Simplest Bread Machine Recipe Ever

Okay...the title may not be entirely correct.  But I couldn't possibly fit:  "Simplest Bread Machine Recipe for Pain Ordinaire that Tastes Like it's Bakery-Bought.  Ever."  Could I, now?

Now that we've got that out of the way, I'm going to get straight to the point.  That is, I am deeply dependent on my bread machine.  Never for baking though.  I can't stand the loaf shape and texture when it bakes in that odd rectangle pan.  I use it for its muscle, and so I don't have to spend time and energy kneading.  Just pop the ingredients in the pan, set it on the dough cycle, and leave it, until it's time to shape and bake the loaves.  Couldn't be simpler.

And the small amount of effort required to shape a couple of baguettes is truly nothing, especially when you are rewarded with a gorgeous aroma wafting from your oven, and beautiful loaves that could have been bought in a bakery.  Well worth it.

See?  Yum.

So, I'm going to walk you through the steps, so you can see how simple it is.  The recipe for Pain Ordinaire is from my bread bible, Rustic European Breads from your Bread Machine.  I love this book.  Every recipe, bar one (the foccacia), has been amazing.  The technique for shaping loaves I picked up from River Cottage Bread Handbook, which is a truly invaluable book, even if you decide to wuss out, like me, and let your bread machine do the heavy business.

As for the Pain Ordinaire, this is the stuff that everyone eats in France, aside from baguettes.  It looks like a baguette, it pretty much tastes like a baguette, but technically, it is not a baguette.  That recipe is here, and it's more involved, but darn tasty.  After the machine's done the hard work for you, this recipe seriously takes 5 minutes of your time shaping, about an hour or so to rest, and half an hour to bake.  Yes, that does add up to over 2 hours.  But if you're hanging out at home, it certainly won't get in the way of the rest of your busy day.  So never fear.  And you get to look like a serious badass, throwing down these beautiful, homemade loaves.

Here you go:

Pain Ordinaire in the bread machine - adapted from Rustic European Breads from your Bread Machine

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup warm water
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
3 cups unbleached bread flour
1 tsp salt

Useful Tools
dough scraper
water bottle
serrated knife or razor blade

Place water and yeast in bread machine pan, and leave it to bloom for about 5 minutes.  The yeast will soak up the water and begin to look a bit frothy.  Add the flour and salt, and place the pan in the bread machine, on the Dough cycle.  Mine takes an hour and a half, some are shorter.  I don't think it really makes a huge amount of difference.

Turn the dough on to a very lightly floured board, lightly flour your hands so the dough doesn't stick (not too much, you don't want to dry out the dough, or it'll become tough), and shape the dough into a tight ball.  To do this, I fold a "corner" of the dough inward, to the middle, turn, and fold the next corner, turn again, and fold all the way around, so you have a little packet sort of thing going on.  Flip the dough over, so the folds are on the bottom, cup your hands around it, and gently twist dough about a quarter turn, while applying gentle pressure inward and down with your hands, and keeping the dough on the board.  This seals up those folds, and tightens the skin, which will give you that nice crust.  (I should have taken photos of this, but as you can imagine, it's rather awkward to do while covered in flour.)

Cover the dough ball with a large plastic garbage bag, or an overturned bowl, and leave to rest for about 20 minutes or so.  It should look something like this, when you go back to it:

Next, take your dough scraper (you can use a sharp knife, but the dough scraper is super handy, as you'll see in a bit), and cut your dough into two equal parts.

To shape the loaves, gently tap the air out of one risen bit of dough, so it looks like this:

Now, fold the top third of the dough down to the middle, and gently press with your finger tips to seal.

(I don't know why my hands look so oddly red.  Looks like they've been dipped in paint or something.  Or a vat of acid.  Oh well...I do this for you guys, ugly hand photos or no.  Guess I won't be modeling for any lotion ads anytime soon.  So it goes.)

Fold the bottom third up to the middle, just like you did the top.

(Also unsure of why I appear to be flipping the bread off.  Or you people.  It's hard taking a photo one-handed, is all I can say in defense of my apparent and unintentional uncouthness.)

Now, take the top and bottom edges and bring them to the middle, pinching together to seal.

