The Fresh Loaf

News & Information for Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts

Baguettes

April 15, 2012 - 3:07pm
carblicious's picture
carblicious

Baguettes

While I'm waiting for my sourdough to bulk ferment (4th attempt in trying to get this recipe to work), I'd like to share my more successful attempt at baking.

Here's my latest attempt of baguettes, using SFBI's poolish recipe.

 

Don't have a crumb shot of the above baguettes, but here's a section from the weekend before.

 

While I very much like baguettes (and epis), I'm taking a break and making sourdough and my first sandwich loaf bread this weekend.  Sourdough has been very very painful, as it's often resulted in dense and chewy bread with no beautiful holes.  Based on the wealth of information on TFL, I hope to fix this.   Crossing my fingers.

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dabrownman's picture
dabrownman
Apr 15 2012 - 3:37pm

baggies you have!  They turned out very carbliscious:-)  Nice crust and the crumb is very good.  Great success!

FrenchNyonya's picture
FrenchNyonya
Apr 16 2012 - 2:26am

Wow.. they sure look very very good..or I would say they sure look like coming out of the boulangerie in France..and I am from France. How I wish I can produce baguettes like yours..

Cheers,

Sylvia

carblicious's picture
carblicious
Apr 16 2012 - 10:53pm

Thanks for the kind words.  If I can make baguettes, you can too.  I am far from a savant, just practicing and trying to improve every time I bake.

amiscell's picture
amiscell
May 7 2012 - 9:59am

Hi - these look beautiful. I would love to try. Is there a link to this recipe?

carblicious's picture
carblicious
May 7 2012 - 12:29pm

Calculation

Dough Weight7.5
Pre fermented flour33%

Poolish

Bakers %IngredientsKilograms
100Flour0.458
100Water0.458
0.1Yeast0.0005
200.1Total0.917

Final Dough

Bakers %IngredientsKilograms
100Flour0.931
55.22Water0.514
0.32Yeast0.003
2.99Salt0.028
0.75Malt0.007
98.56Poolish0.917
257.84Total2.400
  1. Night before, mix poolish, cover in plastic and rest in room temp
  2. Bake day, mix dry incredients, then adding water and poolish and incorporate completely
  3. Bulk ferment for 3 hours, with 3 stretch and folds. I stretch to chest height.
  4. Preshape, and rest for 30 minutes
  5. Shape, and proof for 1 hour
  6. Bake at 475 for 25 minutes (15 on steam, 10 minute off)

The bake in my oven is 23-25 minutes, depending on how well I preheat and what coloring I want on the baguettes. Please let me know if you want more detail, this recipe is more formula and doesn't elaborate too much on each step.

Thanks!

-Don

amiscell's picture
amiscell
May 7 2012 - 6:47pm

Excellent, thanks! I will try this.

thehomefoodcook's picture
thehomefoodcook
May 21 2012 - 7:03pm

wow nice looking bread! I like their shape...I'm still working on the shaping of my loaves and always have a little trouble transferring a long loaf onto the stone. I usually end up deflating it somewhat...how do you manage that?

carblicious's picture
carblicious
May 21 2012 - 9:43pm

Thank you.  The photos on your site are great.  Really like the perspectives and focus, quite unique and great to look at.

As transferring a long loaf onto a stone, I'm still quite new.  Many misshapped breads in the recent past.  Two things I do:

1. Use a transfer board to move the baguettes from couche to peel.  Fortunately, SFBI is local and I simply bought their board.  But others on TFL have made their own, some simply using cardboard and nylon stocking.

2. The peel motion is a pull, like the magic trick of pulling the tablecloth and the china and stemwear remain on the table.

Recently, for my large loaves and when I am packing the oven, I've been using parchment paper between bread and peel. More consistent transfers for me, but haven't done baguettes this way yet.