Baguette and Braided Bread

Warm bread lathered with fresh butter and served up with scrambled eggs; show me a person who can resist that. I left the dough to rise over-night, so it had a little sourness through it, but it can be made with just 4 hours of resting time. Also, I used a mix of wholewheat and white flour, to make just that little bit healthier. The same dough can be used to make braided bread, baguettes, pain d'epi or any other artisan bread. The preparation time is around 30 minutes for the kneading and 4 hours (minimum) to rest, and the cooking time is 25 minutes.

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 2 cups white flour
• 1 cup luke warm water
• 1 tsp dry yeast
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp sugar
• salt to taste

Method

1. Mix the sugar and yeast in the lukewarm water, and set aside for a few minutes.
2. When the yeast mixture starts frothing, add it to the flours and salt.
3. Make a soft dough, and knead it, punch it and roll it around to release that gluten.
4. Once the dough is elastic and contracts when stretched, roll into a ball and place in a large bowl.
5. Cover with a cloth and keep aside in a dry and cool place to rise.
6. Set aside till the dough doubles in size, about 4 hours or overnight.
7. Once the dough has doubled, punch it down and split into four equal parts.
8. Roll out the each part into any desired shape and keep aside for 30 minutes.
9. Beat the egg and once each part has doubled in size, baste with the beaten egg.
10. Place each part on a floured board and in a pre-heated oven at 190C.
11. Cook for 20-25 minutes, till the bread gets a golden brown crust.
12. Lather with butter and serve up warm with soup or scrambled eggs.