Friday, May 29, 2009

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.

18 comments:

Attack of the Vintage said...

Now I am hungry!! I'll have to have someone make those for me, then they will be even easier.
Great tip on the expired listings too.

Yankeegirl said...

Those baguettes look so delicious!! Thanks for the recipe and thanks for the Etsy tip, Joon!!

blazingneedles said...

And I haven't eaten breakfast yet! I am a bread baker and I will definitely give this a try.

circleinthesand said...

oh wow, what a cool recipe. I especially love the "Do Not Knead" part, hehe. Those look delicious - thank you for sharing this with us!

Beth Anderson said...

Yum - I'm so hungry and these look so good - wish I could eat one right now!

Zuda Gay Pease said...

All I can say is YUMMMMMM!!! I will try this bread recipe!

Beth said...

Joonie, I love your recipes. This one looks delish. Thanks for the helpful hint too.
:)

Anonymous said...

Mouth watering blog Joonie ! I wish I had one now.
Thanks for the tip too.

joon said...

Come on down, friends! I have some in my freezer. Warming them up is even easier than making them. :)

Thanks for reading. I hope y'all are OK with something a little different this time. Let me know either way, please. I have plenty more to share or I can go back to featuring shop items.

ox

joonie

Chauncey said...

Joonie, fabulous post and I loved that you mixed things up a little. We all know... boomers love to eat... and the pictures are making me very hungry.

gloria said...

Yum!!! I coming over in 5 minutes for the bread!!!

Judy Nolan said...

Oh, my goodness! These look delicious. Can't wait to try the recipe...bread is one of my downfalls. (There are many; I like to eat!) Great tip about capturing expired listings, too.

Cher of StuStuStudio said...

Yea! I'll have to try these this weekend, I can already smell them baking. YUM!

The tip on accessing old listings will come in handy! I've had a couple I needed to do, and now I know! Keep on mixing it up, just what I kneaded today.
Cheers
Cher
WWW.StuStuStudio.etsy.com
stustustudio@charter.net

Jill said...

The bread looks great!!! Thanks for the tip about expired listings!! Great idea.

On a Whimsey said...

How can anyone resist hot freshly baked bread? Thanks a million for this recipe... now to convert the oven temps!

Also, what a useful tip re expired items. So often I want to list again and find I can't 'get' at the listing once it has expired!

Nuvofelt said...

Yummy, yummy.....

Pam said...

I can't wait to try these! And the part I like best....no kneading!! Thanks so much for the recipe, and also for the information about the expired listings and copying the info. Great job!

Jaci said...

I can't wait to try this recipe! And thanks for the tip on expired listings :)
Jaci
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