Taste the Love: Bread... the Recipe

OK, so here’s how you make these scrumptious french sticks.

Assemble your ingredients... you need only flour, sea salt, yeast, and olive oil. This is my first try with this Italian flour. Not to worry, I have made these baguettes with regular all purpose flour, with terrific results.

Mix and proof for 5 min or until blooming and scented:
1 ½ cups of warm tap water in a measuring cup
1 tsp sugar (the sugar will help feed your yeast)
1 ½ tsp yeast

Pour the yeasty liquid into 3 ½ cups of flour and 2 tsp salt and mix with a spatula... until a ragged dough ball sticks together. Don't worry if it's all craggy and lumpy. It's totally ok.

Dump it onto the counter and then knead it for about 5 minutes, until the dough is relatively smooth.

It should look like this (below) once you've kneaded it a bit... see how all the flour has been picked up by the dough ball?

Pop the dough back into the same mixing bowl (no need to clean it) and slick it with some olive oil. Cover it with a clean dry tea towel, and let it rise for an hour, or until it has doubled in size. I let mine rise on the stove after having turned the oven on for a few minutes, so it is always nice and warm for good rising.

Dump that gorgeous ball of dough onto the counter, which should be sprinkled lightly with flour.

Cut and shape the dough into 3 or 4 french sticks, placing them onto floured parchment paper. Don't be all picky about them looking perfect... those lumps and bumps make it extra crusty and perfectly imperfect after baking.

Let the formed baguettes rise for a second time (covered). This should take another hour.

Preheat your oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit with a foil pan or baking pan onto the bottom rack of the oven. You’ll be tossing a cup of water into that pan when you pop the baguettes into the hot oven.

Slice the top of your french sticks at an angle with a sharp knife when they are puffed and ready for baking.

Pop them into the top of the oven, and quickly pour the cup of water into the bottom pan (see pic below). Be prepared for a rising cloud of steam… but it will help make your baguettes nice and crusty.