Recipe For My BBEST Friends

joonie's free & easy baguettes

3 cups very warm water
1 TBSP. dry yeast
1 TBSP. sugar
7 cups flour
I use King Arthur bread flour, but regular is fine.
1 TBSP. salt

Combine the first three ingredients in a fairly large bowl
& allow yeast to proof for about 5 minutes.

Add the flour & salt.
Mix well with a heavy spoon.
I use wooden.

DO NOT KNEAD. <--- Are you loving me now?

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
Set in warm place.
Do not fret ~ large temperature window here. :)

Allow dough to rise until it is 2 ~ 3 times its size.
{About 2 hours. Maybe 3.}

Now comes the fun part.

Heavily flour a board or counter.
And your hands.
I use the counter.
So easy.

Dump out the dough.
It will be sticky.

Using a sharp knife
{and I sprinkle a little flour on the dough}
divide it into four pieces.

Delicately shape into free form loaves
about 4" shorter than your liberally oiled
{I use Crisco shortening}
cookie sheet pans.

I used my smaller pans this time
so these baguettes are a little chubby.
You can make them narrow.
You can make rolls.
Whatever.
I put 2 to a pan.
Mine were cozy once they rose. :)

Cover lightly with a cotton towel.
Set aside until doubled.
About an hour.

Meanwhile, shortly before they are ready
preheat oven to 425*.
Use middle shelf.
{I baked mine on two shelves & switched them half way through.}

Bake about 20 minutes or until crusty & brown.
{I left these a little light because I knew we'd be freezing them & reheating.}
Cool on wire rack.

These warm up beautifully at 350* for 5-10 minutes.

I wish I had a photo of their interiors.
They're like angel clouds.
It was really late & I was lucky to grab these shots
before the sun disappeared.

And let's face it,
once Evan sees fresh hot baguettes
he is not a willing or able
photo shoot accomplice.

You may find yourself
in a very similar frame of mind
when you triumphantly escort
your own lovely, crusty baguettes
from your oven
and introduce them
to your loved ones.

I hope you all enjoy this
& that it will always be
a reminder of our BBEST times.

PS. And here's a helpful Etsy Tip I just read about this week. You can access your expired listings using google. It works best if your listing has recently expired. I have found I cannot access all of mine because mine expired a while ago. To accomplish this, simply go to your expired page. Copy the title of your listing and paste it into google search along with your shop name. When (if) your listing appears, do not click on the title, but 'cached'. Viola! There is your entire listing. You can now cut and paste to your heart's content, edit, grab the photos if need be... I hope this will be helpful to you. I like it because I am moving items from joonbeam to my other shops. I don't always catch them before they expire. This is a nice back up. Good luck. See you next month.