Hi,
Great article. I have two questions though:
1. what type of oil for the bowl?
2. what kind of yeast? does it need to be prepared in any way?
Thanks
Jeff

This looks like the great French Bread we use for our po-boy sandwhiches here in New Orleans. I have tried to make it at home with limited success. Mark has provided the solution.

In a related topic, I am trying to reconstruct the recipe for some cheesy, spicy bread sticks I used to enjoy at one of my favorite restaurants which closed 20 years ago. They were that good; I still remember them.

I have the list of ingredients but no instructions about how to prepare the bread sticks. Any suggestions?

Frank

The article is a wealth of knowledge on Baguette making. Thanks a lot for sharing it with everyone!

Jeff,

I use a neutral tasting oil like canola or grapeseed. Olive oil might add a little flavor, but that won't necessarily be bad.

I have access to two types of yeast in my local supermarket; instant yeast that comes in indivdual packets or in a glass jar, and cake yeast. Either works fine without activation. If you use cake yeast, crumble it into small particles before adding it to the dough.

Frank,

I'm afriad I haven't done any work on bread sticks yet, so I'm not sure about the techniques.

Mark Schimpf

The only way I know how to make breadsticks is to roll some dough into a flat square and then slice that square into narrow sticks. I'd use a lightly oiled pizza-cutter for that operating. Then you can give the sticks a twist or two as you transfer them to a parchment-covered cookie sheet, let them rise (proof), and bake them.

Before you transfer them to parchment, you could sprinkle whatever toppings/coatings you want on them; cheese/salt/spices, etc. Now, if they came coated with cheese, then that probably just got added later and melted on.

Since huge airholes aren't necessarily desireable in breadsticks, I'd give them a slightly longer knead than the above recipe calls for.

Very good article. I just have some comments about steam. I'm sure your steam gadget is effective and handy, but the old French didn't have steam injection any more than the home baker does. Steam injection is a professional convenience, not a necessity.

In the old days bread was baked in brick ovens. They have a low profile with a bit of a dome in the back. Precisely what wonderful things this does for bread is complicated (see The Bread Builders book), but basically involves heat and steam. If the surrounding area is small enough and doesn't let the steam escape, the bread emits enough steam without any injection. You can approximate both heat and steam effects of a brick oven with what I will call a generic cloche. There is a product called La Cloche, which is a ceramic plate and dome. There are cheaper things you can do with what you have on hand which are cheaper, e.g. turning over a stoneware baker onto a pizza stone or unglazed quarry tiles, or using a dutch oven, etc. For venting you just remove the lid/cover. This works quite well and depending on what you already have can be more affordable and/or convenient than a unitasker or building a brick oven. :-) Shape can be an issue here, especially if you want long baguettes.

My dad and I are amateur bakers, and I do what he does-- a few minutes into the baking, say, halfway through, I toss a few icecubes into the bottom of the oven. I'm pretty happy with the results.

Back in the 80's I bought a (horrors!) bread machine that managed to walk itself off the table and bent the domed lid*. After that it was pretty much useless for the baking end of the process, but still worked fine for mixing and kneading.

In the recipe book that came along with the machine was a French bread recipe that I used quite often for pizza dough. Along with the usual suspects: flour, yeast, water, salt, it also called for one beaten (stiff) egg white. incorporated into the mix after the other ingredients started blending.

Best pizza crust I've ever managed to produce and the crumb was exactly as you describe even after only one rising.


*Set your machine on a damp dish towel to keep this from happening to you.

The purpose of injecting steam at the start of the baking process is twofold. First is to slow down the process of setting the crust to give the bread a good spring in the oven. Second is to give the bread a thin crispy crust. Breads baked without steam tend to be a little denser and have a thicker, chewier crust. Neither of these things is necessarily bad. It depends on what you are looking for.

Many techniques have been developed to attempt to simulate the effects of steam injection; ice cubes or hot water in a pan in the bottom of the oven at the start of baking, misting the oven several times in the first few minutes of baking, and covering the bread with bakeware to capture the moisture lost from the bread are a few of the techniques that you commonly see suggested. All of these techniques have some effect on the spring and crust, just not as much as true steam injection.

An earlier post suggested that bread baked in stone or brick ovens of a certain design accomplishes the same thing that the steam injection incorporated into the modern professional baking oven does. I have no first hand knowledge of this, but I it raises an interesting question about the evolution of the modern professional baking oven. I will do some research on this.

Mark

I love your site! I've spent all afternoon wading through recipes and then discovered this baguette one.

Even with years of baking at home I would hardly have considered myself an expert, I suppose because I usually made the same old whole wheat loaf. When I tried to expand to a heavier, European-style rye, I discovered King Arthur, a 200+ yr old flour company from Vermont. By chance they held free baking classes near home in Missouri this past fall and I took both the sweet yeast dough and artisan bread classes. I discovered that I’d been doing it ”all wrong” all my life. I couldn't even measure flour right, much less knead properly.

