Akiko,

Your formula never failed me unless I change your formula (that was my own fault). I baked them before so I knew how good they tasted. I love your outdoor photography.  Thank you again for the updating especially using yeast water version.

Kimmy

 Hi Kimmy,

Thank you for your very kind words, Kimmy :)  I don't know about photography but I am studying your skill :P  I am glad to hear that my formulas work out for you.  I am very happy! Thank you, Kimmy!

Happy baking,

Akiko

I have been reading all these posts about yeast water and just went back to read your post on making it.    Thanks for all the detail in both posts.  Your baguette looks fabulous.  I can't quite tell but it seems to be very long.  Also, I'm wondering about your scoring diagram.   You score the same loaf twice?    What is the red circle to the left of picture 1?  Thanks.   -Varda 

Wow, Akiko !  What a great baguette you made there, and another excellent and informative posting. LUV it !

Ron

Nicely done, Akiko!  Nice long baguette, too!

Sylvia

You must have a decent sized oven to bake this type of baguette Akiko!

Lovely work

Best wishes

Andy

Perfect crumb and crust. And it's so nice to be able to make full length baguettes!

Akiko,

What a beautiful loaf!  Nice crust color and the crumb looks great!

I am very impressed again by all the work you put into the post.  Your great detailed instructions help so much and the pictures you take of the whole process make it all very easy to follow.  

I am also impressed that you got such a wonderful looking loaf using your RYW.  I bet it had a nice flavor and will stay fresh a long time - if your family doesn't eat it all up in one sitting :-)

Take Care,

Janet

Beautiful!

Hi Akiko,

Your baguette is not good... it's awesome! Very nicely done, and a thoroughly well done writeup on your procedure as well. Any baker would be proud to have made this baguette for it's lovely crumb, shaping, crust, and scoring. I've always shied away from from doing baguette at home simply because I've never liked the size restrictions of domestic ovens for the bread. Baguettes should be longer than what typical home ovens will allow, but obviously this isn't an issue with yours. If you don't mind me asking, what make and model of oven do you have?

Great stuff Akiko!

Best Wishes,

Franko

David

Amazing baguettes, Akiko.

I am sure this post will become a reference for many bakers!

Juergen

Gorgeous baguettes, Akiko. They got perfect scoring/slashes.

A very useful and great write up on the scoring too.

I too score breads on the same direction as yours, diagram 1, with the lenght on pararel to myself (I use curve lame and it works better this way).

Sue

http://youcandoitathome.blogspot.com

I've gone so far as using food-safe pens to mark (with a dot) the beginning or ending of each score. Works like a charm and really helped my scoring.  The other think I did when I first started to bake baguettes was to sacrifice one baguette and score it then form it again, let it rise a bit, and re-score it and re-score it and re-score it until the dough is really "dead".  Gave me a lot of confidence.

Pam

These look truly delicious Akiko - so beautifully open and airy! 

Thanks for the detailed notes on the baguette making and also for the notes on scoring. They are really helpful and I need all the help I can get in these areas!

Many thanks for sharing this.

With very best wishes, Daisy

Stunning baguettes, Akiko!  So lovely, long and slender.  Beautiful crumb, too.  Your attention to detail is remarkable.

Best,

Syd

Hello Akiko,
Your baguette is amazing! Thank you for your hard work and explanation in your post.
It's a joy to see such a beautiful baguette.
:^) from breadsong

This is one the best Home made baguettes i've ever seen, Akiko! Way to go, you rock!!

I tried this recipe and followed the instructions to the letter. Wonderful result and so fast and easy. Who knew you had to poke the dough to get the holes! Counter-intuitive but it works! Thanks!
Pamela

I keep going back to this wonderful picture.  It makes my mouth water. I really need to try your recipe.

Pam

Kudos, Teketeke.  Very impressive looking baguette!  I may have missed something in this baguette recipe and others posted on TFL, but I'm trying to understand what type of pan or stone is needed for the baguette to go into the oven with.  I started off today thinking I really needed to obtain a baguette mold (assuming these were used in French bakeries) but after reading some posts here have decided maybe I don't need one.  But everyone is talking about putting their baguettes into their ovens but not really saying what the dough is resting on.  I do use a large flat round pizza stone to make round loaves, but I notice they can tend to flatten out.  My worry is that even shaping a torpedo like baguette shape from the dough on a stone will end up "running" off to the sides and give me a fairly flattish long loaf instead of the nice vertically rounded loaf pictured above.   Any input/thoughts appreciated, thank you.  

