Four Hour Baguettes

Whisk together water and yeast in a large mixing bowl. Let sit for 10 minutes. Add flour to water and yeast, and mix with a fork until a shaggy dough forms. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for about 20 minutes to hydrate the flour.

Add the salt and loosely fold together. Transfer dough to a floured surface. Knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. The dough might be super sticky–just add flour a little bit at a time until the stickiness stops.

Form the dough into a ball and transfer to an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

On a floured surface make an 8 by 6 inch rectangle. Fold the long edges of the dough to the middle, then fold the short edges. Place the dough back in the bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.*

Put a rimless baking sheet on the middle rack in an oven. Place a cast iron pan on the bottom rack.
Form the baguette loaves. Cut the dough into 3 even pieces. Roll each piece into an even 14 inch long rope. Twist the ropes to help them maintain their shape in the oven.

Place 1 loaf in the middle of a parchment lined baking sheet. Lift the parchment to create a ridge on either side of the middle loaf and place the other two loaves on either side. On either side of the loaves place a tightly rolled dish towel under the parchment paper. This will help the loaves rise up and not out.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Cover the loaves loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until the loaves have doubled, about 50 minutes. Uncover the loaves, remove the towels, and flatten the parchment paper. Use scissors to slash each baguette in 4 spots. You could also use a super sharp knife or a bread lame. Slide the parchment paper and the loaves onto the baking sheet in the oven. Pull on the parchment paper as a guide.
Put the ice cubes into the skillet and quickly shut the oven.

Bake the baguettes until brown and crispy–about 18-20 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Allow loaves to cool before cutting.

*After this rise you can separate the dough into three pieces and freeze them in zip top bags. To bake the bread, allow dough to thaw, then continue through the recipe.