Food Around the World - French Baguette
Making bread is food for the soul. The smell of bread baking and eating the first oven hot slice, is both comforting and memorable to those who love to make and eat food alike. In France, sliced bread accompanies coffee and apricot jam for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and mops up the juices of any french casserole at dinnertime. I am making a french onion soup to accompany mine.
2 cups cake flour
10g instant yeast sachet
pinch of salt
1/4 cup olive oil
Sift the flour into a large bowl. Add the yeast and mix through. Add the salt and olive oil. mix until the dough comes together.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is soft and smooth - it should spring back when you press it with your finger. Place in a bowl gently greased with a little olive oil. Cut a shallow cross on the top of the dough, cover and leave to rise for 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 230C.
Knock down the bread several times and knead for 10 minutes by hand. Cover and leave to rise until doubled in size.
Roll the dough into 2 long logs and place on a greased baking tray. Cut diagonal slits in the top.
Bake for 30 minutes, the bread should sound hollow if you tap on the base once cooked.
French Onion Soup
80ml butter
6 onions thinly sliced
1T sugar
3 cloves of garlic minced
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs of thyme
1 cup white wine
3T cake flour
1.5L good quality vegetable stock
Gruyere to Serve
Melt the butter in over a low heat in a large pot.Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, sugar and thyme. Cook slowly until the onions have caramelised (about an hour). Add the wine and simmer until the liquid has evaporated. Discard the bay leaves and add the flour. Stir into the onions. Add the stock a little at a time to thicken the soup, then add the rest and cook for 30 minutes.
Serve with baguettes and Gruyere toasted under the grill.
2 cups cake flour
10g instant yeast sachet
pinch of salt
1/4 cup olive oil
Sift the flour into a large bowl. Add the yeast and mix through. Add the salt and olive oil. mix until the dough comes together.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is soft and smooth - it should spring back when you press it with your finger. Place in a bowl gently greased with a little olive oil. Cut a shallow cross on the top of the dough, cover and leave to rise for 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 230C.
Knock down the bread several times and knead for 10 minutes by hand. Cover and leave to rise until doubled in size.
Roll the dough into 2 long logs and place on a greased baking tray. Cut diagonal slits in the top.
Bake for 30 minutes, the bread should sound hollow if you tap on the base once cooked.
French Onion Soup
80ml butter
6 onions thinly sliced
1T sugar
3 cloves of garlic minced
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs of thyme
1 cup white wine
3T cake flour
1.5L good quality vegetable stock
Gruyere to Serve
Melt the butter in over a low heat in a large pot.Add the onions, garlic, bay leaves, sugar and thyme. Cook slowly until the onions have caramelised (about an hour). Add the wine and simmer until the liquid has evaporated. Discard the bay leaves and add the flour. Stir into the onions. Add the stock a little at a time to thicken the soup, then add the rest and cook for 30 minutes.
Serve with baguettes and Gruyere toasted under the grill.
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