Crunchy Baguettes
I love baguette! It’s my favorite bread. I use it for everything: bruschetta, garlic bread, panzanella (a very yummy bread salad), hot dogs or I just enjoy it with butter and home-made strawberry jam or honey. I used to buy those frozen baguettes that are baked in the oven for a few minutes, and then are ready to eat. However, when I started my journey to reduce my amount of plastic waste, I tried to find an alternative to the frozen baguettes that came in a plastic wrapping. Baking my own home-made bread was the way to go! And let’s be honest: home-made bread tastes fantastic and you can control the ingredients (healthier!). Since a few years, I am baking now my own baguettes. Because it takes a moment to bake them, I usually bake two or three kilos at once and freeze them. Whenever I need one for a garlic bread or panzanella, I will just take it out of the freezer, let it defrost and stick it for a few minutes in my air fryer. It tastes as good as the freshly baked ones!
I would like to share the recipe with you. It takes a bit of time to bake those baguettes, but it is absolutely worth it!
For the starter you need
300 g half-white-flour (type 720)
3 dl water
3 g yeast (cube) in crumbles
I mix these three ingredients in my kitchen machine, cover the bowl with a wet kitchen towel and let it sit for approximately 24 hours.
Then I add
700 g half-white-flour (type 720)
3 dl water
to the starter and mix it. On the side, in a small cup I mix
15 g salt
1 dl water
7 g yeast (cube) in crumbles
and add it to the dough. I let my kitchen machine knead the dough for about 15 min before I cover it again with a wet kitchen towel and let it rise for about an hour. On a clean flat and smooth surface, I dust a bit of flour, put the dough on it and pull it flat, then fold the sides inwards, form a ball and let it rise for 20 min, covering it again with a wet kitchen towel. I repeat this procedure for another two or sometimes three times. Then I cut the dough in six equal pieces, form the baguettes, place them on a baking tray, cover them with a wet towel and wait another 45 min before baking them for about 20 minutes at 240° C. When the baguettes start having a golden crust and smelling good, I take them out of the oven, place them one a cooling rack and cover them in a wet kitchen towel for about 10 min. Then I enjoy them either warm or I let them cool down completely before wrapping them tightly in a towel and putting them in a cotton bag in the freezer.
You must try this recipe! Enjoy baking your own tasty baguettes.