Swiss Grain Baguettes

Ingredients

Method

Mix Ingredients

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, make a well.
Pour in ¾ of the water and the oil and mix thoroughly, adding small amounts of water until you have a firm but tacky dough. NOTE: 50 to 100mls maybe left over.

Stretch & Fold

Either spray your bench with water or spread a few teaspoons of oil on it.
Using your plastic dough scraper, tip the ball of dough out onto the dampened bench.
Using a little technique stolen from sourdough bread-making you can improve the structure of your dough by performing a couple of sets of what are called “stretch and folds” (“S & Fs”). There is a video to demonstrate.
With damp hands (oil or water), flatten the dough into a bit of a square, lift one side of the dough up and allow the weight to stretch the dough. Fold that edge into the middle and press in place. Repeat with the other 3 sides of the dough.
Oil your bowl and place the dough back into the bowl, smooth side up.
Cover your bowl with something dense like a thick towel, a lid or heavy chopping board. This will hold the warmth AND moisture in the dough.
Leave the dough in a warm place for about 20 mins, then repeat the set of “S & Fs”, return the dough to the bowl again and leave to rise until fully double in size.

Shape Dough

Clean your bench and dust generously with flour, tip the dough out onto the flour and flip the dough over, this ensures your dough is coated and won’t be too sticky.
Use your dough chopper to divide the dough in half, roll out each piece into a sausage shape the length of the French stick tin.
Oil French stick tin, allow the dough in the French stick tin to double in size.
Spray with water or coat with an egg glaze.

Bake

Pre-heat oven 220*C or 200*C fan forced, place dough into the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. (For softer top place foil cover over rolls for the last 5-10minutes of cooking.)