Mediterranes Baguette (Mediterranean herb and olive baguette)

Method

1. Mix the flour, cold water and yeast together until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest 30 minutes.
2. Add the salt and olive oil, and fold and squeeze in the bowl for about 2 minutes until it comes together.
3. Cover and leave at room temperature for 1 hour, then fold: lift and fold each side over the middle with wet hands, turn the bowl, repeat 4 times. During this same fold, scatter over the olives, tomato, oregano and garlic and fold them through evenly. Repeat the plain fold twice more at 30 minute intervals.
4. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 20 to 24 hours. This dough benefits from the longer end of that range; the extra time settles the garlic and olive flavour into the crumb rather than leaving it sharp.
5. Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface and divide into 3 pieces. Shape each into a rope as for a plain baguette: fold into a rough rectangle, roll from one end into a tight log about 35 cm long, pinch the seam.
6. Place seam-down on a floured couche, cover, and prove 45 to 60 minutes, until visibly puffy.
7. Heat the oven to 240°C with a baking sheet inside and a pan on the oven floor. Slash each loaf, slide onto the hot sheet, pour water into the pan for steam, and shut the door.
8. Bake 22 to 25 minutes, until deep golden and hollow-sounding. Cool at least 20 minutes before slicing.

Method in the Thermomix

Written for a TM5 or TM6, 2.2 litre bowl.

1. Flour, water and yeast into the bowl. Mix 10 sec / speed 6, rest 30 min in the bowl.
2. Add the salt and oil. Knead 3 min / dough mode.
3. Tip into a bowl and fold in the olives, tomato, oregano and garlic by hand, then continue from step 3 of the hand method.

Notes

• The longer cold ferment, up to 24 hours, is worth the wait here specifically. Raw garlic folded into a same-day dough tastes harsh; the extended cold rise mellows it substantially.
• Chop the olives and tomato to a similar size so they distribute evenly rather than clumping in pockets through the dough.
• Do not knock all the air out when shaping. As with a plain baguette, gentle handling at this stage protects the open crumb built up overnight.
• Best eaten the day it is baked; it does not keep as well as a plainer loaf, since the oil and tomato soften the crust faster.

Ingredient substitutions

• Sun-dried tomatoes in oil can be swapped for the same weight of roasted red pepper, patted dry and chopped.
• Black olives can be green olives, or a mix of both for more variety in the crumb.
• Dried oregano can be herbes de Provence for a slightly different herbal note.