You'll end up with a loaf that looks like this:

Flip that baby over, and gently roll it back and forth a few times, until your dough is a few inches shorter than your baking sheet.  Do the same with the other loaf, and leave to rise on a lightly floured surface, again covered with a plastic garbage bag.  (Many people use a damp tea towel, and you certainly may do that.  I picked up the garbage bag trick in River Cottage Bread Handbook, and it keeps the moisture in the bread better.  And less laundry.  Plus you can re-use the bag several times.)

Once the dough has doubled in size...and this is a variable time, depending on the temperature of your room, the weather, the alignment of the stars, and heaven knows what else...anywhere from half an hour to over an hour usually...it'll look like this:

You'll know it's fully risen when you gently press a fingertip into the dough, and it doesn't immediately spring back, but leaves a small impression.  If you allow your loaves to rise too long, they'll fall, so just reshape and let them rise again, if that happens.  Don't worry, yeast can be pretty forgiving, and will allow you to mess with it for about 3 rises before baking, if you have to.

While you're waiting for the dough to rise...about half an hour in on my time, turn the oven onto 450 deg F.  About ten minutes before baking, place your baking sheet in the oven to preheat.  Get a spot set up for this last bit, because it'll move quickly.  Near the oven, place your water bottle, a serrated knife, dough scraper, and hot pads, then remove the baking sheet from the oven.  Using your dough scraper, carefully run the edge under the loaves to loosen them, then lift one end with the scraper, and one end with your hand, and quickly move the dough to the baking sheet.  Repeat with the other loaf.  Slash each loaf quickly, three or four times with your knife, and spray with water, place in the oven, and spritz the oven walls several times.  Set the timer to 15 minutes, spraying the oven and loaves every 5 minutes.  This spraying crisps the crust.

This sounds rather wordy, but it's incredibly easy, especially once you've done it a few times.  I'd love to have photos to show you, but I do not have that many hands, alright, people?

When the timer goes off, rotate the pan back to front, and continue baking for another 15 minutes, then allow to cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes.

If you can wait that long.

Happy Bread Baking!

J'aime les baguettes

I don't mean to brag, but...those, there?  Right above?  I made those.

Obviously, social niceties (ie...no bragging) must play a lesser role to my immense pride in having successfully made baguettes.  Baguettes that rival many you'd by in a grocery store here, stateside.  A super crisp, crunchy crust, with a lovely soft interior.  I will of course, not dare to compare these to the real deal, a la française.  I do know better than that.  Je ne suis pas un idiot.

And the best part?  They are so easy to make.  Only four ingredients are required; yeast, water, flour, and salt and  - get this - the bread machine does the kneading for you.  The only tricky bit is that you must be nearby for most of the day.  They do take a solid six or so hours from start to finish.  Fortunately though, most of that time is rising time.  And waiting impatiently for your first taste time.  Delicious.

I came across this recipe in a book I found at the library, Rustic European Breads From Your Bread Machine. Rustic?  European?  Bread?  Oh, darling, you had me with rustic.  And bread machine?  Meaning I don't have to do all the hard work?  Oh my, yes.  Needless to say, I sort of fell in love then and there.

This recipe makes three, 17 inch long baguettes, although I had to make mine a bit shorter to fit in my poor excuse for an oven.  (Note to self:  Get over said poor excuse for oven.)  Nonetheless, they tasted divine, if slightly stubbier than the long, sleek bad boys you'd find in a boulangerie.

Also, the dough does not do its rising in the machine, as it would overflow, and make a giant mess.  Listen for the beep that signals the end of the knead cycle (mine's about half an hour in), then remove to a large, oiled bowl for the rise.

Here's the recipe.  Don't be intimidated, they're truly simple to make.  If I can bang these out, with my itsy- bitsy spitfire of an oven (Note to self:  You're still not over it.), anyone can do it.

French Baguettes For A Crowd - adapted from Rustic European Breads
- makes three 17-inch baguettes

Ingredients
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast, or bread machine yeast
1 1/2 cups water, at room temperature
3 1/3 cups bread flour
2 tsp fine sea salt

Place water and yeast in your bread machine pan, and give the yeast a few minutes to bloom (so it looks nice and fluffy), then add the flour and salt.  Set your bread machine to the dough cycle, and when the kneading portion of the program completes, remove the dough.  Place it in a lightly oiled, large bowl, turning once to coat the top with oil as well, and cover with plastic wrap.  Leave in a warm place to rise until roughly tripled in size, about 3 hours.

