
If you have been following my blog or Facebook lately, you know I've been obsessed with bread. I've been making dozens of baguettes, trying to get it right. I got the recipe to work ages ago - but they didn't look that great. I tried everything under the sun to get the crust to brown. It's easy when you cook the loaf in a dutch oven like I do with my boule bread. However, the baguettes are too long to fit in the pan. Finally I figured out how to simulate the environment of a dutch oven without the dutch oven. You just trap your steam with parchment paper!
I got all kinds of compliments on my baguettes for Christmas dinner, from people who ate gluten and from those who were gluten-free. It was an amazing and filling meal, and yet my boyfriend made little turkey sandwiches afterward with baguette slices and turkey bits. That says it all.
Quick Baguette Recipe
For this recipe you will need:
- 225g GF bread flour blend
- warm water
- apple cider vinegar
- a baguette pan (not 100% necessary, but it helps to shape the loaf)
- extra flour - I recommend potato starch
1 1/4 C (245g) warm water (100-115 degrees F)
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
Add:
15g whole psyllium husk
Whisk the psyllium husk into the wet ingredients until the mixture begins to thicken, 1-2 minutes. Add:
225g gluten-free bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBSP sugar
1 tsp yeast
Repeat this step to close the dough into a tube. Re-flour the surface if necessary. Roll out the dough with your hands by gently but firmly rolling it against the counter as though making a play dough snake. Get the snake as even as you can, but don't roll it out longer than your baguette pan. Taper the ends by rolling them out more firmly. You don't need to get too fussy.
Place them diagonally on a large piece of parchment paper on the baguette pan. (If you don't want them as floury as pictured, brush the flour off with a clean, dry pastry brush.) Cover the baguettes and let the dough rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees F. Score the top of the loaves deeply, holding the knife at a 45 degree angle and overlapping the cuts somewhat. See a good demo video here.
Wrap the loaves by stapling the parchment paper together in a tent shape as pictured. This traps the steam so that the crust browns nicely.
Enjoy your baguettes after they have cooled for at least 10 minutes.