Baguettes: DO try this at home.
Baguettes. Crusty, golden… unattainable-except-from-an-artisan-bakery baguettes.
Not so. And we’re here to prove it to you.
The late Prof. Raymond Calvel, France’s acclaimed “godfather of bread,” visited this country and did a “blind” baguette baking, using a variety of American flours to make his signature crusty loaf. The result? King Arthur Flour was Calvel’s choice as being most similar to his beloved French flour.
Flour is the baguette’s main ingredient: it makes up nearly 60% of the bread, by weight, so it’s a critical element. And guess what? The best American baguette flour is right here at your fingertips. As is yeast. They’re also available in any major grocery store. The only other ingredients are water, salt… and time.
For sure, the baguette isn’t the very first loaf you’d tackle as a beginning bread baker, no more than you’d expect to step into the box at Fenway Park the first time you held a baseball bat in your hands. But it’s something to aspire to, once you’ve gotten your feet wet (and your hands floury).
The feeling of accomplishment you’ll get from pulling a deep-brown, crackly-crisp baguette out of your own oven is indescribable. Even the loaf itself celebrates your success: hold it up to your ear to hear its signature “song” as it cools. (What, you’ve never done that? Try it…)
The path to homemade baguettes is long, but not rocky. You’ll spend most of the time going about your business as the flour, water, and yeast quietly make their magic. Some initial kneading is followed by lots of resting and rising; a minimal bit of shaping precedes the finale, 25 minutes in a very hot oven. And that’s it: baguettes.
Ready? Let’s make Classic Baguettes.
First you’re going to make a starter. Mix flour, water, and just a pinch of yeast, and let it rest for about 14 hours at room temperature. The picture above shows what it’ll look like after its rest: soft and bubbly, kind of like a pancake when it’s ready to flip to the other side. If you’re planning to bake on a Saturday, make the starter late-afternoon Friday, and it’ll be ready to go Saturday morning. This first rest gives the yeast a chance to start growing.
Next day, place the starter, flour, and salt in a mixing bowl (or bread machine bucket). Then, pour the designated amount of water into your starter container; you don’t want to waste any of those stuck-on bits of starter. If you’re using active dry yeast, stir it into the water, as pictured above.
Whisk it around; it’ll soften, but not fully dissolve.
Pour it into the bowl with the other ingredients.
If you’re using a stand mixer, knead briefly with the beater, just till the dough becomes cohesive.
Then switch to the dough hook, kneading for about 5 minutes on speed 2; the dough will still be a big “gnarly.” If you’re kneading by hand, knead till the dough is soft and elastic, but not totally smooth. In the bread machine, let it knead for about 10 minutes.
Gather the dough into a ball; notice its surface is fairly rough. You don’t want to knead it too much, as the gluten will continue to develop during its long rise. If you kneaded the dough till it was absolutely smooth, it would be over-developed by the time it was done rising: too stiff, difficult to shape.
Put the dough into a greased, covered container, and let it rise for 1 hour.
See the bubbles forming? The yeast is doing its work. Deflate it, and let it rise for another hour. Repeat once more; the dough will rise for a total of 3 hours.
Now look how smooth it’s become—all on its own!
Look how lovely and elastic it is, too. If you’d kneaded it fully at first, it wouldn’t stretch like this.
Divide the dough into three pieces, flatten into rough ovals, and let them rest for 15 minutes. This gives the gluten a chance to relax. Gluten can be recalcitrant; the more you stretch it, the tighter it gets. Letting dough relax before shaping makes it MUCH easier to work with.
After 15 minutes, flatten one piece of dough into a rough rectangle.
Fold it over…
…and seal the edge with your fingers.
Flatten again…
And fold and seal again. Look how the dough has lengthened from 8” to 12” during this process.
Turn it so the seam side is down.
And roll gently, starting in the center…
And working your way out to the edges. Don’t press down hard; just gently roll the dough under your cupped fingers, and it’ll lengthen on its own. If it doesn’t, give it a 15-minute rest, while you work on the other two pieces, then come back to it.