Remove the plastic wrap, and with wet hands, lightly punch down the dough.  If you're new to bread-making, let me clarify that punching down dough doesn't so much resemble taking a swing at the defenseless dough, as gently prodding it with your fingers, to deflate the carbon dioxide that the yeast has created.  This allows the yeast to get back to work, and with adequate rising, your bread will be that much airier and lovely.  So, punch, or rather tap, down the dough, and let it rise again until doubled, about an hour.

Lightly flour your work surface and hands, and turn the dough out onto it.  Divide into three equal pieces, and let rest for 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, lightly oil a large baking sheet.

*Note*  My oven will only hold two loaves at a time.  If you have a similarly unfortunate situation, simply place one third of the dough back in the bowl, cover, and leave it in the fridge while your loaves rise.  Remove and continue on, once you put the first two loaves into the oven to bake.

With floured hands, roll each piece of dough into a 17 inch long cylinder (or however long you like).  With the side of your palm, gently hit the top of the cylinder all down its length to form a lengthwise crease across the top.  Pinch the crease closed with your fingers, and taper the ends of the loaf.  Lay the baguettes on the prepared baking sheet, leaving at least 3 inches between them, and lightly mist with water.  Cover loosely with a plastic garbage bag, tucking the ends under the baking sheet, and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  Twenty to thirty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 450 deg F.

About 5 minutes before baking, set a kettle to boil, and place a rimmed baking sheet, or pan, on the bottom shelf of your oven.

Press the dough of one baguette lightly with your finger; if it feels springy and has not dried out and formed a crust, leave it be.  If it has formed a crust, gently roll it over so that the bottom is now on top.  (If you've adequately spritzed with water, and kept it covered, it shouldn't need this step.)

Slash the baguettes diagonally with a razor or very sharp serrated knife 3 times along the length, about 1/2 an inch deep.


Lightly mist with water, and place the baking sheet in the middle of your oven.  Fill the rimmed sheet at least an inch deep with the boiled water, and quickly close the oven door.  The resulting steam will give the baguettes their delectable crunchy exterior.

Bake for 25 minutes, turning loaves front to back midway through baking.  The finished loaves should be lightly browned, and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.  Allow to cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before devouring...if you can wait that long.

Bon Appetit!

Transformed

Retro flashback...garlic bread.  Yep, perfectly tasty.  And perfectly boring.  We've been eating this stuff for decades, right?  Not anymore, fine people.

Let's lively things up a bit, shall we?  

Two-Mustard Garlic Baguette.  Complete with a lot of crumbs in the background.  Nice.  Oops.  I do believe the natives were getting restless here, and demanding food.  Thus, the rushed photos.

This oldie, but goodie, transformed, comes at you via French Revolution.  I am utterly and completely devoted to dijon, and this recipe really kicks its flavor up several notches.  So easy and quick to make too.  Throw it alongside a salad, and you've just brought your dinner to a new level.  Nicely done!

As I was in a hurry to get dinner on the table, I did not take the time to slice the bread as per recipe suggestion, with crosswise slits not quite all the way through, spreading the garlic-dijon mixture on each one.  Instead, I simplified, and just cut the whole baguette in half, lengthwise, and spread the divine mess over it.

Also, every garlic bread recipe I come across seems to have an ungodly amount of butter on it.  I mean, I love me some butter, don't get me wrong, folks...but...well, sheesh, even I can't cope with an entire stick on one baguette.  That's just getting too crazy.  Not to say, of course, that I wouldn't eat it.  I just, on occasion, try to avoid the "sitting in the corner, rhythmically rocking to the tune of my guilty conscience" episode that would surely follow such gluttonous adventures.

I also made use of the abundance of green garlic we've got happening at our house these days, courtesy of our CSA box.  You can use regular, cured garlic, just cut the amount a bit, since fresh garlic is slightly milder.

Here's my adaptation:

Two-Mustard Garlic Baguette - adapted from French Revolution

1/2 stick unsalted butter (4 Tbs), at room temperature
3 cloves green (fresh) garlic, minced
1 Tbs dijon mustard
1 Tbs + 1 tsp grainy dijon mustard
2 tsp chopped fresh parsley
leaves from one small stem of thyme
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 baguette

Preheat oven to 350 deg F/ 180 deg C.

Mix the softened butter with mustards, garlic, herbs, and season with salt and pepper.  Spread over the baguette (in whatever way you wish), wrap with aluminum foil, and bake for 20 minutes.

Slice, and serve it up to some very happy folks.

Have a great meal!