These baguettes are 100% NOT gluten free, made with organic flour and have three resting periods.
Baugettes are typically vegan, but I have come across some recipes that have dairy and have subbed dairy free options and in my experience, it tends to create a loaf that is usually too dense and doesn’t have that wonderful chewy texture. I have been experimenting with versions of this recipe for the past few months and I’ve finally nailed it. I have been making this exact recipe every two days because that’s roughly how long it takes the family to get through it!
Second rising. 
Ready to eat!
There is a lot of passive time in this recipe, so if you get it ready while you’re doing other things around the kitchen throughout the rising time, it’s really not that much effort. Coming together like a typical bread recipe, with warmed water and yeast resting before adding the salted flour. This recipe has three resting periods, one immediately after mixing, one an hour later and a third once the dough is shaped into loaves.
The trick for achieving the soft and chewy inside and the crusty and crisp outside is ice cubes! It sounds a little funny, but you put the ice cubes on a baking sheet under the tray your loaves are going to go on. As they melt, they create steam and the steam helps to create a beautiful crust.
Crusty Baguettes
These baguettes take under four hours from start to finish and are impossibly soft on the inside and crusty on the outside.
- 1½ cups water (115°F)
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- 3¼ cups organic, all purpose flour (plus more for sprinkling on work surface)
- 1½ tsp salt
- ¾ cup ice cubes (amount will vary depending on the size of your ice cubes)
- cooking spray
Pour warm water into bowl of mixer and sprinkle yeast on top. Whisk and let rest for 10 minutes, or until it becomes foamy.
Add the salt to the flour and mix, then slowly add the flour mixture to the mixer fitted with the hook attachment on low. Let the dough rest uncovered in the mixing bowl for 15 minutes.
Knead for 10 minutes on low, or 15 minutes by hand.
Spray bowl with cooking spray, and place dough inside. Cover with a plastic bag and leave to rise in a warm place for about an hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.
Punch down the dough, knead for another 10 minutes on low or 15 minutes by hand and return to bowl to rise again for another hour or so.
Punch down the dough, and shape into two baguette loaves. You can use a baguette pan or you can fold parchment paper into a similar shape. Let rise for one hour.
Score diagonal slashes into each loaf, and place ice cubes on a baking sheet on a lower rack in the oven.
Bake your loaves at 475°F for 22-25 minutes.
Let the bread rest on a cooling rack for 10 minutes before serving.
How much flour you’ll need will depend on environmental factors, so your total amount needed may be more or less.
The ice cubes melting and creating steam are what will make your bread nice and crusty, and how much ice you’ll need will depend on their size and shape. You’ll need roughly a cup and a half of ice.
