Going to be around for most of the day some weekend day? Then most definitely make this bread! It’s super easy, and requires very little hands-on time, but unfortunately does keep you kind of house-bound for most of an afternoon. Well worth it, though, for some perfectly crusty French bread! As my mom’s boyfriend said, “mmm mmm mm mmm mmm!”

Ingredients:

• 1 kg bread flour
• 730 grams water
• 3½ tsp fine sea salt
• 1¼ tsp dry instant yeast

My scale is in storage, but this website was able to tell me that 1 kg of bread flour is 7.87 cups, and google helped me figure out that 730 grams of water is 730 ml. If your measuring cup doesn’t have milliliters, that’s about 24.6 ounces, or 3 cups and .6 ounces.

Combine all 4 ingredients in a large bowl and stir together until evenly combined. It will look dry, and not be a nice smooth dough, but that’s ok. Cover it with saran wrap and leave it to hang out for 3 1/2 hours.

At the end of the 3 1/2 hours, get a bowl scraper or strong spatula. Get your spatula under the bottom of the dough, and drag the bottom up to the top. Do this 20 times, rotating a bit after each. There may still be a few parts that seem drier than others, but they’ll come together eventually.

Cover the bowl, and set aside for another half hour. You’re going to do this 5 more times, for 6 total, with half hours between each. Each time you come back to it, the dough will seem a bit smoother and nicer.

After the 6th time.

After the sixth turning, if there are air bubbles in your dough after the turning, gently deflate it. Divide the dough and form into 4 baguettes, or some baguettes and some rolls. I made two baguettes, and 5 rolls out of the other half of the dough. The rolls turned out big enough that I think you could easily make six out of half the dough and have them big enough for sandwiches.

I need some work on my baguette forming technique!

Cover the dough with saran wrap and let rise another hour and a half. You’re almost there! During the end of the rise time, preheat the oven to 460 degrees. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and crunchy looking.

Move to a wire rack to cool completely, or burn yourself trying to eat one of the rolls still hot, it’s up to you. Well worth the time for such perfectly crusty rolls!

I found this recipe through yeastspotting, and will be submitting it back there for anyone that missed it in the past!

Same Day 6 Fold French Bread

From Living in the Kitchen With Puppies.

• 1 kg bread flour
• 730 grams water
• 3½ tsp fine sea salt
• 1¼ tsp dry instant yeast

Combine all 4 ingredients in a large bowl and stir together until evenly combined. Cover with saran wrap and leave it to rest for 3 1/2 hours.

After the rest, turn the dough using a bowl scraper or strong spatula. Place the spatula under the bottom of the dough, and drag the bottom up to the top. Do this 20 times, rotating after each. Cover the bowl, and set aside for another half hour. Repeat 5 more times, for 6 total turns, with half hour rests between each. The dough texture should improve with each rest.

After the sixth turning, gently deflate the dough. Divide the dough and form into 4 baguettes, or a combination of baguettes and rolls. Cover the dough with saran wrap and let rise another hour and a half. During the end of the rise time, preheat the oven to 460 degrees.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and crunchy looking. Move to a wire rack to cool completely