Put the 15” baguettes onto a parchment-lined or lightly greased baking sheet.
Or do what they do in France: let them rise on a couche, a flour-rubbed towel. Sprinkle flour heavily on a linen couche or smooth cotton towel; I’m using a towel here. Rub the flour into the cloth.
“Cradle” the baguettes in the folds of the towel.
Here they are, ready to rise; cover them with a free-standing cover, or with greased plastic wrap.
And here are the risen loaves. Don’t let them rise TOO much; they should be puffy, but nowhere near doubled in size. If you let them rise too much, they’re hard to handle, and they won’t rise well in the oven.
If you’ve used the couche method, gently roll each baguette onto the prepared baking sheet. (If you want to bake on a pizza stone, roll onto a piece of parchment which you’ve set atop your peel.)
The baguette will probably land floured side up.
Gently roll it over so the floured side is on the bottom. Repeat with the remaining two baguettes.
Spritz heavily with warm water. This mimics the effect of a steam oven, and will help give the baguettes a slightly shiny, crunchy crust. If you’ve made baguettes before and like to a) spray water into your oven, b) throw ice cubes into a hot pan on the oven floor, or c) make steam via some other method, go for it. Whatever works for you is fine. I find spraying with water easiest, as I don’t have to keep opening the oven (and letting heat escape) once the baguettes are in.
Next, you’re going to make three diagonal slashes in each baguette. Hold the sharp knife at a 45° angle to the bread, be quick, and use firm strokes.
Notice the lovely air bubbles inside the slash. The yeast has been doing its work for probably 18 or 19 hours now…
If you’ve done your slashing correctly, the loaves will look a bit deflated; that’s OK.
The heat of the oven will pick them right back up again!
And here they are: your very own baguettes! Be sure to bake them long enough; they should appear almost charred in spots.
Homemade baguettes won’t have QUITE the large-holed interior of artisan bakery baguettes, but they’ll still be “holey” enough to trap and hold olive oil or butter.
Here’s a cross-section view. For larger holes, make a softer dough by adding more liquid. The challenge is to find that “sweet spot”: more liquid, more holes; too much liquid, the baguettes flatten out.
Bake vs. Buy
BUY: Artisan bakery 9-ounce baguette: $2.95
BAKE: Homemade 9-ounce baguette (ingredients cost): 43¢
OK, here’s another fun thing to make: stuffed baguettes. Divide the dough into six pieces instead of three, and shape each into a 5”-long rectangle.
Layer with meat and cheese (in this case, ham, Swiss, and mustard). Don’t use too much filling, as it’ll make the baguettes soggy.
Roll up like a jelly roll, sealing the long seam and pinching the ends closed.
I might have been able to put all six on this pan, but I decided not to crowd them.
Slash twice; or don’t.
Slashed baguette on the left; plain on the right. It’s mostly a matter of looks.
YUM! The tunnel in the center is pretty much inevitable, as the bread rises and the filling doesn’t. But never mind the look, this is just plain delicious. Enjoy!
Check out our recipe for Classic Baguettes and Stuffed Baguettes.
May 2nd, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Thanks so much for posting the step-by-step. I love baguettes but have never really been very successful at making them. I am, most likely, over-kneading the bread. I think I might try the stuffed baguettes this weekend. Since I don’t think I can eat 6 baguettes this weekend, I wonder if you could prep all the way up rolling the stuffing in and then freezing the portions you can’t eat, yet. Something to try, at least!
May 2nd, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Ooh I’ve been wanting to try this - looks yummy, thank you!
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Thanks for this creation. I’ve been a yeast bread baker for over 20 years and I’ve never thought to fill the baguettes this way. I can’t wait to try it! One question though. What do you use to grease your container for rising? I find that using the sprays prevent the sealing of the dough when shaping. Your grease definitely looks ‘yellow’. Is it butter?
