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.