Best baguettes I've made so far. Still a long ways to go.

7

The slices that are 90% air are killing me lmao

They look great! Love a good chewy baguette 🥖

4

u/mizary1 1d ago

75% hydration. KA AP Flour. 1% IDY, 2% salt. 33% pre ferment (24hr poolish)

Bulk ferment for about 2hrs at RT. Was probably too long, it more than doubled. It was very stringy. But I was able to work the dough and preshape. Let the preshape rest for 20min. Then formed baguettes. Which I placed on parchment. I only rested these for about 30min before baking. I cooked at 460F in a preheated oven. I sprayed the oven and loaves with water to create some steam. I think my biggest issue is forming. I don't get a good tight surface. I've watched a bunch of videos but I can't seem to figure it out. I think this hurts my oven spring and makes it tough to score, I do use a lame but it's very difficult to score my sticky loaves. I'll have to make a video of my process someday to get better feedback on my methods. I also need to do a better job degassing the BIG bubbles. I was pretty happy with the crumb in general - in the past it was very tight. So I am improving.

1

u/Lagoon___Music 20h ago

You should try this recipe with better flour, it will make a huge difference in a baguette. I have not seen a preferment used in a baguette before, which I wonder if it might be affecting the surface.

I form all of my dough and bulk ferment it for 24 hours, no preferment.

Richard Bertinet has some great tips and methods for forming a strong surface.

1

u/Breadwright 8h ago

Baguettes are made with poolish quite often—it’s the most common method. 👍🏻

1

u/Lagoon___Music 8h ago

Interesting! Learned how to make them from a French guy and he never mentions it.

I just looked at the first ten baguette recipes that came up in a google search and it was 50/50 with/without preferment.

I make them weekly so will definitely give this a try.

1

u/mizary1 4h ago

I used King Arthur All-Purpose. What would you consider a better flour? I'm planning on seeing the difference that using higher gluten bread flour makes but lots of people recommend using AP for baguettes.

3

u/14makeit 22h ago

I think they are perfect.

2

u/whiteloness 10h ago

They look great, just where are you trying to go?

1

u/mizary1 8h ago

Slightly more open crumb. But fewer large air pockets. More oven spring. Better shaping. Better score marks. I'm happy with these results, but it's that last 10-15% of the journey to perfection that is the toughest.

1

u/blumpkinsplash 6h ago

Very nice, well done!