Sourdough French Baguettes
There are different types of baguettes in the bread world. In general a baguette is a long baton of bread. Now, depending on the region, the texture, the crumb structure and the crust may vary. While Italian baguettes are crusty and chewy, the French baguettes are soft on the inside with a slight crisp on the outside.
This is my version of the easy sourdough French baguettes. I have a sourdough sandwich (pullman) recipe already on the blog. A while back I derived a lean version of the same recipe and been sticking with it ever since. I needed to make a sandwich bread for my Mom during their visit, as she is no fan of the regular country sourdough. (Also check my sourdough baguettes) The crust is too chewy for her. So I baked her a soft sandwich loaf each week.
This continued for a bout 2 weeks and I was kind of getting tired of the brick shape and decided to bake baguettes with the same dough piece. We ended up loving the results and according to my Mom it was the perfect bread! LOL Yes! out of all the recipes she ended up loving this simple yet rather versatile baguette.
So here is the recipe for my lean French baguettes. The recipe makes 3 batons.
Gather your ingredients first. I have measured oil and water in the same jug Make sure your starter/levain is ready and active.
Dissolve the stater/levain in the water and set aside. Mix all the dry ingredients separately.
Add the wet ingredients onto the dry and mix using a spatula until everything is hydrated. Then knead the dough using a stand mixer or your hands.
Mixer may take about 8-10 minutes and by hand it may take about 15 minutes to get a fairly smooth dough.
Tip: knead for 5 minutes, cover and let sit for 15-20 minutes and then continue to knead. The dough will be a lot easier to handle after the rest. Any time the dough feels sticky, cover and let it rest. Resting will make the dough manageable.
If your dough looks something like this, you are on right track. Let this rest for about 5 minutes. Then shape this into a smooth dough ball. A trick is to do a couple of folds.
Place the smooth dough in a greased bowl. Leave in a warm place until doubled in size. May take roughly 3-4 hours at 77F (25C).
Look at the dough, not at the clock!
Once the dough has doubled, you can either continue to make the baguettes or punch down, cover and place in the fridge until next day.
Placing in the fridge will slow down the fermentation and also aid in developing flavor.
Tip: If you refrigerated the dough, make sure to pull the dough out and let it thaw for about an hour or 2 before continuing with the process
Divide the dough into three equal pieces.
De-gas and pre-shape the dough dough pieces in to round dough balls (making them slightly elongated/oval will help in shaping the baguettes next)
cover and let these rest for 20 minuets
shape in to baguettes and place on the the baguette proofing tray
Make sure the tray is either non-stick or lightly dusted with flour. Don't have a tray? You can also use a thick tea towel or a Couche.
Baking without a baguette proofing tray
If you use a Couch or a cloth to proof the baguettes, use a peel or a long sturdy piece of cardboard to transfer the baguettes later into the oven. Also, preheat a pizza stone or a baking steel in the oven, so you have a surface to lay the baguettes on.
Proofed baguettes will look fuller and plump. Also when you poke the dough, it will slowly come back up leaving a slight indent. If it 'springs back' then the baguettes are under-proofed. This is called the 'poke test'.
Preheat the oven before scoring
Over-proofed
If you leave them for too long (5-6 hours) the baguettes will be over proofed. When you do the 'poke test, if the dough didn't come back/left a deep indent, then it has over-proofed. If they have already started to deflate, you may still bake them but they won't have the same oven spring. Otherwise, you can still save them. Be very careful not to slam the baguettes and be gently when handling. Carefully place them in the oven and bake as usual.
If the baguettes didn't turn out presentable, you can still turn them into bread crumbs!
While the oven is being preheated, leave the baguettes uncovered so they dry out a bit and will be easier to score.
When the oven is ready, score the proofed baguettes using a sharp blade. Bake in the pre-heated oven
Baking
I like to bake these French baguettes with steam. If you have a baguette baker with a lid, no need to add extra steam. The lid will trap the steam thats's released from the bread. Otherwise, place a pan with boiling water (and a tea towel submerged to prevent water from boiling over) on the bottom rack or base of the oven. If your oven is big enough you can place the baguettes and the pan of water side by side. After the first 15 minutes, remove the pan with water and finish off the baking.
Additionally you can use a ceramic baguette baking tray with a lid made specifically for this purpose (Amazon link above). In that case you need to preheat the tray along with the lid (similar to a Dutch Oven). No need to add extra steam as the lid will trap the moisture. Once preheated, carefully place the baguettes in the tray, close the lid and bake. You need to remove the lid after the first 15-20 minutes and continue to bake.
Leave the baked baguettes to cool completely before slicing or storing away.
Shop the Ingredients
Sourdough French Baguettes
Ingredients
Method
- 1
Weigh/measure flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of the stand mixer
- 2
Weigh the water and measure oil into a separate jar
- 3
Add sourdough starter/levain to the same jar and mix well
- 4
Add the wet ingredients onto the flour mixture and mix by hand or using a spatula just until everything comes together
- 5
The dough should be soft enough to knead. If not add about a tablespoon of extra water
- 6
Place the bowl in the mixer fitted with a dough hook and knead at speed 2 for about 5 minutes
- 7
Stop the mixer, cover the bowl with a tea towel and let it rest for 15 minutes
- 8
After the rest knead for another 5-8 minutes or until a smooth dough is developed. If the dough is sticky, let it rest for another 15 minutes and then knead until smooth
- 9
Place the smooth dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover and leave in a warm place for about 3 hours or until the dough has roughly doubled it's original size
- 10
If you need more flavor, punch down the dough, cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator overnight or for 18-24 hours
- 11
If you refrigerated the dough, bring it out and let it thaw for at least 2 hours prior to continuing
- 12
When ready, bring the dough onto a floured surface, punch down to release most of the air
- 13
Divide into three equal pieces and pre-shape them to balls (slightly elongated if possible)
- 14
Cover and let the dough bolls rest for 20 minutes
- 15
Then shape each dough ball into a baguette. check the video attached in the blog post above or lookup for baguette shaping
- 16
Once shaped, place them on a greased/floured baguette tray or on a well-dusted couche (cloth)
- 17
Cover and let baguette rise. May take 2-3 hours at 72F-77F. Do the 'poke test' described in the post above to see if the baguettes are fully proofed
- 18
Pre-heat the oven to 350°F with a rack placed one position below the center. If you are not using a baguette tray, you need to pre-heat a bakingsteel or a pizza stone or a baguette baking pan with lid
- 19
When the oven is ready, place a pan with boiling water on the bottom rack or the center rack (if you have space) for additional steam. If you are using a baguette baking tray with a lid, you don't need additional steam
- 20
Once the baguettes are ready, dust the top with some flour and score along the length of the baguette. You can do 3,4 or 5 slashes or one single slash top down
- 21
Place the baguettes in the oven
- 22
Bake for 15 minutes, remove the steam pan and bake for another 20 minutes. If you like a crispier crust, bake for an additional 5 minutes
- 23
Remove the baked baguettes and place them on a wire rack to cool
- 24
Slice and enjoy!
- 25
For storing: Let baguettes cool completely and then place them in an air-tight container. You can also use plastic bag with a tie.
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