How To Bake Delicious Baguettes

In my last post I told you how to make baguette dough. Hopefully, the dough has been in your refrigerator for a day at least, rising to about triple its original volume and getting nice and bubbly. You can keep this dough in the fridge and use it for almost a week (I think six days is the longest I’ve ever tried it – I wouldn’t go longer than that, and I think that was even a little too long; four or five days is fine).

Now it’s time to bake!!

I’ve written the procedure out, and parts of it are just fine that way, but you should really watch the video at the bottom of this post for how to shape the loaves. It’s just easier to see than to read. It’s a long video though, so if you don’t want to watch the whole thing, I’ve also linked to appropriate clips within the written instructions to help you through some harder-to-explain parts.

Timing

First, figure out when you want your bread. If I’m serving it with a meal (and I don’t need my oven to make dinner) I usually take the dough out of the refrigerator two-and-a-half to three hours before dinner. But if you’re new to this, give yourself a little more time – three-and-a-half hours.

When you open your dough bucket or take off the plastic wrap, the dough will smell, well, tangy. Extremely yeasty. A little sour. Don’t worry, your finished bread won’t smell (or taste) like that.

How Many and What Size?

Next, you have to figure out what size bread you want to make, and how many loaves. I make two kinds: skinny baguettes, which are crustier and chewier, and fatter French loaves, which are great for garlic bread and sandwiches. This recipe makes four baguettes (although remember, your baguette pan will only make three loaves at a time), or two French loaves and one baguette. You don’t have to bake it all at once. It’s great to just have some dough in the fridge waiting for you. You can also use the dough for a nice, crispy pizza.

Measure out about 300 grams of dough for each baguette, or around 450 for each French loaf. Try not to pull and stretch the dough – cutting it with a knife or a bench scraper is much better. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, divide the dough into four parts (four baguettes) and put back what you don’t need.

The First Rise

Take each piece of dough and fold the top under, turning as you go, to create surface tension and make the dough into a nice, smooth, flat-ish ball. Pinch the bottom closed so that it all stays together. (video instruction)

Put a little olive oil on your work surface and put the dough on it, then spread a little oil on top of the dough as well. Cover with plastic wrap and leave for an hour, so that it can come to room temperature (a little longer if your kitchen is especially cold).

Shaping The Loaves part 1

After the dough has warmed up, carefully turn the dough over (I don’t usually put down any flour on my counter, but if you need a sprinkle, go ahead), and fold the top of the dough down about halfway (basically, you’re folding the top half in half), gently sealing the edges with your fingertips. (You want to handle the dough gently now, because the bubbles are building up inside – you can probably feel them just below the surface.) Then, fold the top down again, this time about 2/3 of the way down, sealing the edges again. Last, you’re going to fold the top down all the way to the bottom edge. You can seal the bottom edge more firmly. You’ll feel some bubbles popping, but just on the edge. (video instruction)

Now, hold the sides and edge farthest from you as you slowly slide the dough towards you – this creates more surface tension on the top of the dough. (video instruction)

Put plastic wrap over the dough again (you can put more oil on top if you think it needs it, but I usually don’t bother – it’s not very sticky at this stage), and let it rest for 20 minutes.

 

Shaping The Loaves part 2

After 20 minutes you’re going to do the same folding method as before – gently flip the dough over, fold the top down to the middle, then top 2/3 of the way down, then top down to the bottom, gently sealing the edges each time.

At this point make sure you have a big piece of parchment paper on your baguette pan, ready to go. It won’t really stay down in the pan until you put some dough on it, but have it ready.

If you’re not using a baguette pan, prepare a spot to raise the loaves. A floured, lint-free kitchen towel will work.

This is also when you preheat your oven to 500 degrees and make sure a rack is in the middle position. Don’t worry, we won’t be baking it at that temp, but we want the oven nice and hot. If you’re baking on a pizza stone instead of a baguette pan, put the stone in the oven on the middle rack to heat up.

Gently cup your hand over the middle of the dough, and roll the dough carefully, up and down, trying not to burst too many bubbles. The heal of your hand should be touching your work surface, and your hand should be cupped – not at all flat. You want to roll the middle of the dough like this first because otherwise, it will be difficult to get the middle of the dough as small as the ends.

Once you’ve rolled the middle of the dough, start rolling the rest of the dough to thin it out as well, moving your hands away from each other as you roll. You should roll until the dough is the same length as the baguette pan. (video instruction)

Carefully place the dough in the baguette pan (or on a floured kitchen towel), and cover with plastic wrap or a damp lint-free towel.

The Last Rise

This is the last rise the dough will do. Baguettes will rise for about 45 minutes total, French loaves will rise for roughly an hour. However, you have to start preparing some other things fifteen minutes before baking, so if you’re making baguettes set a timer for half an hour, and if you’re making French loaves set a timer for 45 minutes.

When the timer goes off, you need to do two things: put some water on to boil, and put an empty metal pan in the bottom of your oven. (Note: if for some reason you like your crust soft, like my son does, don’t bother with those two steps – skip the steam part altogether). Then, set a timer for 15 minutes.

During that last fifteen minutes, when the water boils, carefully pour about an inch of water into the metal pan in the oven. Close the oven as quickly as you can so that too much heat doesn’t escape.

Baking Time!!

When the timer goes off, take a look at your dough. It should look slightly puffy or marshmallowy. If it doesn’t (maybe your kitchen’s a bit chilly), let it rise for another 10 or fifteen minutes. If you do this, add another inch of water to the pan in the oven so that it doesn’t dry out.

Now you need to score the dough with a lame or a very sharp knife. Make three or four long slashes on the dough, about a half inch deep. (Here’s a quick video on how to score bread dough.)

Put the baguette pan in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 450 degrees. Set a timer for 15 minutes.

If you’re not baking on a baguette pan, either carefully move the dough to a pizza stone, or put it on an upside-down cookie sheet that’s been topped with a piece of parchment paper, and put the pan in the oven.

After 15 minutes, carefully take the pan of water out of the oven, and turn the baguette pan around back-to-front if your oven tends to bake unevenly. Reduce the temperature to 425 degrees and set a timer for 6 minutes (11 minutes for French loaves).

When the timer goes off, the bread whould be dark golden. Give it a few more minutes if it isn’t. Take the bread out and either move the loaves to a cooling rack, or remove the parchment paper and let the bread cool on the pan.

If you want your bread to be super extra crusty, don’t remove it from the oven. Turn the oven off, leave the door part-way open, and let the bread cool in the oven.

And that’s it! You should try to eat this bread the same day. With lots of butter. :-)

The Video

Now…a word about this video. It’s long. I know. But my problem with a lot of cooking shows and videos is that they “yada yada yada” over the important stuff. Or they do that TV magic thing where they have a recipe prepared at five different stages, so you don’t really get to see the recipe go from stage to stage. You just have to trust that it happens. And I get it. They’re working with crews and time constraints.

But I wasn’t! The only thing I was working around was two kids who didn’t have school that day (at 18:11 you can see Fiona walk through the shot, try to walk through again, realize she’s on camera, and then try to hide – it’s pretty funny). So, this was shot in real time (except for a couple of B-roll shots, like timers and stuff – no food), with just the waiting cut out. The bread that I eat at the end is the bread you saw me baking. No tricks! I figure that if it took me this long to make good baguettes (I’ve been trying for years!) then other people might need their hands held through the process too. Good luck, and please let me know if you have any questions!