[Windows XP Sweet 6.2 Final French SP3 No Activationl
Oludare Padilla
Baguettes took me the longest to master. Perhaps it's because my bread baking adventure started (many years ago) right after I baked my second loaf of no-knead bread and I lacked the necessary experience. So many factors here that can affect how your baguette will look and taste.
A traditional French baguette is made of flour, water, yeast and salt. It's fascinating how these four simple ingredients produce a beautiful, flavorful, crusty baguette. What's even more fascinating is how different bakers, using the same ingredients, can make baguettes that differ from each other quite substantially sometimes.
Up to about a century ago making bread with natural leaven was the rule for bakers in France. Later it was a mix of natural leaven and baker's yeast, which made the crumb lighter and more open. Lately, many bakeries seek efficiencies and switch to using baker's yeast as using natural leavens requires more work.
As was mentioned above, many French baguettes, while using the same ingredients, differ in appearance and taste. This is largely due to the process that is employed. You can make the dough rise very quickly using warm water and warm ambient temperature but it will lack flavor. Slowing down the fermentation process, known as cold retarding, results in complex flavor and improved taste. Thus, how you ferment the dough, how long you retard it, how you proof it, how you shape, score and bake it - all contribute to how the final product looks and tastes.
This baguette recipe uses baker's yeast and is influenced by the method used by Anis Bouabsa, winner of the 2008 Best Baguette in Paris contest. In an interview, Anis mentioned using baguette dough that has 75% hydration (meaning the ratio of water to flour), very little yeast, hardly kneaded, folded three times in one hour then placed in the fridge for 21 hours. He also added that baguettes are not fully risen when placed in the oven, it is the wet dough and the very, very hot oven (480F) that make baguettes get the volume.
In this recipe, I use King Arthur all-purpose flour, very commonly used for baguette making among home baking enthusiasts, water, yeast, and salt. I also add a bit of honey. This is a big no-no for baguette purists, but that little hint of sweetness is what everyone I baked my baguettes for liked.
The essential pieces of equipment to make a great-tasting baguette are an oven and a baking stone. You want a large and, importantly, thick baking stone. It won't crack easily and will promote a much better oven spring for your baguettes. Like this heavy duty baking stone. Even better, go to your local pottery supply store and get a Cordierite kiln shelf. They are thicker and can withstand spills with aplomb. You can also get one cut to your specifications.
Another piece of equipment that is extremely helpful is the Baker's Couche that you will need for proofing. I used to get away without one for a long time but they are so effective and convenient, and in very inexpensive nowadays.
A bread lame is another tool you will be glad you have. It's essential for scoring baguettes. I can use a serrated bread knife to make pretty good scores, but a lame will be much easier for novice bakers.
Finally, you will need a large pizza shovel or something similar to load baguettes in the oven. I find that the easiest way to do it is to place the baguettes on a large piece of parchment paper, score then slide on the baking stone.
The first step is to mix all ingredients in a bowl and let sit for about 10 minutes, followed by 3 stretches and folds over a period of 1 1/2 hours, about every 30-45 minutes or so. In each stretch and fold iteration, pull one side of the dough and fold onto itself. At the end of each iteration, I pick up the dough ball and turn it upside down.
Do this in a warm room to get yeast activity going, otherwise the dough will have a hard time rising in the fridge. Examine the surface of the dough before putting it in the fridge and look for tiny blisters and a slight sour milk smell. If you observe both, then the dough is ready to go in the fridge. If not, I let it sit at room temperature for another 1/2 to 1 hour.
Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap to prevent the surface from drying out and place in the fridge for 12 hours. After 12 hours the dough will have doubled in volume. If not quite doubled, take it out and let stand in a warm place for 1-2 hours. The oven with the light on is warm enough for this purpose. Alternatively, you could let the dough ferment in the fridge for another 8-10 hours.
Sometime after taking the dough out of the fridge, start preheating the oven to 500F, with a baking stone positioned in the upper part of the oven and a small bread pan with hot water and a rolled kitchen towel inside, on the lower rack. Position your baking stone such that the short side is parallel to the door. Water pan is needed for consistent steam release during baking to help the baguettes rise nicely in the oven (also referred to as oven spring) and prevent surface hardening. The towel helps control steam release.
