traditional baguettes

We're starting the week with some great news! Since many of you are keen to learn how to make bread at home, Eva, author of Bake-Street , has agreed to participate in our blog to encourage you to embark on this delicious journey into the world of baking: she brings us a basic recipe for making baguettes at home. I encourage you to read it, follow the advice she gives us and enjoy delicious homemade bread!

Making bread at home is one of the most rewarding and satisfying things I know of. Not only is it a relaxing process, but it also allows us to enjoy artisanal, freshly baked bread every day.

When you start this wonderful adventure at home, I recommend that you start with yeast breads or simple preferments such as poolish or sponge. Once you feel comfortable with these types of breads, you can move on to sourdough breads.

Let's see how to make traditional baguettes, the simplest in terms of process and use of ingredients.

Baguettes are a bread that everyone likes, with a very thin and crunchy crust, a very characteristic flavour and aroma, and a very soft and spongy crumb. If we add to all this that we can enjoy them in about 5 hours maximum, I think there is little more to say... without a doubt it is worth it, and very much so!

You will notice that the recipe below contains a small amount of yeast, so do not increase it to finish the process sooner. A bread made with a small amount of yeast stays fresh longer than one that contains a lot of yeast, and is also much healthier and tastier.

The shaping process may not be perfect the first time you make it, but remember that bread is practice and the more you make it, the better it will turn out.

To bake the baguettes I used the Emile Henry ceramic oven, which is very similar to a Dutch Oven. In it we can create a perfect environment to obtain baguettes with a soft and spongy crumb and a very fine and crispy crust.

Because it is made of ceramic, during the preheating of the oven, it allows the Emile Henry oven to reach a high temperature - this step is essential to obtain a great expansion of the bread, volume, together with a very thin and crispy crust. In addition, by baking it in a closed container we encourage the formation of steam, together with a previous spraying on the bread, which will help us obtain greater volume and opening of the cuts.

If you make the recipe with this oven, I recommend that you follow the steps I give you in the recipe. It is very important that the Emile Henry oven is previously preheated to ensure good baking of the baguettes as well as achieving good bread expansion and a thin, crispy crust.

This ceramic kiln has another peculiarity, and that is that when it is very hot it changes colour slightly, going from red to a very dark maroon. This way we can know, when we let it cool, if it is still hot.

The result is baguettes with an extraordinary flavour and texture, you'll tell me! Now let's move on to the process.

Pictured: Emile Henry ceramic baguette oven

Ingredients (for 3 baguettes)

300 g of baking flour with a strength W=180-190
50 g of soft pastry flour
245 g of water
0.8 - 1 g dry yeast or 2.4 - 3 g fresh yeast
6.3 g sea salt
1.7 g roasted malt

Elaboration

We prepare the dough for our baguettes:

In a large bowl, add the two types of flour and mix with the help of a silicone spatula. Add the water and mix until both ingredients are completely combined. There should be no dry flour left.

To mix it we can do it manually or in a mixer and using the hook, we will always mix at the lowest speed for a maximum of 2 minutes.

We cover the dough with a cotton cloth and let the autolysis take place for 60 minutes.

This step will allow the protein in the flour to hydrate, making subsequent kneading easier and helping us obtain a greater volume from our breads.

After this resting time, add the yeast. I recommend using dry baker's yeast, it integrates much better into the dough and is easier to dissolve. Knead well, using the French kneading method, trying to fully integrate it. Then add the salt and knead again until it is fully integrated.

How is French kneading done?

We place our hands like shovels, with our fingers together, in this way we will avoid leaving gaps through which the dough can slip. We take part of the dough by one of the ends, as if we were going to pick up a sandwich, and lightly resting our thumbs on it, we lift the dough upwards and release the dough onto the work surface, folding it forward and releasing the end that we had held. We repeat this process several times.

The kneading between adding the yeast and salt should not be long, just enough to distribute them throughout the dough and not disperse them on the work surface. To make this bread we should not knead thoroughly, we should knead briefly.

Once we have integrated both ingredients into the dough, we fold it 3-4 more times with the French kneading method and place the dough in an airtight container or bowl previously greased with olive oil. We cover it with its corresponding lid or film, to prevent the dough from crusting, and we let it ferment for 3 hours in bulk.

During these 3 hours we will have to fold the dough every 20 minutes during the first hour. For the next 2 hours we will let the dough rise without touching it at a maximum of 27-28ºC.

How is a fold performed?

After the first 20 minutes, we uncover our bowl and wet our hands with cold water, this way we can manipulate the dough without it sticking too much.

With the folds we will form a kind of square with our dough. Let's imagine that our container is square, it is easier to visualize, we take one of the ends of the dough, lift it slightly upwards and fold it over the dough. We turn the container 180º, take the other end of the dough and fold it over itself.
We turn the container 90ºC, take the end of the dough and fold it, letting the dough fall on itself. Finally, we turn the container 180ºC, take the last end of the dough and fold it on itself.