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Jennnifer, yes, you could definitely do up to the point of sealing the stuffing inside the baguettes, then freezing. Just be sure to leave lots of time at the other end for both thawing, warming up, and rising - if you thaw in the fridge overnight, I’m betting the warming/rising would take 3 hours or so…?
Kat, I use a very light coating of Everbake spray, which we sell here in the catalogue. (It’s not yellow, that’s just my shaky photography skills!) the tip then is, once you take it out of the container, fold it over on itself and knead it gently just enough that the oily part goes into the center and kind of gets ocmbined with the rest of the dough.Give it a try-
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:06 pm
they turned out great. thanks for posting!
May 2nd, 2008 at 9:21 pm
You made this look like such fun. I’m going to try it.
May 3rd, 2008 at 6:59 am
wow! I tried making baguettes once or twice but never turned out REALLY good…
and the stuffed ones… what can I say?
YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 4th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Hi PJ,
Just curious if you’re figuring out the cost based on the old price of flour, or the NEW price of flour. I used to pay 1.92 for a bag of KA flour( and I thought that was high) and yesterday I paid 3.99.
May 4th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Randi, I’m using the new price of the flour -I get up-to-the-minute prices online at Peapod, the online grocer. Right now they’ve got it priced at $4.99/5-lb. bag. So you’re getting a deal at $3.99 - stock up! Still, when you think about it - there aren’t many foods you pay less than $1/pound for these days. And a 5# bag of King Arthur Flour will create an awful lot of yumminess…
May 5th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Hi , how do I get my baguettes to be crusrt brownish? Mines are always pale. Is there any trick?
Tks
Denise
May 5th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Maria, if your top crust isn’t browning, try baking baguettes on the upper rack of your oven, rather than middle rack. Also, if you let the dough rise TOO long, they yeast devours all the sugar and the bread loses much of its ability to brown. So don’t let it rise too many times. Finally, is your oven temperature right? Bread baked at 450°F should definitely brown, and pretty easily at that…
May 5th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
What is the purpose of using a cloche (floured cloth) for the last rise?
May 5th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Hello, FallsChurch! Hope it’s warm down there… rising in the couche (or cotton towel) does two things: 1) makes the crust chewier, and 2) gives it that floury, “artisan” look.
May 5th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Any adjustments for high altitude (7,000 ft.)?
May 5th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Love the blog-it makes it so easy to see if you are doing things correctly,please keep it up and don’t archive I keep referring to the banter and passing the Baker’s Banter on to others.
Thanks again
May 5th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Hi, PJ: It’s pleasantly cool and breezy today, but kinda overcast. Thanks for your reply. I’m a newby to baking, but I’m fast losing my cluelessness, reading your comments section. Thanks again.
May 5th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Barbara, yeast dough rises much faster at 7,000′, so cut the yeast back to 3/4 teaspoons. Add 2-3 additional tablespoons water, too, till the dough is the consistency pictured. Hope this helps-
May 7th, 2008 at 9:17 am
In the recipe you make the 45 deg slices then spray, but in the blog you spray then slice. Does it make a difference?
May 7th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Snitz, I actually tried it both ways, and it doesn’t seem to make any difference at all which comes first, spraying or slashing; sorry to be confusing!
May 8th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
This is the best bread I have tasted in a long time. i made both the plain and the stuffed version. came out perfect the first time. I baked them in the barbecue grill. I have old saltillo tiles that act like a brick oven on the bottom and the top. perfect crust and even just a touch charred. thanks so much.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
ABSOLUTELY THE MOST INFORMATIVE PRESENTATION AVAILABLE. FIRST TIME WAS PERFECT. BEGINNER’S(TOTALLY) LUCK.
