New Orleans French Loaves

Total Time: 2 hrs 35 mins Preparation Time: 2 hrs Cook Time: 35 mins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups warm water, about 80 degrees
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 (1/4 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 3 cups bread flour, approximately
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or 1 teaspoon other mild fruit-flavored vinegar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted with 1/2 teaspoon salt

Recipe

• 1 in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup, combine water and sugar. sprinkle in yeast; stir until blended. let stand until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes.
• 2 in a food processor fitted with the steel blade, blend 3 cups flour, salt and vinegar. add dissolved yeast mixture to flour mixture all at once.
• 3 process 3 to 4 seconds to combine. stop machine to check consistency of dough. the dough should be wet and sticky with a slight degree of body. if it is too soupy, add additional bread flour, one tablespoon at a time, processing to blend between each addition, until a wet, sticky dough is formed. (i have found adding too much flour makes for a heavy loaf and that is not original to the ones sold in new orleans.).
• 4 process no more than 15 seconds to knead dough. pour vegetable oil into a large bowl; oil hands and fingers well. remove blade from processor, placing any dough which clings to it in bowl. remove rest of dough to oiled bowl, forming dough into a loose ball. turn dough over several times to coat completely with oil. careful not to mix the oil into the dough.
• 5 cover bowl with plastic wrap; let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, until doubled in bulk, about 1-1/2 hours. when dough has doubled in bulk, stir down dough, removing all air from first rising.
• 6 position oven rack in center of oven. preheat oven to 400 degrees. lightly grease 1 double-trough french-bread pan or a triple baguette pan, using some of oil remaining in bottom of bowl. thoroughly grease hands with some oil from bowl.
• 7 to make 2 french loaves, pinch dough in half; lift out of bowl, 1 piece at a time. to make baguettes, divide dough into thirds. lay dough in 1 trough of bread pan; repeat procedure with remaining dough. because of its very wet and loose consistency, dough will shape itself. brush dough surface thoroughly with some butter-and-salt mixture.
• 8 loosely cover loaves with plastic wrap. let rise until double in bulk, about 1 hour. reserve remaining butter-and-salt mixture. when loaves have doubled in bulk, carefully remove plastic wrap; brush loaves with remaining butter-salt mixture. use very light pressure when applying butter mixture, taking care not to deflate loaves.
• 9 bake in center of preheated oven until golden brown on top, 25 minutes. carefully turn loaves over in pan; bake about 10 minutes more to brown bottoms. cool completely on cooling racks.