Their version of measuring flour was not to sift nor to scoop. Barring a scale, their preferred method was to sprinkle the flour over the measuring cup and then scrape it level. I’d always been a little mystified by bread recipe variations of flour quantities, based on humidity, etc. Well, they only added maybe 2/3 to 3/4 of a recipe’s flour and then started mixing. Flour was then added as needed JUST until the batter would hold together enough to lift in one lump out of the bowl with the odd wisk they like to use. There was usually a fair amount of flour left over from what *I* previously would have automatically added to a batch. Less flour is better - especially for the artisan breads, regardless of how moist the dough still is as far as handling was concerned. This directly matches your explanation about having a highly hydrated dough for the baguettes. Makes sense!

King Arthur’s artisan dough “kneading” was a definite revelation. Flour hands, then using just the thumb and forefinger hang the wet mess of a dough above the board. Instead of "kneading" let it drape over itself into a pile. Rotate a quarter turn, lift and repeat. You just about have to see it being done. The idea is to develop an outside “shell” that is barely dry enough to handle by maintaining its continuity. Keep hands floured; don't go wash them off and get them wet!

Finally, the old story about “punching down” a dough definitely doesn’t hold here. After the first rise, roll it out of the bowl onto a board and gently pat it down. This puts the yeast in contact with the gluten again and moves out some of the waste products. It’ll start rising again fairly quickly then. You gave a great description of folding the dough and shaping the baguette, but I think most folks would benefit from *seeing* the initial kneading done at least once. I know I need to see it again. Sigh!

Oh, it was also the first time I'd seen a thermometer used to tell when bread was done baking...another revelation for me.

I’m certainly not that great at explaining, because it was such a change in techniques for me. Folks might enjoy checking out KA's website: www.kingarthurflour.com. There’s DVDs of the classes available, if anyone wants to watch the dough handling techniques. (They also have great flours - even organic, specialized baking ingredients, and all kinds of fun-looking gadgets that are beyond MY budget. :) )

Oh, that help for rye bread I was looking for? Turns out the oh-so- accomplished King Arthur instructor said, “Oh. That’s a really specialized craft and beyond my capabilities. You’d better check out our web site. Our head baker does rye and there’s an international community on the forum who can offer help.” Sigh! So, that’s a yet-to-be-achieved goal for me.

Thanks again for all the cooking insight you offer. I've learned a lot this afternoon.

Is there anyway to freeze baguette dough for future baking?

Hi, I've been reading your page with interest, and I'm a little confused about your method for proofing, in particular regarding the seam, which side is up or down.... It's always been my understanding that one proofs with the seam side up (in a baset or a couche), and then when one is ready to bake, the dough is flipped onto the peel, thereby putting the seam side at the bottom of the dough which is then loaded into the oven.

How do you move the proofed dough from the surface where it's proofing to the peel If you're proofing with the seam side down?

Thanks for any remarks and comments.

Excellent article on baguettes, thank you. I just wanted to point anyone interested to a very active forum for home bread bakers:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/

Happy baking!

I'm using with great success the recipe from King Arthur Flour website, which is very similar to yours (1:1 water/flour ratio for the poolish and 2:3 overall).

With a twist though: half the poolish flour is replaced with semolina. IMHO the semolina flour adds to the baked baguette a subtle sweetness; don't know the theory behind, but the results are interesting. It's worth trying.

Happy baking!

How do you form loaves with dough that's 70% water? My dough always turns out a goopy mess. I end up adding lots of flour at before forming the loaves and proofing which makes the baguettes too dense. Help please.

actually, it is not 70% water.

from the original post:
Flour – 475 grams – 100%
Water – 325 grams – 68.4%

the water is about 70% of the flour weight.

as for too wet a dough - are you measuring by weight or by "cups"?
for baking recipes, measuring by weight is preferred - it is much more consistent.

also to note, not every flour is the same. what hydration level works with one brand may need slight adjustment for another brand -

also to note, find a non-store brand you like and stick with it. you'll learn how it "reacts / behaves" non-store brand is important because stores private label from the supplier of the day and a store brand will not be as consistent as a "name" brand.

if the dough is too sticky to handle / form, you will need to increase the flour. but - it's best to do that from the beginning. adding at the end typically results in an excess because the flour does not have time to "soak up" the water. which is another reason measuring by weight is preferred - if you want to increase the flour by 10%, it's easy to control; deducing a method to increase 3 cups by 10% is trickier . . . .

The dough is very sticky only in the beginning. After you fold it twice during the first rise, it becomes much more manageable.

