Ooh-la-la Baguette

Total Time: 3 hrs 20 mins Preparation Time: 3 hrs Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups filtered water
• 3 3/4 cups organic unbleached flour
• 2 tablespoons arrowhead mills gluten
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons red-star active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup filtered water, as extra for moistening the dough and sprinkling
• 2 teaspoons freeze-dried dill
• 1 teaspoon nigella seeds (a.k.a. kalonji seeds an indian spice)
• 1 teaspoon ground up dried sweet persimmon peel
• 2 teaspoons freeze-dried dill
• 3/4 teaspoon fresh cracked ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon freeze-dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon freeze-dried orange rind
• 1/8 teaspoon granulated sugar

Recipe

• 1 following your bread-machine method using the european, french, or dough setting.
• 2 combine the first 5 ingredients- start machine, in about 7-8 minutes sprinkle a few drops of the extra water in the corners of bread machine as needed to incorporate all of the flour- still keeping the dough very firm- there should be no extra moisture in the machine.
• 3 remove dough from machine after the stirring and kneading cycle is done (about 25-30 minutes).
• 4 place the dough in large clean bowl,*drape a bread cloth over and place in oven with light on and oven door shut for about one hour, or until doubled*.
• 5 punch down, turn over and repeat from* as above, until doubled- about one hour.
• 6 punch down, turn out onto bread board, divide into two pieces.
• 7 roll each piece out into a rectangle just under 3/8" thick by 5 inches wide by 14 inches long.
• 8 let rest a minute.
• 9 sprinkle a few drops of water on the rolled out dough and spread out to give the dough a little sticky to it when you roll it into the baguette shape.
• 10 roll up the dough into the baguette shape- pinch the seam completely the length of the baguette.
• 11 sprinkle and spread a few drops of water on each baguette and roll the mixed toppings.
• 12 place each topped baguette into a fluted baguette tray lined with parchment paper.
• 13 proof in a draft free location- with the bread cloth draped over for about 45 minutes, or until doubled- the last 15 minutes preheat the oven to 440°f.
• 14 make 5 slashes at a diagonal- this slashing step can be done half way through proofing if you are afraid of deflating the bread completely.
• 15 bake at 440°f 18- 20 minutes on the middle rack, with a small pyrex custard bowl of 2-3 ozs of water combined with a 1/2 teaspoons of vinegar placed on the oven floor – or just pitch it at the oven floor like i do – i haven’t broken a heating element yet.