French Baguettes - Homemade Garlic Parmesan Croutons - Sweet Cornbread

French Baguettes

  

  I was extremely happy with my first attempt at making french baguettes! The process was made very easy by Baking Banter's ( King Arthur's baking blog) recipe and picture tutorial.  Baguettes redux: an easy (almost no knead) recipe for the kneading challenged,  was just what I needed for my first attempt.  To Read More, Click On The Recipe title.
 This dough can be kept in the refrigerator for a week, you can make, as far as I can figure, about 4 fresh baguettes from this recipe.  Enough to have fresh bread any day that you want it during the week.  Read the whole blog post, there"s a lot of very good information in there.                                                                                                                                               

I would have liked the baguette to be a little more golden brown and shiny, working with this recipe and different techniques will give me that I'm sure.
          

The crust and texture of the bread was perfect, my husband ate about a third of the bread himself! 

Print this recipe here.

French Baguettes
King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:

• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 8 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour ( read the blog post to see what measuring method you use, this amount will change with whatever method you use.)
• 1 tablespoon table salt or 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt ( I used table salt)
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast

Directions:

1) Find a large (6-quart) bowl or bucket, for dough storage in the fridge. Lightly grease the bowl or bucket.

2) Place the water directly into the bowl or or other large container.

3) Add the dry ingredients to the water, and stir to combine. Mix until there are no dry spots; the texture of the dough should be fairly soft. 

4) Knead the dough gently for a few minutes, by hand; it'll be very sticky. Or knead for 1 or 2 minutes in a stand mixer. Cover the container, and let the dough rest at room temperature for 2 hours.

5) Refrigerate overnight, or for up to 7 days.

6) To bake bread: Scoop out a scant 1 pound of dough (about ¼ of the batch, about 14 ½ ounces). Place on a greased work surface. 

7) Shape the dough into a rough, slightly flattened oval.

8) Fold the dough in half lengthwise, and seal the edges with the heel of your hand. Flatten slightly, and fold lengthwise and seal again. 

9) With the seam side down, cup your fingers and gently roll the of dough into a 15" log.

10) Place the log seam-side down onto a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, or into the well of a baguette pan. 

11) Cover and allow the baguette to rise till it's very puffy, about 1 1/2 hours. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 450°F.

12) Slash the baguette three or four times on the diagonal. 

13) Spritz the baguette heavily with warm water, and bake until a very deep golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack.

Yield: 1 large baguette.

Homemade Garlic Parmesan Croutons

                                                                                                                                 
I've never made homemade croutons ,but with a french baguette in the house I decided it was the perfect time to try it!  This was so easy I could kick myself for not trying it sooner!  I made my croutons with garlic and grated Parmesan cheese, they were fantastic!   Grate the parmesan cheese and toss with the croutons before baking.  You can keep these croutons in a zip lock bag on your kitchen shelf for about a week.  No more store bought croutons!The recipe is from Allrecipes and couldn't be easier.

Print this recipe here.

Homemade Garlic Parmesan Croutons
Allrecipes

Ingredients:

4 Tablespoons butter

1 clove garlic, minced

3 (3/4 inch thick) slices French bread, cut into cubes
Grated Parmesan Cheese , 2 Tbls

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large saute pan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in garlic; cook and stir for 1 minute. Add bread cubes, and toss to coat.  If using Parmesan cheese, sprinkle over coated croutons just before baking. Spread on a baking sheet.
3. Bake for 15 minutes, or until crisp and dry. Check frequently to prevent burning. Cool. 

                                                                                                                                            

Sweet Cornbread

I absolutely loved this recipe from Allrecipes.  It was so moist and delicious!  If you like your cornbread on the sweet side like I do ,this is your recipe!  This baked up beautifully, I could hardly wait to slather some butter on that first slice, it was delicious!

Print this recipe here.

Sweet Cornbread
Allrecipes

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray or lightly grease a 9 inch round cake pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir in egg, milk and vegetable oil until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. 
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes clean.