Unsifted whole wheat flour bad for gluten????

The big bran particles can be a problem with gluten formation but you might want to try an experiment or two when making your next batch of baguettes. Keep in mind that I don't have the recipe at hand.

The first and easiest thing to do is to use the whole wheat flour, bran included, in the poolish or preferment. Whole wheat flour works well the yeast and the usual 10-12 hours of development for the poolish will give the bran time to absorb moisture and soften up. I make this suggestion on the premise that most baguette recipes use a preferment.

If you're reluctant to use the whole wheat flour in the preferment, try soaking the whole wheat flour in the water for the main dough for an hour or two. This will also soften the bran and from my limited experience, seems to bring out a bit of sweetness that whole wheat flour made from hard red wheat seems to lack. Of course, this means deviating from the recipe and requires a small amount of time management but I think that we don't learn much about baking if we're not willing to try new techniques or adjust our procedures to suit our own environment and available ingredients.

I admire and respect the work that Cooks Illustrated does, but I have fun in the kitchen and you should too.