Stretch into rectangles and roll each rectangle as shown below. Start with the longer side, fold it inside the rectangle and seal the seam with your thumb. Do it tightly enough but being careful not to degas the dough. Repeat two more times until you formed a cylinder.
Transfer the baguettes onto a piece of parchment paper, seam side down, and dust off excess flour. Using a bread lame or a razor blade, make 3 cuts, in a gentle but firm motion. Bakers call this scoring. If the baguettes keep sliding when making cuts, hold them with one hand at the top end and make cuts from top to bottom. Scoring baguettes helps them open up and nicely rise in the oven, or as bakers call it to have an oven spring.
Once the baguettes are ready to bake, simply slide them off with the parchment paper onto the hot baking stone. Be careful with opening your preheated oven, it will be hot and steamy and may burn your face if you are too close when opening the door. Using a water spray bottle, spray some water in the sides of the oven to boost the steam.
Wow - fantastic recipe - yours is the third one I've tried and I'm sticking with it!!! If I wanted a thicker/crustier crust ... do I need to steam bake it for more time or for less time? Thank you again!
While I'm extremely confident in the kitchen, I have little to no experience baking. Not only was this recipe well documented, easy to understand and very straightforward, but the final product turned out fantastic. I have some work to do when it comes to shaping, but that will come with some practice.
You are very welcome, Brad. I am glad you found my baguette recipe helpful and easy to execute, that was my intent given the struggles I had with making baguettes initially. I would love to see pictures of your baguettes, I will contact you via email so you can send them to me. Happy baking!
Made this recipe and followed every detail and instruction and my baguettes turned out fantastic. I used whole wheat flour that I had ground myself with my machine, and even though whole wheat can be hard to get good results with, my baguettes still came out great due to your recipe and my husband loved them. Thank you so much!
Hm... One recipe makes 3 baguettes. Mine are about 20 inches long to fit the length of the baking stone. If you make them short with the same amount of dough, then I see how they would be more like big fluffy rolls and less like baguettes.
No affiliation with with King Arthur of any kind. I just like the results I get with this flour. I am sure that there are many other brands that are just as good or better, but out of the ones that I tried, this KA AP and La Milanaise organic T55 are may two favorite ones.
I've made baguettes from about five different recipes, with poolish, with pate fermente and without . This is the simplest recipe that gives consistently great results. Fantastic recipe and probably what I'll use from now on. Why mess with success
Reduce hydration by 3% and try again, that should help. Reduce further if still too hard for your to work with. Sometimes that type of flour, as well as humid environment, can influence that quite significantly. Another thing to keep in mind is that with practice it becomes much easier to work with higher hydration doughs for most people. As you get more practice, you can increase hydration. Good luck!
Found your recipe and just gave it a try. The stretch/fold method was definitely different than the Kitchen-Aid method, but worked like a charm. The baguettes turned out beautifully. Thanks for sharing!
I just add my sugar or honey to the warm water and stir it in then add the yeast to proof for about 5 mins and mix it in as per normal instructions. Then I mix the dough as normal and let it rise for an extra 40 minutes or so than the recipe calls for and add a bit of extra time (about 10 more mins)in all the rise steps and between the stretches.
You are very welcome, Elena. Thank you for the kind words. Scoring works best when you do it with a swift, decisive motion. The slower you go, the more drag and sticking you get, resulting in a messy score. The lower the hydration, the easier it is to score but higher hydration dough has a better crumb. It's a tradeoff. But, the more you practice the easier it gets. Back in the day I stopped using a lame and switched to a serrated Wusthof bread knife, it worked much better for me to do scoring. Later, I started using a lame again. Both work well for me now and I use them intgerchangeably. Once you get a hang of it, anything will work well IMHO. For color, what issues are you experiencing with that?
I'm not one to follow directions. Didn't use a baking stone, and didn't cold ferment due to time restrictions. But I did do the 3 folds. Also didn't make 3 baguettes, just one big loaf on a baking sheet. Kiddos raved and said it was the best bread they ever had. Great (and forgiving) recipe! I'll try following directions next time and I'm sure it will be even better!