The Easiest Baguette Recipe

I've been well and truly inspired by Tik Tok once again (I know!) and yesterday I whipped up these baguettes to have for our fondue night and our lunches throughout the week. Despite thinking that crusty baguettes would be hard to make, I cracked on with it anyway and I was pleasantly surprised at the results! At first I used too much liquid and had to restart the process, but once I had the dough the right consistently, all I had to rely on was my patience. I incorporated Baking A Moment and  Paul Hollywood's recipe, but changed it up a bit to create baguettes that I think would rival his! 

Ingredients (Makes 4) - 

325ml water 
450g Strong Bread Flour
1.5tsp Yeast 
A healthy dose of salt

Method - 

Place 50ml of the water in a bowl with the yeast and wait for it to fully dissolve. 

Whilst waiting, mix the flour and salt in a separate bowl. Make a well in the middle, slowly pour in the yeast mixture and stir. 

Stir in the cold water and continue until it forms a sticky dough. Cover with a damp cloth and set aside to rise for 40 minutes. 

Once the 40 minutes are up, tip out the dough onto a floured surface and shape the dough into a rectangle. Fold into thirds, turn 90 degrees and repeat on each side. 

Place the dough back into the original bowl, cover with a damp cloth and set aside to double in size for 1 hour 30 minutes. 

Once doubled in size, split the dough into four. Roll each section until they're 12 inch long. Place all four on a tea towel dusted with flour and leave for another 45 minutes. 

Pre-heat the oven to 230 degrees. Place a baking tray or dish of water at the bottom of the oven as this will produce steam - a tip I got from the original recipe! 

Put the four baguettes on a oiled baking tray. Slash the tops on the then several times, lightly dust with flour and cover a little with olive oil. Cook in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until lightly brown. 

Take out the oven, leave to cool and then enjoy!