When I'm away at college, it's hard to find time to experiment in the kitchen. I often find myself making the same things day to day. Or, let's be honest, I just hit up the dining hall. With readings, papers and exams flying at you all the time, the dining halls become all the more appealing with their ready-to-eat, buffet-style food.
But as soon as I got home yesterday for spring break, I headed out to the grocery store to pick up ingredients to whip up something from scratch. I was itching to bake something new. So here it is! My first attempt at a French Baguette! It was super fun to put on my apron, turn on some French music, and lose myself in the process. (I used whole wheat flour and garnished it with rosemary, but you could totally use white flour and your choice of fresh herbs.) Without further adieu, here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
4 cups whole wheat flour
2 packets of dry active yeast
2 tsp sea salt
2 Tbs honey
3 Tbs fresh rosemary
cornmeal for dusting pan
6 ice cubes
warm water
Start by combining the yeast, honey and 1/2 cup warm water in a bowl. Stir ingredients together then let it sit for about four minutes, until it starts to foam. (See above pic) While your wet ingredients are sitting, grab a separate bowl and whisk together your flour and sea salt. (see below pic) At this point, you could also add 2 Tbs of finely chopped rosemary to the dry ingredients for extra flavor. Unfortunately, I didn't think of that until after the fact. Next time!
Next, add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients. Gently combine with a spoon.
Then add 1/2 cup warm water to the bowl and combine with your hands until it forms a ball of dough. If it's not forming a ball after you add the water, you may need to add more. If it's too moist to form a doughy ball, you may need to add more flour. Don't worry if the consistency isn't right at first, you'll get it eventually! Once you've formed a ball, it's time to kneed! You're going to want to kneed your dough four about five minutes, or until it's evenly combined throughout.
Once you've formed your ball of dough, place it in a large bowl and cover it with a damp cloth. Let it sit for 30 minutes, or until it's roughly double its initial size. After you've let it sit for 30 minutes, cut your ball of dough in half and form two baguettes. For each half, you're going to roll the dough with your hands to elongate it, then gently pat it to form a rectangle. Once you've got an elongated rectangle, fold the tops and bottoms to the center and pinch, then continue to roll it out with your hands. You'll probably do this process (rolling and pinching) 2-3 times, or until your dough is elongated to 12 inches long and roughly 2-3 inches wide. Once both of the halves are rolled out, lightly dust your pan with corn meal and place your dough on your baking sheet. Cover with a damp cloth and let sit for about 30 minutes, or until it has roughly doubled in size.
Once your dough has been sitting for 30 minutes, remove the damp cloth and grab a scissor. Cut slits about 1 inch apart and about 1/2 inch deep in the tops of the dough. Lightly dust your dough with whole wheat flour and add your fresh rosemary. If you find that our rosemary isn't sticking to the top of the dough, run it under some warm water and then press it gently into the top of the dough.
Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F and place your baking sheet in the oven. Immediately add your ice cubes and 1/2 cup cold water to another baking sheet (about 1 inch deep) and place that on the rack below your dough. The steam from the ice water will ensure that your baguettes have a crisp crust. Bake for 15 minutes, or until your baguettes are golden brown.
Voila! You've got yourself two Whole Wheat Rosemary French Baguettes! I brought one baguette over to my friend's house for he and his family to enjoy. I kept the other one for my family and I to enjoy throughout the week. This bread would go well with just about anything, both savory and sweet. I enjoyed mine last night with a warm bowl of root vegetable soup. (Yum!)
Then today I cut a couple of slices of the baguette and added jam and fresh strawberries to one slice and fresh tomato and rosemary to the other.
It was a perfect addition to my morning coffee!
Even Mr. Riley wanted a taste!
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