Baking Baguettes

Remember the baguette recipe I told you about in my bread making post? I decided to make it again today. My friends invited my sister and I over for dinner tonight at one of their houses, so I made the baguette recipe as our contribution. They're making pasta tonight, so the bread will be a good accompaniment. Here's the URL again if you're interested: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/french-baguettes/.

I actually ended up doubling the recipe. The recipe makes 2 baguettes, but I know that we'll eat them quickly so it's always good to have extra.

It's a simple bread recipe. Although the recipe is for a bread maker, I just mixed all of the ingredients in a bowl, only I switched around the order a bit. I find that when I make bread it's generally more successful in rising if I start the recipe by mixing the yeast into warm water, so I began this recipe that way as well. Once I did that, I added all the rest of the ingredients, mixed them up, and left them in the bowl to rise for 30 minutes.

Shaping the baguettes was really easy too. My sister and I have made this recipe in the past, but I've found that the less fuss with shaping them makes a better looking baguette. You have to roll the baguette out in to a rectangle, and then you have to roll it up in to a log shape. When my sister and I first made the recipe, I was so worried about getting the fold on the bottom of the baguette sealed properly. Now I realize that it resolves itself when the baguettes bake; once they're baked, you barely notice there was a fold at the bottom to begin with. Once you have your baguettes shaped, you just cut slashes into them, leave the baguettes to rise for another 30 minutes, and then brush them with egg wash and pop them in the oven for 25 minutes or so.


The recipe makes some really beautiful, browned baguettes. I suspect that if you are looking for a recipe for an authentic French baguette, this one isn't it (not that I really know), but it is tasty and quite similar to the grocery store version. I'd really like to try the Julia Child version one of these days to compare them.