Pearl Barley and Rye Baguettes

Makes 4

Pearl barley is one of my favourite winter ingredients, evoking heartening images of steaming stews with dumpling clouds. It is also a frugal way to add body to a loaf, which is why the initial cooking stage in this recipe may seem optimistic: I like the individual milky grains to still be identifiable. The high proportion of rye ensures this is a dense, robust loaf, and makes kneading less crucial as the gluten content is reduced. I would want this with a coarse terrine, or buttered with slivers of smoked salmon.

500ml water

200g pearl barley

200ml soaking liquid of your choice (orange juice, apple juice, beer, wine etc.)

1kg rye flour

750g strong white flour

250g wholemeal flour

6 tsp sea salt

400g rye leaven

1 ltr water at room temperature

To cook the pearl barley, place it with the water in a pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for around 25 minutes until cooked through and all the liquid has been absorbed. Pour over the soaking liquid (I used white wine as there was some lying around), and leave until cool, or overnight if possible. When the barley is ready, combine the flours and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together the leaven, room temperature water, barley grains and soaking liquor. Pour this mixture onto the dry ingredients and roughly combine. Leave for 10 minutes. Turn the mix out onto a lightly oiled surface and knead briefly until it comes together as dough. Cover and leave for 10 minutes, then knead again briefly. Repeat. Cover and leave for half an hour, then knead again. Cover and leave for a couple of hours. Because of the high proportion of rye in this dough, it will be fairly difficult to knead, but should eventually become smoother in appearance. After a couple of hours, divide the dough into four equal pieces. On a sparsely floured surface, shape each one into a ball. Flatten slightly, fold the top edge down to the centre, and the bottom edge up to meet it. Roll into a long, even cylinders around 2 inches in diameter. Now take a large roasting tin and two heavily floured tea towels. Lay one on the base of the tin, with the edge of the towel curling up the side. Nestle one baguette on the towel along the length of the tin, and pull up the tea towel on the other side so it is surrounded, except on top. Place another loaf the other side of this crease, and pull the tea towel up snugly on the other side. Repeat with the other towel and two loaves, so it should look like the photograph below. This means as they prove overnight they are doing so up against each other which allows them to keep their shape and expand evenly. Place a last damp tea towel over the top, and tuck them away for the night.

In the morning, one by one carefully turn out the baguettes onto semolina dusted trays. Slash with a sharp knife and leave for 10 minutes. Place in a preheated oven at 200˚c for around 40 to 50 minutes. Leave to cool before slicing.