Make it from Scratch! Baguettes

This week’s submission for StoptheRide‘s Make it from Scratch Carnival represents a recent triumph on something that’s been bothering me for quite some time. You see, I’ve had a nearly ten year love affair with the Williams-Sonoma Baguette recipe (see the online version here–mine, being older, omits the vital wheat gluten and for some unknown reason takes less than half the time of this recipe!). But the WS recipe calls for white flour and, although I could occasionally bake all-white-flour breads when it was just Matt & I, now that the children–the young, impressionable, Wonder-bread-free children–are eating what I bake, I’ve had to re-evaluate my beloved recipe.

Initial attempts to just go 100% whole wheat were, well, a disaster. The light texture, the chewy crust, and the amazing flavor were all compromised by just substituting one flour for another. I tried various proportions and adding wheat germ as well and none of them passed the Matt test (who, frankly, thinks I’m overly-militant about my whole grains!).

Tonight, I may have succeeded by the ingenious (if I may say so myself) addition of Rye flour to the mix. So here they are, baguettes for the 21st (crunchy) century:

1.5 c white flour (hey, I never said they were white-flour free!!!), plus more for dusting
1.5 c. rye flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
2 tsp active dry yeast
2 tsp salt
1.5-2 c. warm water
1 egg white and a pinch of salt to glaze

If you have a bread machine, throw all the ingredients in, set it to “dough” and skip the next few steps…Mix the dry ingredients and then add warm water until the dough comes together but is not too wet. Knead for 10-15 minutes or until dough is elastic and smooth. Cover and rise in a warm location for about an hour or until doubled.

Bread machine users, please rejoin us now. Take out the risen dough and press down lightly. Divide dough into two and form each into a baguette by rolling dough briefly, folding it in thirds and then rolling into a rope about the size of your baguette pan (sorry folks, this recipe really does work better with baguette pans!). Place both loaves into the baguette pans and let them rest while your oven preheats to 425.

Make three diagonal slices in the top of each loaf and prepare the egg white. Brush on liberally. Add an oven-proof bowl of water to the oven (this really makes the crust nice and chewy!), add the baguettes, and cook 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with lots of home made butter and enjoy!

Read the rest of the Make it from Scratch entries from this week and last week.