WHILE I HAVE NOW ORDERED YOUR RECOMMENDED INSTANT YEAST, I FIND THAT THE WORD “INSTANT” DOES NOT APPEAR ON THE FLEISCHMANN’S “RAPID RISE HIGHLY ACTIVE YEAST” OR FLEISHMANN’S “ACTIVE DRY” YEAST THAT I FIND IN MY LOCAL GROCERY STORE. DOES THE “RAPID RISE HIGHLY ACTIVE” YEAST SERVE THE SAME PURPOSE AS “INSTANT” IN THAT IT CAN BE ADDED DIRECTLY WITHOUT GOING THROUGH THE ACTIVE DRY SEPERATE STEP?
AND SPEAKING ABOUT YEAST, YOUR ANSWER TO BARBARA’S QUESTION REGARDING ALTITUDE IS CONFUSING. THE CLASSIC BAGUETTES RECEIPE WE ARE WORKING FROM REQUIRES 1/16 TEASPOON INSTANT YEAST IN THE STARTER AND 1 TEASPOON INSTANT YEAST IN THE DOUGH FOR A TOTAL OF 1 AND 1/16 TEASPOONS. YOUR INSTRUCTION TO CUT BACK TO 1 1/2 TEASPOONS IS RATHER HARD TO DO.
ALSO, THE DOUGH IS RISING THREE TIMES IN THE BOWL ACCORDING TO THE RECEIPE SINCE IT IS BEING DEFLATED AFTER ONE HOUR AND THEN AGAIN AT THE SECOND HOUR AND LEFT TO FINISH THE THIRD HOUR.
DOES MY ALTITUDE OF 2000′ REQUIRE AN ADJUSTMENT?
CAN YOU TELL I AM RETIRED AND ENJOYING THE FACT THAT I MADE THREE WONDERFUL BAGUETTES THANKS TO YOUR EXCELLENT GUIDANCE?
May 8th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Hi Hiawassee: Instant yeast is NOT RapidRise or active dry; it’s called “instant,” and the most common kind if made by SAF. Please don’t use RapidRise in this recipe; it’ll give up the ghost too quickly. Active dry is fine.
You’re right: I should have said cut back to 3/4 teaspoon yeast at altitude… thanks for catching this! And the part about rising, too. I was thinking of a totally different recipe (olive rolls) when I answered her…
Your altitude won’t require an adjustment; it’s just over 3,000 feet, usually, that adjustments start.
Glad you’re enjoying the blog and SO happy your baguettes came out well!
May 8th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I used to work in a bakery back in my high school days so I had the opportunity to watch bread and baguettes made live! But this step-by-step process is extremely helpful since I cannot remember the exacts. I’m so excited I can bring back my bakery memories in my own household =)
May 9th, 2008 at 10:34 am
These look fantastic. It looks like a lot of work, however I imagine that the outcome is a great taste as well as a feeling of self accomplishment: very rewarding.
May 10th, 2008 at 6:58 am
Antiques, not a lot of work at all. Just a lot of time… time you spend doing other things while your dough is doing its own thing!
May 14th, 2008 at 1:30 am
PJ, I loved the detailed pictures.
I only put in about 3/4 of a cup of water and by then the dough was getting a bit soupy, so I had to add nearly 3/4 of a cup more flour to get it back to something that could be worked. (It looked pretty much like the picture at that point, though it didn’t get quite as smooth after the 3rd rise.
I was using KA AP flour.
They rolled out fairly well, though one of them still had a lump in it that looked a little like the snake that swallowed the mouse.
In the end, they came out really great, though I think I could have left them in a few minutes longer to get even browner. (Next time I think I’ll try them on stones, too.)
My wife was cutting herself a slice of angel food cake for dessert, she picked up one of the warm baguettes to smell it and nearly put the slice of cake back on the platter. When we did break into the 1st baguette a little later it disappeared quickly.
I do have a question about slashing French bread. I’ve got a lame, it seems to stick in a soft dough badly, so I usually just use a serrated steak knife, and even that was sticking in these baguettes. What’s the secret?
May 14th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
The flatten-and-fold technique for shaping the baguettes is
a winner! I’ve tried for years to stretch dough into a long
thin shape but never managed better than a (very) lumpy
rope of dough.