By the time you're ready to form the loafs for the second rise, it should not stick almost at all. If it still does, just dust the board and your hands with enough flour to prevent sticking.

Also, as Dilbert wrote above, maybe the flour you're using is different; I always had great results with King Arthur's white, it never failed.

Love this site & greatly appreciate the tips! Thanks guys. Here's to my next batch of gorgeous crusty and crumby loaves.

As a "thank you" here's an extremely light and very simple dessert that's great when you just want a touch of sweetness:
Gather a variety of citrus fruits, such as pomelos, grapefruits, oranges, or blood oranges (more colorful the better). Peel and section the fruit. Make a small amount of simple syrup. Get some Grand Marnier. Combine the fruit, a splash of simple syrup and Grand Marnier (both to taste), chill if desired and serve.

Hello,

This is an interesting recipe which I'm in the process of starting right now.
What I am curious about though is...

You indicated a autolise time for the final dough (12-24 hours) but did
not indicate any autolise time for the poolish.

Other recipes I've come across indicate to let the poolish/starter sit for about 14-24 hours before mixing into the dough.

Maybe its listed somewhere else in the article and I just overlooked it. :(

If you could let me know, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

Hello,

One thing I was told to do is to use a cloche. It allows you to form the loaves without adding much flour. When you add too much flour, you're defeating the purpose of the 70% water (extra hydration is what gives the baguettes their characteristic irregular holes). And don't knead the dough much at all.
That also lends itself to dense loaves.

Hi -- love this thread. I took a KA Artisan class too. All true about the wetness of the dough and the minimal handling -- you just have to get used to it, and it does get better as the dough matures. I use one of those plastic scrapers to move the dough around. By the end, after the yeast has worked for about 24 hours (!) between the poolish and the main fermentation, shaping and proofing are no more than somewhat uncomfortable. The longer and slower and cooler you let things ferment, the better your results will be.

Also, the less "work" you put into the dough the less you will oxidize the flour and the more lovely nutty taste you will preserve. When you work the dough in a food processor or a stand mixer you can overheat the dough.

So time and "work" are directly related. Give it more time and you can do less kneading. Give it a lot of time and you don't have to knead it at all. Artisans had a lot of time, I guess.

But that's not why I comment. I struggled with getting the right crust. I used ice cubes, spritzing, a pan of water etc. I was on the verge of buying one of those clay oven inserts, but man, that sounded inconvenient.

Then I found the Baparoma steam baking pans. They work incredibly well for getting the shatteringly authentic crust. You put about an ounce of water int he bottom reservoir, put the pan on top, put the bread on the pan, and cover them. You proof covered, which helps in itself. But then you bake in the covered pans, and the exact right humidity is maintained for exactly long enough.

They are not even made anymore, I think but you can find them on ebay and elsewhere -- google Baparoma Steam Baking Master. I think they cost about $20 each. I bought three, and then I bought 3 more to give to a friend, and then I bought 3 MORE because sometimes I make a LOT of bread. The last lot came with several alternate pan inserts for different uses, but I just use the baguette inserts.

Thanks for this really interesting article, and a wonderfully informative website in general.

I was wondering if this is the same technique as for making Brötchen (Broetchen) - German Bread Rolls?

If not, can you offer some advice or an article on how to make them.

how to bake a good broetchen....

I've been working on that topic for ... sheesh - going on 30 years.

here's what I've learned:

you need flour, water, yeast, salt

you need high humidity / steam in the initial phases of the bake cycle to get the thin crisp crust.

you need high bake temp because if you bake it forever you get a thick crust.

you need a baking stone / similar device - something pre-heated in the oven such that when you plop down the dough, it sizzles.

almost everything else is "technique"

EXCEPT

that Schwaben/Bayern use the "Broetchen" term. other geographic areas have different 'names' for the 'breakfast bread'

my own experience is the Schwaben/Bayern Broetchen have a distinct taste and aroma - and, after 25+ years of fiddling, it is

diastatic malt powder. one tablespoon per 450 grams of flour.

close your eyes, go to KingArthurFlour and pay the price+shipping.

any of the no-knead recipes works well with the addition of the diastatic malt powder (there's two types, diastatic and not diastatic - get the diastatic)

after the long rise, cut/shape to broetchen, allow to (2nd) rise, one slash _after_ risen and _immediately_ before baking.

After my first rising fold (anaerobic), it is a very sticky dough. Are others finding this?

It was pretty goopy, and adding some flour to the final shaping (and an hour's final rest) only made it manageable.

But did it make quite the bread. Very impressed. I am now reducing the moisture to see how she behaves.

