Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients (11 page)

1. Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450°F,
with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty metal broiler tray on any other rack that won’t interfere with the rising bread.

2.
Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a ½-pound (orange-size piece) for a baguette, and about half that for a
ficelle
. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.

3.
Gently stretch the dough into an oval. Fold the dough in thirds, like a letter. Bring in one side and gently press it into the center, taking care not to compress the dough too much.

4.
Bring up the other side and pinch the seam closed. The letter-fold technique puts less dough into the ends and that’s what gives you the nice taper.

5.
Stretch very gently into a log, working the dough until you have a thin baguette. Don’t compress the air out of the dough. If the dough resists pulling, let it rest for a moment to relax the gluten, then continue to stretch. Don’t fight the dough. You can continue to stretch the dough during the 40-minute rest, until you achieve the desired thin result. Final width for a baguette should be about 1½ inches; for a
ficelle
, ¾ inch.

6.
Allow the loaf to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, on a pizza peel prepared with cornmeal or lined with parchment paper for 40 minutes (or just 20 minutes if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough). Alternatively, you can rest the loaf on a silicone mat, a greased cookie sheet, or perforated baguette pan without using a pizza peel.

7.
Just before baking, use a pastry brush to paint the loaf with egg white wash or water. Slash the loaf with 3 slightly diagonal cuts ¼ inch deep, using a serrated bread knife.

8.
Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone (or place the silicone pad, cookie sheet, or baguette pan on the stone if you used one). Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the metal broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door (see
Chapter 3
for steam alternatives). Bake for about 25 minutes for a baguette, or 15 to 20 minutes for a
ficelle,
until richly browned and firm.

9.
Allow the bread to cool on a rack before slicing and eating.

½ pound (orange-size portion)
Master Recipe dough

Parchment paper to line the pizza peel

1. Thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450°F,
with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty metal broiler tray on any other rack that won’t interfere with the rising bread.

2.
Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a ½-pound (orange-size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.

3.
To form the
epí
, gently stretch the dough into an oval. Fold the dough in thirds, like a letter. Bring in one side and gently press it into the center.

4.
Bring up the other side and pinch the seam closed. This will help you produce tapered ends.

5.
Stretch very gently into a log, working the dough until you have a nice thin baguette about 1½ inches in diameter. If the dough resists pulling, let it rest for a moment to relax the gluten, then continue to stretch. Don’t fight the dough.

6.
Lay the baguette on the edge of a prepared pizza peel. For the
epí
, parchment paper is preferred because it will allow the formed loaf to slide into the oven with a minimum of distortion and sticking. Allow the loaf to rest, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for 40 minutes (or just 20 minutes if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough).

7.
Dust the loaf with flour and then, using kitchen shears and starting at one end of the loaf, cut into the dough at a very shallow angle. If you cut too vertically, the “wheat grains” won’t be nice and pointy. Cut with a single snip all the way down to a quarter-inch from the cutting board, but be careful not to cut all the way through the dough or you’ll end up with individual rolls. Kitchen shears with long blades are best for this task.

8.
Lay each piece that you’ve cut over to one side, alternating sides with each cut. Continue to cut in this fashion until you’ve reached the other end.

9.
Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone (or place the silicone mat or cookie sheet on the stone if you used one). Pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the metal broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door (see
Chapter 3
for steam alternatives). Bake for about 25 minutes, until richly browned and firm. Peel off the parchment paper and finish the loaf directly on the stone or on an oven rack two-thirds of the way through baking.

10.
Allow the bread to cool on a rack before slicing and eating.