Baguette (baguette de tradition)

Step 1 of 8

Mix the flour with 400 ml of water into a rough dough and leave it to rest for 30 minutes. Add 4 g of crumbled yeast, 11 g of salt and the remaining 30 ml of water and knead for 8–10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic; it should be at about 24 °C.

  • Yeast dough: Yeast is only human: cosy warmth gets it working, real heat finishes it off, and in the cold it just dawdles.
  • Kneading and gluten: Gluten is the dough's gym: give bread a proper workout, and let sponge cakes and pancakes put their feet up.
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45 min

00:00

Ingredients

  • 620 gWheat flour, white, bread, enriched
  • 430 mlBeverages, water, tap, drinking
  • 11 gSalt, table
  • 4 gLeavening agents, yeast, baker's, compressed

Method

  1. Mix the flour with 400 ml of water into a rough dough and leave it to rest for 30 minutes. Add 4 g of crumbled yeast, 11 g of salt and the remaining 30 ml of water and knead for 8–10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic; it should be at about 24 °C.
  2. Leave the dough to rise in a covered bowl for 2 hours (the pointage), folding it after 40 and 80 minutes: stretch an edge up and fold it over the centre, working all the way round. Alternatively let it rise for 1 hour and then for 12–24 hours in the fridge at 4 °C.
  3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, divide it into 3 pieces of about 355 g and loosely roll each into an oval. Cover and leave to rest for 20 minutes.
  4. Flatten each piece, fold it in thirds, roll it up tightly and roll it out with your palms from the centre towards the ends to 35–40 cm (45–50 cm in a bakery). Lay the baguettes seam side up in a floured, pleated linen cloth.
  5. Let the baguettes prove for 30–45 minutes at about 25 °C. Meanwhile heat the oven to 250 °C with a baking stone or tray inside and put an empty tray on the oven floor for steam.
  6. Transfer the baguettes seam side down onto paper or a peel and score them with a blade with one to three shallow diagonal cuts that overlap lengthways.
  7. Slide the baguettes onto the stone, pour 100 ml of boiling water into the tray on the oven floor and close the door at once. Bake at 250 °C for 20–23 minutes, removing the water tray after 10 minutes. The finished baguettes are deep golden brown and sound hollow when tapped underneath.
  8. Let the baguettes cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before cutting.