I’m in (dry) California and had to add more water to get the
dough wet enough to knead. Will add even more water next
time as the dough was still not wet enough so didn’t have
the big holes in the crumb.
And will try KAF’s French flour instead of AP flour, as it makes
a fantastic white bread.
Before baking, I wet the shaped dough, then use a very
sharp serrated knife for slashing. Being in a dry climate,
sometimes the outer layer of the loaf dries a bit during
the last rise. Wetting the loaf before slashing softens
the outer layer. And you have to be quick with the slash
or the blade drags in the dough and doesn’t make a clean
cut.
The recipe is great–we re-heated the leftover loaf to re-crisp
the crust the next day (350 degrees, 10-15 min.).
May 16th, 2008 at 6:45 am
Mike, personally I don’t use a lame - have never liked them. Our bakers herein the bakery are very adept with them, but I don’t seem to be able to get the technique! Like Julia, I use a very sharp knife - serrated, or plain. the trick is to be swift, fairly “brutal,” yet not heavy handed. Hold the knife at a 45° angle to the bread; I like to pinch a tiny corner and hold it up, to stretch the bread’s”skin” and give the knife someplace to get its initial purchase. Then I VERY quickly slash it, probably 1/2″ deep (which, since it’s a 45°F angle, actually doesn’t go 1/2″ perpendicularly). the loaf will definitely deflat,e but if you get it into the super-hot oven RIGHT AWAY it picks back up. Give it a try - good luck!
Julia, thanks for all the great tips-
May 17th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Hi — I look forward to trying this recipe. I have a perforated baguette pan, and its instructions advise reducing oven temps by 25 degrees. However, I tried that with another baguette recipe last month, and my loaves came out pale.
If I use the baguette pan for this recipe, should I aim for 425, or stay with 450? Also, can I place the pan directly on a baking stone?
Thanks,
David
May 17th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
David, I’d leave the temp. at 450°F, and yes, you can place the pan right on the stone. Should come out fine -just watch the loaves towards the end…
May 17th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Do you use a thermometer to test the bread for doneness or does it come out right every time?
May 17th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Mary, I don’t use a thermometer to test baguettes - when they’re dark brown on the outside, they’ll be done inside. I ALWAYS use a thermometer to test sandwich loaves and round country loaves - anything NOT long and skinny - because it’s so much more accurate than trying to eyeball or tap on the bottom or anything else. Sandwich loaves aregenerally done between 190°F and 195°F; dense whole-grain rounds, like a big round country rye, it’s more like 205°F.
May 18th, 2008 at 8:33 am
Do you recommend using the convection oven for this?
May 18th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Mary, you can certainly use a convection oven for this. I never have, so wouldn’t know the timing - just keep your eye on them, and bake till deep golden brown.
May 18th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
PJ
Thanks for the reply. I baked today and think the temps worked out right — the color was good, with a bit of char at the ends.
However, other things did not work out. First, the appearance of my loaves is not as authentic and “crackly” as your pictures. Very smooth, apart from the slashes — almost like a Pillsbury version of a baguette
Second, the crumb is really tight and dense.
I should note that I initially misread the recipe as saying to do a first rise of 3 hours. So I did a single rise of that duration. Would that account for the plain appearance and tight crumb?
Thanks,
David
May 18th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
David, did you give the loaves a heavy spritz with warm water? I mean a real bath, just a perfume-type spritz.they should be dripping.That would help give the crust it’s somewhat mottled, crackly appearance. I think the tight crumb might be due to a little too much flour; did you perhaps add more flour while kneading? Or it could be due to not deflating the dough during that 3 hours; deflating it hastens the growth of yeast, which of course makes the bread rise higher… Baguettes are a real case of practicing and learning as you go. See, already you’ve made improvements; the next time will be even better. And they’re all edible, right? : )
May 19th, 2008 at 7:38 am
PJ
I used a hand-pump mister to spray them, as I don’t have a clean “Windex” bottle. Still, I gave them what I thought was a pretty good soaking.