Hello Markstav,

Thank you for your kind word :)

 I am sorry for this late respond..

I am the one who also look for a good baking stone.I think a New York baker baking stone and kiln shelf are good. And, for making steam in the oven, I always use Sylvia’s steaming method.  You can see how she bakes bread, too. :)

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/20162/oven-steaming-my-new-favorite-way 

When I bake a baguette, I put the baking stone on the top and the steaming towels on the bottom.  I used quarry tiles and it broke in pieces in 2 weeks, and I useceramic tiles and found out that a kiln shelf is safer.

It is difficult to find a good size kiln shelf to put in my oven.

The maximum size of my oven for the baking stone will be 23x15 ¾ inches or 59 x 40 cm but I will look for less than that.   How big is your oven?

 New York baker stone: http://www.nybakers.com/equip.html

 I hope that helps you,

Akiko

Hello,

I have recently come across this post and am super impressed by the appearance of these baguettes!! The crumb looks very much like that of the baguettes I get from the local baker.

I am wondering though, do you attribute this open crumb to the raisin yeast water you use in the recipe?  I really want to try this because I have been striving for baguettes with this kind of crumb and have had very little success. I am usually told that kind of airy crumb is because of other things (i.e. "steam" while baking, long ferments of the levain, etc, etc) but this is the first I've ever heard of this raisin yeast water method.  

Where can I find the link to the recipe to make the raisin yeast water?

Thanks,

Tory

Akiko-san,

I noticed you mentioned using KA AP Flour (King Arthur). I am wondering if you have ever used any other flour, perhaps KA French style, European Style or Italian flours. Or maybe NY Bakers Artisan flour or Giusto's Artisan flour?  If you could let me know, I'd appreciate hearing your experiences. Thanks.

Tory

  Tory-san

I haven't tried them that you mentioned above. I only use King Arthur brand for making bread right now.  If you try some of them, I 'd like to hear the differences of the taste and the crust and crumb's color  and so on.    I used Arrowhead flour to make a baguette, it turned out  tasteless and pale. It doesn't contain malt powder in the flour, which I found it later.

:)

Akiko

Akiko-san,

Hi. Ok, I tried my first baguettes using raisin yeast water. They turned out "ok", the crumb was much more open and airy than I've ever gotten it, but it still wasn't as airy as I had hoped for.

However, when I made the raisin yeast water, I think I may have had too much water and not enough raisins for it to be as "potent" as it needed to be.  So I am assuming from this that it is somewhat important to have a proper ratio of water/raisins for it to have enough yeast to develop an airy crumb. Does this sound reasonable?

Oh yeah, one other thought. After making my dough with this raisin yeast water, it didn't seem to rise very much. Even after a couple hours of sitting in a warm room it just didn't rise. It wasn't until I shaped the dough into baguettes did they puff up much. I've had dough rise more using just instant yeast. So I am wondering if that lack of rising is normal when using raisin yeast water?

If you could let me know what you think, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

Tory

i've jus bookmarked to read through this later, but jus wanted to quickly say, thank you, you are very generous for sharing. i like the playdough tip, lol, must use that one :)

Hi rolls,

You're very welcome, and I appreciate for your kind words!   That is good to hear that you like the playdough, too! LOL   Practicing is the best way to learn everything, I think. :)

Happy baking,

Akiko

I think I will do the YW Baggies next.  I really need to practice my slash and there are more on Baggies than anywhere else :-)  I don't think I am ready for it, despite your fine write up and directions.

パン一撃はそれ自体までの芸術です。

to make YW Baggies.  Used your method for slashing and it turned out to be the best slashing I have managed to date.  Not great like yours though.  Made the baggies with 20% rye and WW and retarded them for 22 hours with a final proof of 4 hours - should have been 8 hours though.  No holes like yours either due to the whole grains and short final proof - but they tasted great.  Had them for breakfast today.  Delicious with no sour taste.  Have uses YW for 4 out of my last 5 bakes.  Am now using YW in conjuction with SD in the same breads.  Done this twice now.  Very nice.    Will go for holes next time I make baggies - need to practice slashing :-)  Thanks again.

Best to you and yours - hope all is well.

Hi dabrownman,

Thank you for telling me your result! It sounds like you are already improving so fast on your baguette!!  Adding some whole grain tends to have more denser crumb not open crumb, but I am sure that the taste will be great like you described. I am so glad that your slasing came out good!!

I better practice on baguette again! I have not made it for a while...

I hope you will have a baguette that you are looking for very soon!!

Best to you and yours too!!!  We are fine!! :)  Akiko