Artisan Baguette

 

So a few weeks ago behind the scenes in the food blogging world, I heard about a cookbook swap. Since what I need in life is to swap my cookbooks rather than perform a general downsizing (joking…I have way more cookbooks than I have space. It’s a modern-day tragedy), I joined the fun. So basically, I was assigned a food blogger, Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla. I visited her blog and got a feel for what she might like, and I sent her one of my cookbooks that was collecting dust (Alex Guarnaschelli’s Old School Comfort Food, that, to me at least, was neither old-school nor comfort food and definitely more adventurous than how I usually cook, haha.) and then another blogger did the same for me. I love mail and I love cookbooks, so this was pretty much a recipe for excitement.

I was so excited to get my book from the lovely Lauren at Healthy. Delicious. The book she chose for me was The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, 

which is the perfect way for me to get my fancy bread fix while maintaining my rock and roll rural Louisiana lifestyle.

This book is amazing–it has all sorts of master recipes that come together in just a few minutes, you store the dough in your fridge, then you cut off what you need to make individual loaves when you’re ready. All those fabulous crusty breads that you get at your favorite bakery? Bam. The dough is in your fridge, ready to go.

Lauren recommended the baguette, so being strongly prone to suggestion, I took her up on it. It was an excellent choice.

In terms of equipment, you’re going to need a sharp knife, a pizza stone, a pizza paddle, a metal baking pan (I used a 9″ cake pan that I don’t have particularly strong feelings toward), a kitchen scale (not totally necessary, but it will come in handy) and some flour or parchment paper.

To make the dough, you’re going to need 3 cups of warm (about 100-105 degrees F) water, granulated yeast, kosher salt, and all-purpose flour. And if you’re not going to weigh it, you’re going to go against everything I’ve ever told you to do and scoop it out of the container and level it with a knife. That’s right. We’re rebels. It feels good, I’m not gonna lie.

Place the water in a 6-quart lidded bowl or container. Add the yeast and salt and stir to combine. Add the flour all at once and stir

to combine. You’ll probably need to mix it with your hands at some point. Mix until the dough is uniformly moist.

This step should take about 5 minutes from start to finish.

Cover with the lid, but don’t seal it completely, just leave it cracked. Let it rise for about 2 hours at room temperature or until it begins to collapse.

You can either use the dough now or refrigerate it for up to 2 weeks.

When you’re ready to bake your bread, sprinkle a pizza peel lightly with flour

(this will be where the dough rests)

and sprinkle the dough lightly with a little all-purpose flour. You can also line the pizza peel with parchment paper  (instead of flouring it) if you prefer.

Gently pull up a large handful of dough (1/2 pound), about the size of a large orange.

Gently pull it down on the bottom to form a ball, coating the ball with the flour that you sprinkled on top before you cut it. Don’t knead the flour into the dough–most of it will fall away.

Shape the dough into a cylinder that’s about 1 1/2″ in diameter. You can roll it gently if you want, just be careful not to push so hard that all the bubbles come out of the dough. Work with the dough–if it’s fighting you, let it rest for 5-10 minutes and then try again. Taper the ends so they’re kind of pointy on both sides.

Place it on the floured pizza peel (or the parchment paper) and allow it to rest for 20 minutes.

Place a pizza stone on the center rack of your oven and place a small metal pan next to or under the pizza stone.

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. When the loaf has rested for 20 minutes, use a pastry brush to brush it with water,

then make a few diagonal slashes across the top of the loaf with a sharp knife.

Use the pizza peel to carry the loaf to the oven, then jiggle the pizza peel to slide the loaf onto the pizza stone. Pour 1 cup of hot water into the empty metal pan and quickly close the door. Bake for 25 minutes or until deeply golden brown. Remove from oven and serve.

This recipe will make several baguettes (or other free-form loaves–the instructions are available in the book).

Thank you so much, Lauren, for picking this book for me and to Alyssa of www.EverydayMaven.com and Faith of http://www.anediblemosaic.com for hosting the Food Blogger Cookbook Swap. I sent a cookbook to a food blogger and received this cookbook in return! Here’s a list of all the other participating food bloggers:

A Baker’s House
An Edible Mosaic
avocado bravado
Blue Kale Road
Blueberries And Blessings
Cheap Recipe Blog
Confessions of a Culinary Diva
Create Amazing Meals
Cucina Kristina
Culinary Adventures with Camilla
Cupcake Project
Dinner is Served 1972
Done With Corn
Eats Well With Others
Everyday Maven
Flour Me With Love 
From My Sweet Heart 
girlichef 
Great Food 360° 
Healthy. Delicious. 
I’m Gonna Cook That! 
Je Mange la Ville 
Karen’s Kitchen Stories 
Kitchen Treaty 
Olive and Herb
OnTheMove-In The Galley 
Paleo Gone Sassy
poet in the pantry 
Rhubarb and Honey 
Rocky Mountain Cooking
Shikha la mode 
Shockingly Delicious
Sifting Focus 
Spiceroots
Spoonful of Flavor 
Tara’s Multicultural Table 
The Not So Exciting Adventures of a Dabbler 
The Suburban Soapbox 
The Whole Family’s Food