Nothing compares to freshly baked bread.

I love bread.I love the funky smell of brewing yeast. I love the smell of bread baking in the oven. I love the crunch of the perfect crust. Baking breads is one of my joys in life.

When you bake bread you are working with a living thing. As soon as you activate the yeast and mix in the flour, the dough starts developing its character that will eventually show in the final baked bread. Bread making is simple, but it is hard work and eats up so much time from the time you activate the yeast until you take the bread out of the oven.

I've been making baguettes at home for some time and have mastered it over the years. This is an appoximation of there recipe I do at home. I dont have the habit of making exact measurements on my breads. I just judge everything by feel. But this will be a good guide for you.


French Baguette recipe:

1 tbsp Active Dry yeast
2 cups lukewarm water
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
4 cups bread flour (approximate)
1 tbsp olive oil.

In a large bowl mix water and sugar, sprinkle yeast and stir. Let stand for 5 mins then sprinkle salt. (I usually add the salt at the beginning and it works fine with me, but most bakers prefer to add the salt after blooming the yeast.

Mix in 3 cups flour, 1/2 cup at a time until smooth.Slowly kneed the dough adding the rest of the flour until the dough does not stick to you hands anymore. Need at least 10 mins. I like taking time during the kneading process to allow the flour to release its gluten. It makes the baguette more chewy.

Form the dough into a ball and place it in a bowl that has been greased with olive oil. Cover with a plastic and let rise for 45 mins until the dough doubles in size and punch down the dough using you fist. Then let it rise again for 2 hours in room temperature. After punching down th dough, you can actually refrigerate it overnight. If you do that the bread will have a better flavor as the yeast has more time to ferment and develop.

On a floured surface shape the dough into loaves. Put it in a greased and floured baking pan and let it rest again for an hour.

Score the top diagonally with a sharp knife. Brush the loaves with water. Put the bread in oven for at least 35 mins at 400'F. Or bake until crusty or golden brown.

Others put a pan of water at the base of the oven and let it steam the bread for the first 15 mins of baking, before removing the pan to let the bread brown in the oven. It makes the insides of the bread moist.