Bread Without the Sesame Seeds

The last time I made this bread I made it as rolls and it was a fun one where the bread snakes were rolled in sesame seeds. It's a King Arthur Flour recipe and a very good one. 

Since I'm no longer supposed to eat sesame seeds I decided that I would make this bread without. It's been a while since I've made baguettes, so that's the shape I chose for these. I'm really happy with the way they held their shape. I used the Julia Child shaping method and it worked well. It didn't hurt that this was a relatively firm bread. I let it sit in the fridge overnight, too, so it had just a touch of sourdough flavor. Delicious!

Look at the wonderful texture:

Three Baguettes
Based on a recipe from King Arthur Flour

Starter

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 to 1/2 cup cool water, enough to make a stiff ball of dough
pinch of instant yeast

Dough

all of the starter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup while whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons Baker's Special dry milk or nonfat dry milk
2 teaspoons instant yeast
2/3 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons olive oil


Directions

1) To make the starter: Mix the starter ingredients together, cover, and let rest at room temperature two - three hours. Note: This is a dry, stiff starter. If it's too dry to come together, dribble in sufficient water to make the dough come together, and proceed with the recipe as directed.

2) To make the dough: Combine the starter with the remaining dough ingredients, and mix and knead — by hand, mixer, or bread machine set on the dough cycle — to make a soft, smooth dough. You may need slightly more or less than 2 cups flour.

3) Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl or large (8-cup) measure; cover, and let it rise for about 90 minutes, till it's just about doubled in bulk.  Punch down in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit overnight in the fridge.

4) Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into three equal pieces. Shape each piece into a rough log, and let the logs rest, uncovered, for about 10 minutes. This gives the gluten in the dough a chance to relax, which in turn will make the logs easier to roll.

5) Working on a lightly greased surface, roll each piece into a rope about 12" long.

6) Working with one rope at a time, start at one end of the rope and pull the dough around the rope. (I imagined one side of the rope to be the 'back' and pulled the dough toward the back, working my way down the rope. This stretches the 'skin' of the dough around the inner dough to help the baguettes keep their shape.)

7) Place each shaped baguette on a parchment lined baking sheet, When all three are shaped and on the baking sheet, cover lightly with oiled plastic wrap and then a tea towel, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk.The resulting loaves will be about 14" long

8) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and brush the loaves with egg white. Score on the diagonal three or four places on each of the loaves with a very sharp knife or a lame.

9 Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when the back is tapped. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
Yield: 3 baguettes