French Baguette (can be made Vegan)

French Baguette (can be made Vegan)

     Ingredients:

1 ½ cups mildly warm water (not cold, not boiling, warm to activate yeast properly).

4 cups flour (all purpose flour is fine)

1 Tablespoon sugar (vegan, use organic sugar)

1 ¾ tsp salt

2 Tablespoons of butter (vegan-use vegan margarine-Earth Balance is a good choice)

1 ½ Teaspoons-Active dry yeast

Use your Kitchenaid mixer with a dough hook and prepare per unit instructions, or put into a bread machine-selecting the dough mode.  When done in the machine-usually about an hour and a half, place into a greased bowl, flip over, cover with cling wrap and a clean towel

and place somewhere warm to rise for 1 ½-2 hours. Then with a little flour on your cutting board,

Cut into 4 equal pieces.  Take each piece and roll it up jellyroll fashion, trying to roll it tightly,

and pinch the ends seams to seal.  If you have time, let rest again for 30 minutes, otherwise continue

to next step.  Create a salt wash for them-really adds a lot of flavor-1 teaspoon salt and ¼ cup of water.

Brush onto the baguettes.  Using a knife, but diagonal slashes every 2 inches or so across the top. 

See the picture.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (450 degrees if using a stone).  Throw a pan with a

few ice cubes into the bottom of the oven.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, and cool on a rack for

10minutes-1 hour if you can wait that long with the smell of fresh bread in the house.

Hope you enjoy them.