How to make
Pour the water into a bowl and add the yeast. Stir and let it activate for about 10 minutes.
Mix the flour and salt, stir and add half of it to the water with the yeast. Stir with a wooden spoon and leave it to rise for over 4 hours.
It's a kind of preferment. After this time, the other flour is added. The dough is too sticky, so 1 to 2 more handfuls of flour can be thrown in. Knead by hand for about 10 minutes. The dough should become nice, smooth, elastic.
Form it into a ball and leave it to rise for about 1 hour. The risen dough is removed from the bowl, patted with hands and divided into 2 equal parts. Form each part by hand into a rectangle measuring about 15/8 cm.
The bottom third is folded to the middle, also the top third to the middle, so that a ridge is formed and sealed. This step is repeated three times per piece of dough.
After each folding of the dough, it is again shaped into a rectangle and successively folded. In this way, the dough is rolled out lengthwise.
The ready-made baguettes are placed in a prepared paper tray so that they do not expand during baking. They are left to rise for about 30 minutes.
They are cut deeper with a sharp knife.
In the oven, before it heats up, a wide and deeper pan filled with water is placed at the bottom. It is necessary to moisten the baguettes.
Bake at 430°F (220°C) for about 15-20 minutes.
Note: The preferment can be prepared in the evening, left in the fridge and the baguettes made the next morning. The time is not so important, what is important is that there is a basic preferment.
The small French baguette is ready.
