Baguette

I wanted to try making a baguette again. My last attempt was tasty enough, but flat and not too "authentic". I used a recipe from Lauren Chattman's Bread making: Crafting the Perfect Loaf, for Daniel Leader's 4 Hour Baguette. Some differences to other recipes that I have used, but the results were perfect! Here are my adaptations to the original recipe, since I don't have baking stones.

Baguette 
Makes 2 loaves

8 ounces room temperature water 70 degrees or even cooler if the kitchen is warm
3/4 tsp instant yeast
2 cups plus 2 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

Combine water, flour, yeast and salt in bowl of stand mixer and stir with rubber spatula till a rough dough forms.

Kneed dough by machine on medium for 10 to 12 minutes till it clears sides of bowl and it is still a bit lumpy.

Put in bowl that has been sprayed with cooking spray and cover with plastic wrap and set aside till dough is puffy with bubbles on the surface. About 45 minutes.

Give dough a turn. Lift up up and set it down on its side, and cover again. Let sit till increased by 50%or so. About 45 minutes to 1 hour. Dough will be very soft.

Turn out dough on lightly dusted surface and cut into 2 even pieces. I had to resist adding more flour at this point since the dough felt almost too soft to handle. 

Fold into a rectangle and let sit for 10 minutes.

Shape each piece into baguette shape 12 to 14 inches long and place on parchment covered baking tray about  4 inches apart. Then lift up parchment in between loaves so the loaves are close together and place rolled up kitchen towels on other side of parchment to cradle and support loaves while baking.  This is a neat alternative described by Lauren Chattman for proper baguette pans.

Sprinkle with flour and cover with plastic and let stand until puffy and almost double in size, about 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. and place pan with hot water on bottom shelf of oven.

Remove towels and pull parchment so its flat.

Put diagonal cuts on top of loaves with sharp knife. I was nervous doing this because the dough was so soft, so my cuts did not go deep enough.

Spray over with water and put tray on middle rack in oven and bake till golden brown, about 25 minutes. Spray again after 10 minutes. This was my version, since I don't have baking stones.

Cool on wire racks.

Bread looked great and tasted just like it should, chewy  and springy. The crumb looked great too.