Always Slash Your Dough Before You Bake Your Bread

Words of wisdom. As I was placing these loaves in the oven, I fleetingly thought, I should slash these, and then I ignored my inner smarter self. This is what happened.


In case you missed this recipe the last time I made it, I am giving it to you again. My daughter is coming home this weekend with her new gorgeous beau and I am cooking up a storm all week for him. They were here two weeks ago and I promised him that if he came back, I would make him my gumbo. His is a sweet southern boy and he loves gumbo. I made this french bread to serve with it.

I measured out 1 1/2 cups of sourdough starter last night and added 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water to it. Then it sat overnight to activate.

This is what it looked like this morning.


I poured it in my mixer bowl and added 2 1/2 teaspoons of instant rise yeast.


Then 2 tablespoons of sugar.


2 teaspoons of yeast.


1 teaspoon of oil.


And 1 cup of water.


About 6 cups of flour is added until you have a smooth dough. The amount of flour varies depending on how wet your started is.


The dough should just be pulling away from the sides of the bowl.


I also made another recipe of my rosemary no knead bread. I hadn't made it in a while and when everyone smelled it they were very excited. This is the dough after rising for 18 hours.


The french bread dough is placed in a lightly greased bowl, covered and left to rise for 1 hour.


While the oven is preheating to 400 degrees, I split the dough into three pieces and shaped them onto baguettes.


Here is the finished rosemary no knead loaf.


And here are the baguettes after baking for 40 minutes. Nice cracks, huh? Oh well, I hope I am smarter next time and remember to slash them. They will still taste good. I'll just call them rustic baguettes!

If you like gumbo, stay tuned for the recipe. I will be working on it all week.

Comments

Sharon Lovejoy said…
"Inner smarter self" should NEVER be ignored. We love your rosemary no knead bread.

Love and so glad she has a great beau.

Sharon
Anonymous said…
Never ignore Your inner smarter self :-) I´ve noticed my inner smarter self usually is right almost always :-) :-)

Have a great day now!
Christer.
Anonymous said…
Oh, that looks so very yummy.
Baguettes are so nice and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I will have to try this recipe, so here's me staying tuned ; )
Have a wonderful day.
You know how I love both of these recipes. I don't think I've bought a loaf of bread since you first published these. I'm using leftover No Knead bread crumbs tonight to make a roasted sour cream chicken breast recipe. Cutie face will love these.
Guillaume said…
As a child, I used to love making bread with my dad. Well, he was doing most of the work really.
john just asked yesterday.....can you make some of joyce's french bread ?


:-)
Suzie said…
Cooking up a storm, huh. .well, considering the weather that has been going on for the past few days, you might want to tone that down a bit! (but thank you for the several inches of snow this morning. I was beautiful!!)

I do hope that your daughter's new sweetie appreciates good food. After eating some of your meals, nothing else will ever be as appetizing.

Your bread looks beautiful! I love the rustic look! Makes me think of vineyards and wine. . .
Rosemary said…
Never ignore one's inner voice, tho gosh knows I certainly have.. Thinking the rosemary no knead bread might go well with the Easter ham.........
Texan said…
ok I have to try your French Bread recipe. But I have to get s sourdough starter going first! I just made some french bread :O) did you see it on my blog! ewww I was so excited. I like your recipe too and will give it a whirl. I think I need one of those pans you have there! I put mine on a cookie sheet it was all I had and um well they grew together a bit, but they were easy to pull apart. I did't realize the slicing was for a reason LOL I did do it because the recipe said to lol but I didnt know it served a function, good to know this!

I so am going to do Rosemary no knead bread!! I have made your no knead recipe so many times I have lost count! YUMMERS
brokenteepee said…
Exploding bread!!!
I have done that.

Snowed here today.
Sun also shined
Oh, and it rained.

Weather doesn't know what it wants.
Anonymous said…
oh my gosh,, now I have to go make bread,,yumm,,its all the rage now to make your own yeast but isn't that just like sour dough starter.I have a blogging friend who makes yeast from raisens,,,
Anonymous said…
Oh Jaz IU always always cannot remember am I to cut the tops or not . I also always can never remember do you bake scalloped potatoes with a lid on or off and get this , I always have to phoine my mum and ask her lol I mean you think I would remember but I never do.
I hope you & Teddy are having a happy spring .I've been without computer again as I dropped my lap top and just got it back 3 weeks later .
I look forward to popping in again .
Jennifer said…
Thanks for the tips! It still looks good to me! Sadly it reminds me that I still have no oven because we are still working on finishing the kitchen. (needed new floor and paint)Husband has dropped the ball on the new floor and I have been without a stove for over a week. Time to crack the whip?
SharleneT said…
I so wish I could say "I told you so," but unfortunately I didn't realize that was the reason we scored the board -- just thought it looked better. Did you say 4-1/2 teaspoons of yeast? for the baguettes? I think that's what I read.

You're always cooking up a storm and I so want to move next door to you before the holidays and all your great baskets of goodies get dispersed. What to do... what to do...

love the baguette pan, too. Did you ever get the reversible one? Come visit when you can.
Anonymous said…
My mother always said to never question my intuition for it is always right. I miss my mom and I'll bet your daughter is so grateful to have you, not to mention her happy young man getting to eat your delicious cooking!