My First Baguettes

Made my first traditional baguettes in class -- I had brought in my own sourdough starter (100% hydration, 50% whole wheat/50% unbleached flour) and substituted that for the old dough.

I had the benefit of a very nice perforated baguette pan and a rippin' hot convection oven, into which I'd placed a skillet for some ice to generate a bit of steam since our steam injection isn't hooked up on those ovens.  This is how they turned out:

Shaping was half decent and I got really nice ears on one of them.  The crust was delightful, but the crumb was decidedly more compact and regular than I would have liked...  I'd like to attribute that to the whole wheat in the starter; the crumb was also darker in color, again, probably from the wheat flour; however, the taste was still amazing -- a perfect little tang to the bite that everyone in the class enjoyed.

Looking forward to picking up a baguette pan and trying these at home in the future.