French Bread/ Baguette

I recently bought my favourite book with a flipkart coupon which I won at a competition conducted by Fortune Rice Bran Oil. The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart has been in my list for so long and I was so happy to hold that book in my hand. If you are interested in bread baking then this is the encyclopedia of bread baking. Peter explains every detail about the bread and if you try out his recipes then you are one step further in mastering the art of bread baking. For the Blogging Marathon # 32, alphabet theme, the letter is F today and the theme is baked. So I selected the French Bread/ Baguette from the book. I was so thrilled to try it out and was so surprised by the result. As you can see the bread turned out beautiful and I made three new dishes with it. French Bread falls under the category of lean dough bread. It has a nice golden hard crust. I followed Peter's recipe exactly and the result was amazing.

Recipe Source: The Bread Baker's Apprentice
Makes 3 small baguettes
Ingredients:
For The Pate Fermentee:
Flour-2 1/4 cups
Salt-3/4 tsp
Instant Yeast-1/2 tsp
Water(room temperature)3/4 cup+ 3-4 tbs

For The Dough:
Pate Fermentee-3 cups ( all the above pate fermentee)
Salt-3/4 tsp
Instant Yeast-1/2 tsp
All Purpose Flour/ Maida-2 1/2 cups
Warm Water-3/4 cup+2 tbs
Semolina for dusting

Procedure:
For Pate Fermentee:
1. Mix flour, salt and yeast.
2. Add 3/4 cup of water and mix.
3. Keep on adding tablespoons of water until the dough comes together to form a slightly sticky dough.
4. Transfer the dough to the counter and knead for 10 minutes until soft, smooth and elastic.
5. Oil a bowl, place the dough inside and roll to coat all the sides with oil.
6. Cover and let it swell to 1 1/2 times its original size.
7. Remove from bowl, slightly press to degas and return it to the bowl.
8. Cover with wrap and refrigerate overnight.

For The Dough:
1. The next day, remove the pate frementee 1 hour before making the dough.
2. Cut it into 10 pieces, cover with a towel and let it come to room temperature.
3. In a bowl mix flour, salt, yeast and the pate fermentee pieces.
4. Add 3/4 cup of water and keep on mixing until the pate fermentee dough pieces are fully incorporated into the dough.
5. Add water if necessary by table spoons and the dough must be soft and slightly sticky.
6. Transfer dough to the counter, dust with flour and knead.
7. Keep on kneading for 10 minutes or until the dough is soft, elastic and passes the window pane test.
8. Take a small piece of ball and keep on stretching it into a square. It should not break and should be thin enough so that light can pass through it. This is the window pane test. The dough can be stretched with out breaking only if gluten is formed and it is formed by kneading the dough for 10 minutes.
9. Oil a bowl and place the dough inside. Roll to coat the dough with oil.
10. Cover with a cling wrap and allow it to rise for 2 hours.
11. Gently remove it onto a counter with out degassing it.
12. Divide it into 3 equal parts.
13. Shape each portion into a baguette as shown in the snaps.
14. Dust a tray with semolina or sooji and place the rolls on it.
15. Cover and let it come to 1 1/2 times the original size for 45 - 75 minutes.
16. Preheat oven to 250C. Place a tray on the lower shelf of the oven.
17. When the loaves are ready, with the help of a sharp knife score the loaves.
18. Boil 1 cup of water.
19. Keep the tray in the oven and pour the boiling water in the tray and close oven immediately.
20. The steam released will give a nice crust.
21. After 2 minutes, reduce temperature to 225C.
22. Bake until the loaves are nice brown in colour. When tapped they should sound hollow.
23.Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.
24 Slice only after 45 minutes.
25. Enjoy!!