Loafing around

All my life I have wanted to bake bread. I have this day-dream about becoming a baker - up before the sun, covered in flour, elbow deep in bread dough. Providing people with the staff of life. Kerchief on my head and the sounds of the balalaika in the background. (My own rustic idle) And after years and years of this ilk, yesterday I baked my first yeast breads, ever. And while they were not very baguette-like, they were a nice skinny loaves of dense white bread.

It was fun like playing with really sticky and stretchy playdoh. A nice mellow activity to while away an afternoon.
This is ganked from "French Women Don't Get Fat" by Mirielle Guiliano. Which pretends to be a diet book but it reads like a cross between a meditation of living French and a love letter to food and champagne.

4-5 cps of all purpose white flour
1 tsp live active yeast
2 tsp kosher salt
1 egg
water

1. Dissolve yeast in a 1/2 cp of warm water. Stir with a fork and set aside for 10 min.
2. Mix Flour and Salt in a big mixing bowl. Add the yeast mixture and 1.5 cps of water. Mix the dough until it's sticky enough to knead. *best part* knead for 6-10 min. Until sticky and smooth. Place dough in bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Rise at RT until double in volume for 1 hour.
3. Punch down the dough and divide into 4 pieces. Roll each section into a ball and then shape into a baguette *second best part, can be done on a lightly floured surface* Put baguettes on a lightly greased baking sheet and let it rise to double.
4. Preheat oven to 450F. Brush the bread with a mixture of 1 egg beaten with 1 tb of cold water. Score the loaves diagnoally with a knife.
5. Pour 2 cps of hot water into a pan and place in the preheated oven next to the bread. Bake 15 min.
6. Lower heat to 400F. Bake 5-10 min. Remove and cool.

I didn't make sure to put my dough in a warmish place. I was impatient about waiting for my dough to rise in both cases. So impatient. Which might explain why it turned out dense rather than light and fluffy. But it's reasonably bread-like and delicious with butter.