Baguettes with Cider and Whole Wheat

This is a wonderful year for onions,

We had a lot of rain in June and July, and quite enough in August and September, and that may have contributed to the size of the onions.  This one weighs 1 pound, 9 ounces!

But you need good, crusty bread to hold up the Swiss cheese.

We were tasting hard ciders, and we wondered if cider would be a change for water in the dough.

Here's what we did:
Mix 1 cup cider, and 1 cup whole-wheat flour, and a pinch of yeast.  Cover and let sit overnight.

The next morning, add 1 cup of whole wheat, another cup of cider, 1 teaspoon yeast, 1 teaspoon salt.
Then add 3 cups of bread flour.  It was still too wet, so we added 1/4 cup AP flour.

Beat with the Cuisinart mixer until the dough pulled away from the bowl.

Let rise for an hour or so.

Shape and rise for another hour.

Preheat oven to 525 degrees, with the heavy roasting pan and huge cast iron pan in the oven.
The roasting pan, on the higher shelf, would receive the baguettes.
The frying pan would have water added to add steam to the oven.

These were done in 25 minutes (200 degrees internal temperature).

This had a more dense texture than some artisan breads.

The flavor was wonderful.

Ingredients:

2 c whole-wheat flour

3 c bread flour

1/4 c AP flour

2 c cider

1 t salt

1+ t yeast

D enjoyed his with chicken soup.

I had mine with hot Italian sausage and red sauce.

This recipe would make three baguettes - I held back one to cook tomorrow - I think I'll add olives to that one!  Bread dough is now resting in the refrigerator.  

Now, off to make some onion soup!