First Baguettes

After a few years of consistently baking bread, I finally pushed myself to make an occasion to try making baguettes.  I've partly avoided it because I usually make bread once a week for toast and/or sandwiches during the week and because don't really work well with home baking equipment.  

When I was back home in February, I borrowed a baguette shaped pan from my mom.  With this sitting around, I finally conceded.

I followed Tartine #3's baguette recipe pretty much to a T except that I didn't have any spelt flour on hand, so I substituted some Rouge de Bourdeaux 85% extraction wheat flour that I just got from Dayspring Farms. 

Result: Well they do have a distinctly baguette-y taste, though maybe I'm conflating commercial yeast taste with baguette taste.  They have (or had upon coming out of the oven) a nice crisp crust, slightly charred in a few spots and a fairly airy crumb.  However, the crumb is not especially open, and it is more soft than chewy (which I think of as an essential aspect). 

The scoring was ok- I think I got a decent angle on most of them, but I overlapped too much, and a lot ran together.  I knew better, but once I started cutting, I forgot to think.  

They're tasty, and there is something very indulgent about just tearing into them fresh out of the oven slathered with butter.  I'll probably attempt again sometime this summer, maybe once the tomatoes start coming on in full in a few weeks.  If/when I do though, I'll not be using the Tartine recipe- two poolishes and a sourdough leaven is too much futzing for a baguette beginner just looking for something crusty, chewy, and airy.  I'll probably give TxFarmer's 36 hour baguettes a go.