I quit making baguettes several years ago because the finished product resembled a cement block with small uniform holes. It's taken about 4 tries using Schimpf's recipe and procedure and wow...I'm good!! :) Seriously, I'm amazed at the results possible if you read and re-read the tips that Schimpf provides. I've always used a pizza stone without a pan and this works well to create a crust that is hard and crispy just like they make it downtown. :) The progress I've made came from using less yeast; using more water (70-72% of flour weight); allowing the poolish to "bloom" for 12-14 hours; heeding the tip to allow the final mix to autolyze before adding the salt; and creating enough steam and wetness initially to help create the crust. To help with the last step, I preheat my oven at 550 with my pizza stone already in. I score the loaves very shallowly - a quarter inch at most in depth so as not to deflate the proofed loaves. I transfer to pizza stone using a pizza peel. After one minute, I open the oven and sprinkle coarse grey salt on the loaves where I've scored the bread - just a little and I spritz liberally with a fine spray of water so that the top of the loaf is well watered! I close the oven and reduce the temp to 470 and turn on the convection oven. After about 3 or 4 minutes I spritz again liberally. Finally, about 4 minutes later I spritz one last time. Works like you'd never believe. Thank you Mark Schimpf!!!

Hi Guys

I'm afraid you cannot make a true baguette unless you use Type 45 French flour, true artisan bakers have a poolish many years old some handed down from their fathers but hey ho does it really matter as long as the end product is good, but there is a difference when you use French flour.

Happy baking

Please define "room temperature". In electronics, it's officially 25°C, but in my experience, most people would consider it closer to 20°C. What is the consensus for baking?
(And yes, vague "everyone knows" measurements are a pet peeve of mine in cookery, but doubly so in engineering. ;)

Also, what temperature range is acceptable? Here, it's late winter, & "room temperature" has been getting down to 5°C overnight, but in summer, it can be as high as 35° C overnight.

My method for better or worse:
Use an aluminum roasting pan, the disposable kind. Cut a small hole in one side near the top to face out towards your oven door. Place baguettes on baking stone, then cover with roasting pan. Wait 1-2 minutes allowing pan to get hot: use a small spray bottle on mist setting and spray into hole in pan.
Five minutes later, repeat; repeat again five or so minutes later. Wait five minutes then remove roasting pan and allow crust to bake to a golden color.
Enjoy!

Mark -

clever!

"covered" and "moisture" does the trick - many tactics to that end.

I'm a bit confused in that at one point, you seem to suggest that the final fermentation can take 1.5 to 4 hours. In another place, you seem to indicate 12 to 24 hours. Am I just reading it wrong?

this?
"Mix poolish, flour and water until just mixed. There is some disagreement about whether yeast should be added before or after the autolyze. You decide. Let stand for 10-30 minutes. Add salt (and yeast if not added before autolyze) and knead for about 1-2 minutes. Final dough temperature should be 70 degree maximum.

Lightly oil bowl and turn dough to coat with oil. Cover bowl and mist interior of bowl to create humid environment. Let stand 12 - 24 hours. You want dough to about double in size. If dough is expanding too rapidly, process can be slowed by placing in refrigerator for a few hours. You do not want the dough to reach the stage where it collapses due to over-rising."

the 12-24 hr rise time is for the poolish - or 'starter' - or (other names)
it is fermented much longer, some folks store a starter in the fridge and feed it now and then, keeping it 'active' almost indefinitely.

a chunk of the starter-previously-prepared is added to the major dough portion - which needs a much shorter rise time.

You’re spot on that it is extremely difficult to replicate the steam injection of commercial ovens, especially the methods you reference. Many seem to forget your earlier point that the volume of the oven is s key part of maintaining humidity levels. I use the “Mun” method posted on facebook and found it to be the most effective and cost effective. First use a baguette pan to hold the final dough. Put a cookie sheet with 1/2” walls and a pizza stone on the sheet both into the oven during pre-heat. Have a 4” deep alum roasting pan longer than the baguette pan ready. Have one cup of hot/boiling water ready. When it is time to place the dough into oven, place the baguette pan on top of the pizza stone. Then cover the dough with the alum roasting pan to create a dome. Then pour the hot water into the baking sheet and it will steam immediately into the alum roasting tray dome. This method produces sufficient humidity and maintains it because you’ve effectively reduced the oversized oven of most home kitchens. The steam is trapped under the dome during the initial bake (15 min). No need to keep spraying or adding more ice cubes, or messing around with lava rocks and damp towels. Try it, you’ll be surprised how effective this is.

Great comprehensive article! I might as well share this to a baker friend.
A question, though: Is the mixing or yeast or what is the cause that some baguette breads fail to taste good?

Hey, what a brilliant post I have come across, and believed me I have been searching out for this similar kind of post for the past week and hardly came across this. Thank you very much and will look for more postings from you.

This is so timing! I'll make this as a reference one of these days! Thanks for sharing.