Homemade baguettes without a bread machine
To prepare homemade bread, you just need to know the principles of making it and the necessary ingredients. Flour, salt, fresh or dry yeast, and water are generally enough to prepare bread. And don't think that it is essential to be equipped with a bread machine to make delicious loaves. Elbow grease is perfect. A pastry robot is even better (and above all less tiring).
First, you have to start by mixing flour with salt, before adding the yeast dissolved in lukewarm water. Be careful, the water must not be too hot so as not to “kill” the active ingredients of the yeast. Next comes the kneading stage. By hand, it takes around 20 minutes of work. Indeed, the dough must be kneaded for a long time so that the gluten network is formed and the rising is effective.
Obviously, if you have a pastry robot, it's even better! We set the hook, and we let the technology work for us.
Homemade baguettes like at the baker's
Even if the desire is great and the wait just as great, it seems difficult to obtain a homemade baguette that is the exact replica of that of the baker. For what ? Quite simply because in theory, at home, we are simply not equipped with a bread oven but with a traditional oven. So, if you want to make a homemade baguette, it will necessarily be smaller than the traditional baguette. No matter, you can still make your own baguettes!
If you want to play in the big leagues, you can prepare your own sourdough, based on flour and spring water, which you will leave to ferment and “feed” for several days. Once ready, we can use this sourdough instead of yeast in our baguettes. This essential ingredient in baking has several advantages: it facilitates the digestion of bread, extends its shelf life, and gives great flavor. But for those in a hurry, using yeast, whether fresh or dry, is ideal.
How to make a homemade baguette quickly?
Sourdough, fermentation, kneading… If these words give you a headache, don't worry, there are also amazing recipes without kneading. Basically, just mix everything together in a bowl and the dough is ready. Said like that, it's hard to believe it, and yet the “no-knead magic wand” has become an Internet classic that any cook, no matter how novice, can make.
The no-knead magic wand recipe
For 2 baguettes or 4 mini-baguettes
375 g of wheat flour
5 g of dry baker's yeast
1 tbsp. teaspoon of fine salt
30 cl of lukewarm water
Mix all the ingredients together until you obtain a sticky dough (this is normal!)
Cover the bowl, then leave to double in volume in a warm place, the best being to let the dough rise for 1 hour in the oven preheated to 40° then turned off.
We then divide the dough into two or quarters, and form the baguettes by adding a little flour. As the dough is very flexible, it is normal not to obtain an aesthetically perfect and consistent result, like at the baker's, but that will not change the taste! Also, if you are equipped, you can use a baguette mold.
Just before putting in the oven, cut the baguettes with a knife, and you can sprinkle as desired with seeds, herbs, or even chopped nuts.
Finally, bake for 17 minutes at 250°C/th.7.5, placing a little water at the bottom of the roasting pan.
Up to you !
