Currant-Walnut Baguettes

This earty brown bread, shaped into long thin baguettes and densely packed with raisins and walnuts, is virtually impossible to stop eating. Renee first tasted a similar bread at the two-starred Michel Rostang in Paris. She likes to serve it with hearty soups, such as cream of pumpkin or squash, with curried chicken salad or cream cheese spreads, and, of course, with fruit and cheese. Bread as good as this is worth the work. Directions: =========== Dissolve the yeast and honey in 1/4 cup warm water and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. In a food processor fitted with a plastic dough blade, combine the flours and salt. Process about 30 seconds. Add the walnuts and process an additional 15 seconds. With the machine running, pour the yeast mixture through the feed tube. With the machine running, slowly add 1 cup water through feed tube. Process until the dough clears the sides of the bowl and is no longer dry, about 1 minute additional. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead in the currants and raisins for about 5 minutes. Coat a large bowl with butter. Transfer the dough to the bowl, turning to coat the top with butter. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel and set aside to rise in a warm place, until the dough is doubled in bulk, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Punch down to remove air bubbles and divide the dough into two equal parts. Roll each part into a 6 x 15-inch sheet. Roll the sheets into long cylinders, pinching the edges to seal. Transfer the cylinders, seam side down, to a buttered baking sheet or two baguette pans. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel and set aside to rise until the dough is almost doubled, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 425. Brush the loaves with the beaten egg and slash each with a sharp knife several times along the diagonal. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until loaves are well browned. Yields 2 loaves Source: Renee Carisio of Ma Cuisine : The Ma Cuisine Cooking School Cookbook : by Linda Lloyd, Toni Mindling Schulman, Patrick Terrail and : Helene Siegel Typed for you by Karen Mintzias