Baguette

This recipe was found at food.com

Ingredients:
1 (1/4 ounce) packet active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups water (105 -115 F)
4 -4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
Directions:
1 In a large bowl sprinkle yeast and sugar over warm water and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
2 With a wooden spoon stir in 2 cups flour until combined.
3 Stir in salt and 2 cups of remaining flour until mixture forms a stiff dough.
4 On a lightly floured surface knead dough with lightly floured hands 8 minutes, or until smooth and elastic, kneading in enough of remaining 1/2 cup flour to keep dough from sticking.
5 Transfer dough to a lightly oiled deep bowl, turning to coat with oil, and let rise, bowl covered with plastic wrap, until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.
6 Preheat oven to 475-500°F (My oven does best with 475°, but it runs hot).
7 Punch down dough and form into a long slender loaf about 21 inches long and 3 inches wide.
8 You can also form individual mini-loaves.
9 Put loaf diagonally on a lightly greased large or 17 x 14-inch baking sheet and let rise, uncovered, about 30 minutes.
10 (Baguette may be made up to this point 4 hours ahead and chilled.) Make 3 or 4 diagonal slashes on loaf with a razor and lightly brush top with cool water.
11 Bake loaf in middle of oven 30 minutes, or until golden and sounds hollow when tapped, and transfer to a rack to cool.
12 Notes: For a chewy interior and perfect, crusty exterior, place a dutch oven filled with water in oven as it preheats for about an hour.
13 The humid enviroment will ensure the texture comes out right.
14 Baking stones don't hurt either.
15 If you don't want to put water into the oven, you can use a spray mister to keep the enviroment moist as it cooks.
Notes:

i) I used a 12g package of dry yeast. According to the instructions on the packet I mixed the dry yeast with the flour separately. I mixed the warm water, salt, and sugar also separately. I stirred the water vigorously so that the salt and sugar dissolved. I poured the water mixture over the yeast/flour mixture and blended them.
ii) I let the dough rise for 3-4 hours
iii) I didn´t grease the bowl and I didn´t grease the ban. I put milk on top of the bread instead of water before putting it in the oven

Cheddar-Bacon Biscuits from Williams Sonoma

Found here

Enriched with diced bacon plus two kinds of cheeses, these savory biscuits are baked in a fry pan that’s brushed with a bit of bacon fat to further enhance the flavor.

Ingredients:

• 6 oz. bacon, diced
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbs. baking powder
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 3/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 8 Tbs. (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, plus 2 Tbs. melted butter
• 3/4 cup shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. buttermilk

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 425°F or 220°C

In an 11-inch fry pan over medium-high heat, cook the bacon, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate. Discard all but 1 Tbs. of the fat in the pan. Using a pastry brush, spread the fat evenly over the pan bottom. Finely chop the bacon. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and pepper. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in the cold butter until pea-size crumbs form, then use your fingers to pinch the crumbs into flat disks. Stir in the cheddar and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses and the bacon. Stir in the buttermilk until the dough just comes together.

Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and roll out into a 9 1/2-by-11-inch rectangle. Fold the dough into thirds, rotate 90 degrees and roll out into the same-size rectangle. Fold into thirds again, rotate 90 degrees and roll out into a 7-by-9 1/2-inch rectangle about 1⁄2 inch (12mm) thick. Using a floured 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter, cut out biscuits and place in the fry pan. Gather up the scraps, reroll the dough and cut out more biscuits. You should have 9 biscuits around the circumference of the pan and 3 in the center. Brush the tops of the biscuits with the melted butter.

Bake the biscuits until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Makes 12 biscuits.

Williams-Sonoma Kitchen.