Ingredients:
- 1 ½ tablespoons active yeast
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 3 ½ to 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 ½ cup warm water
- 3 to 4 ice cubes
Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine the yeast, honey, and ½ cup warm water. Mix them together until the yeast begins to foam.
2. In another large mixing bowl, blend together the flour and salt with a dough hook. As you mix, slowly add in the yeast mixture from before.
3. Add in your cup of warm water. Kneed it all together and watch the dough stick to itself (but make sure it isn’t too sticky; if it is, add in some more flour to balance it out).
4.Work the dough on a flat, powdered surface until it is smooth.
5. Make the dough into a ball and put in a bowl that has been ‘oiled’ with either canola or olive oil. Put the bowl in a warm area and let it rise for about 25-30 minutes.
6. Punch the dough down again and cut it into thirds or fourths. Then make the dough pieces into separate rectangles.
7. For each rectangle, fold the top and bottom towards the middle, like an envelope, then press it out again. Repeat this until the dough has been worked out to be around 13 inches long and 2 inches wide.
8. Flip the baguette on its back and put it on a sheet pan covered with cornmeal. Let it rise under a damp towel for another 25 minutes.
9. Score the tops of your loaves with about ¾ inch thick diagonal slits.
10. Heat the oven to 4500F and place a dish/pan (but not a glass one) on the bottom rack.
11. When the bread has doubled a second time, put it on top of a cookie sheet on the top or middle rack of the oven. Pour the ice cubes in the empty dish below. Make sure that you do this quickly, so that no steam escapes.
12. Bake the baguette for 15 minutes. Presto! Bread has been served.
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