In a clean bowl, add a bit of oil and place the
dough in the oiled bowl, rubbing oil over the entire
dough first.
Cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel again
and leave it to rise until it doubles in size, about 1 to
2 hours.

Lightly flour your work surface and knead the
dough for another 5 minutes then cut the dough
into 3 equal pieces.
After you cut the dough, let it rest for a few more
minutes, about 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, shape each piece of dough into a
baguette. Now there are many techniques used to
shape baguettes, but I just plainly rolled them.

Place the baguettes on a clean kitchen towel and let
them rest for another 15 minutes. While the
baguettes are resting, preheat the oven to 450 f /
235 c.

On the baking sheet you can either sprinkle some
flour or cornmeal.

Using a sharp knife, cut long lines going across the
baguettes. Before placing them in the oven, fill a
baking dish with a couple cups of water and place it
on the bottom rack this will ensure the bread will
get the crusty top. Bake the bread in the oven for
about 12 to 15 minutes.