We cover it and let it rest for another 20 minutes.

Once the bulk fermentation time has passed, the first fermentation, we will have to preform our baguettes.

We preform and shape the baguettes:

We flour the work surface, not too lightly but not too much either! There may be traces of flour between the folds of dough, and we turn out the dough.

We divide it into three equal portions, each weighing around 200 g, and pre-shape it. To do this, we will take each piece, which will be like small rectangles, and we will fold the right end over the dough and then the left end. We must not put too much tension on the pieces because they will lose their gas and the work done so far would be ruined.

We cover the pieces with a cotton cloth and let them rest for 15-20 minutes.

After this time, we proceed to form our baguettes.

We will have a linen couche ready or, failing that, a very large linen or cotton tablecloth, and we will flour it generously. We will set it aside.

To form the baguettes, it is very important that, first of all, we keep in mind the length that the Emile Henry oven allows us to give our baguettes, otherwise they would stick out on the outside and we would not be able to bake them properly.

We take one of the pieces, leaving the rest covered, and place it in front of us. The dough will be more or less rectangular and the longest part will be horizontal to us.

We must “roll” the dough three times to form the whole baguette. The right hand will serve as a guide and the left hand will seal the dough that we “roll”.

We place the right thumb on the upper left edge of the piece of dough, and with the rest of the fingers we will help lift the dough to roll it over itself.

You must keep in mind that this step must be done 3 times, so that you can visually calculate how much you should roll.

The left hand will seal the dough that is being rolled, using the index and middle fingers to help it form and apply tension. We will do this step until we have rolled the whole piece for the first time.

Once we have completed this first part, we must repeat the process with a second round and, finally, with a third. When we finish this step, we will have a cylinder of dough with the fold of the last joint facing us.

Gently slide a scraper over the base of the baguette to remove any dough that has stuck to the work surface.

Now we will have to give some length to the baguette, remember not to exceed the length that the oven allows.

Place both hands on the dough cylinder and, with gentle, rocking movements, slide each hand towards the edges. Do not insist on this step too much, as this could cause the dough to degas and affect the shape.

We take the baguette and place it on the couche. We repeat this step with the other two pieces.

When placing the baguettes on the linen, we must create some gaps by lifting the couche between each baguette. Sprinkle a little flour on the surface, cover and let rise for about 60-75 minutes.

If you don't have a shovel to transport the baguettes from the couche to the oven, you can do the following: Place a strip of baking paper on the couche and place the baguette on top of this, so that once it has risen, you can move it to the oven without having to handle it with your hands, as this would damage it.

We do not have to let the baguettes rise in the baguette oven, as specified in the manual, because we need to preheat it well before using it in order to obtain good results after baking.

When there are 45 minutes left to bake the baguettes, we will preheat the Emile Henry oven: we place the ceramic oven, base and lid, on the rack and in the lowest part, we preheat to 250ºC.

After the rising time, we prepare our baguettes for baking:

Once we have preheated the oven and are going to put the baguettes in, the ideal thing is to transport them on strips of greaseproof paper or baking paper. It will be very comfortable for us to be able to move them without burning ourselves. If you have a shovel, you can transport them on it and slide them over Emile's oven. In that case I recommend lightly greasing with olive oil and sprinkling flour on the cavities of the oven, always before heating it! (as you use the oven more, the cavities will stop sticking to the baguettes).

We uncover the baguettes and proceed to make the cuts before putting them in the oven. We will do this with a slightly moistened knife or lame.

This step must be done just before baking, we cannot score the baguettes and leave them like that for a few minutes before putting them in the oven.

The cuts should not be inclined, they should be practically straight and we should make 3 to 4 cuts in the baguette. We make the first cut, more or less in the center of the baguette with a quick and sure movement, we should not hesitate or cut again over a cut.
The next one we will have to do from the third part of the first one, we could say that they more or less overlap in height.

Pictured are loaves of bread presented in the Kitchen Craft wire basket (left), and a Pallarès boxwood-handled knife .

Once we have scored the three baguettes, we spray them with a little water and put them in the ceramic oven: very carefully remove the lid of the ceramic oven , using oven gloves, and leave it on a surface that cannot be damaged, such as the glass ceramic hob. We move the baguettes, as quickly as possible, to the Emile Henry oven , and leave them on the holes. We cover them again with the lid of the ceramic oven, close our oven and bake for 10 minutes at 250ºC.

After this time, we lower the temperature to 240ºC and bake for 10 more minutes. Finally, we remove the lid of the ceramic oven , always with the help of gloves, and bake for about 4-5 minutes with air at a temperature of 220ºC.

It is important that these final minutes are with air because it helps to achieve even browning of the baguettes as well as removing excess moisture, helping to obtain a thin and very crispy crust.

After the baking time, remove and let cool on a rack.

STORAGE : This bread has a short shelf life, it is best to consume it the same day it is made or freeze it, very well wrapped in film, once it has cooled completely.