I used a stand mixer to knead (no extra flour), and was careful about measurements. But I did read your comments about a wetter dough.
And yes, living is learning. Next time I will add a bit less flour, get the rise right, and use a hose for the spraying
Thanks again for the help!
David
May 20th, 2008 at 6:53 am
Hi PJ, just wanted to let you know how my baguettes turned out. I had the starter doing its thing for the entire 14 hours in a rather cool kitchen, and it certainly was bubbly by that time. I weighed all the ingredients, and for me they were perfect proportions. I didn’t have to add any extra flour or water except the minimal amount of flour used to flour my hands. I used the KAF Bread Flour. I kneaded by hand about 10 minutes, and after the first hour of rising, things looked so-so, but after about 45 minutes into the second hour, the dough appeared to have nearly doubled. Could that have been because instead of just deflating the dough, I folded it over a few times? At that point I deflated it and stuck it in the refrigerator, because I had to go out for awhile. It cooled in the fridge for almost 2 hours.
I have to stay before I forget that this was a great dough to work with except for one problem. After I had divided them into 3 pieces (by weight about 10 ounces each), and after the 15-minute rest, trying to get them rolled out to make a 15-inch baguette was no easy task. Even letting them rest and going back and forth from one baguette to the other, I could only get them rolled out to about 13 inches. I was worried the French gendarme might come knocking at my door any minute!
I let them rise on a flour-covered cotton towel, and in a 68-degree room after about 1 hour and 15 minutes, they was ready to go in the oven. I still don’t have the slash and burn technique perfected yet, but after 30 minutes, they came out looking very nice - maybe not quite the charred look, but close. My husband took them to work this morning (he told me, “I don’t think these guys have ever tasted a real baguette.”), so I’ll be expecting the compliments around midday.
Thanks for the great instructions and photos, PJ.
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:08 pm
I would like to Thank King Arthur Flour for being so helpful to the home baker. I have been baking bread for 40 years and I use KA Flour as often as I can find it. I used to bring it back to the south after vacations at home on Cape Cod. It has been available about the last tem years in larger cities so I would stock up, now it is carried locally. I have only been making these baguettes in the last 5 years after my second trip to a King Arthur Travel Class. One in Knoxville TN and another in Atlanta Ga.
This is completely different methodology than the normal breads I have made in the past. So much so I have had to completely learn this new process of wet and sloppy compared to firmer. Your pictures and write up make it almost sailor proof. I had a skipper on the submarine I served on said only one sailor would make it to heaven.
Any way what I want to ask about is to ask about using barley to improve browning of the crust. There are several kinds and was wondering what is used for what and what amount to use.
For example:
Malted Barely liquid,
Diastatic Malt Powder
and Non-Diastatic powder (your package says this is for Bagels, does this act as a gultton inhibitor or dough relaxer and can this also be used for making pizza doughs)
I have noticed that Diastatic Malt Barlety is added to your Artisan Bread Flour.
Canany of these Barely Products be used, instead of flour on a roast to enhance browning and thicken juices for making gravies.
THanks and keep up the good work
Hi David - YOU keep up the good work, too! Congratulations on your baguettes-
Malted barley is actually barley that’s roasted till it becomes sweet, then ground. It’s added to flour to help the yeast: enzymes in the malted barley convert the starch in flour into simple sugars, which the yeast then feeds on. Non-diastatic malt actually does NOT contain enough of these enzymes to convert starch, and thus is used purely as a sweetener. Diastatic malt has the full quotient of enzymes, and is used as explained above. Malted barley syrup is like non-diastatic; used purely as a sweetener. So if you’re looking for something to help your yeast breads (including pizza dough), choose diastatic malt. But only use a tiny bit- maybe 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon per 3 cups of flour. I wouldn’t see any use for any of these in roasted meats… - PJH
May 23rd, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Great baguettes! Even though we live in the Rocky Mountains at 8000′ this recipe produced excellent results. I cut each rising to about 50-55 minutes, however I think the keys to this bread are your hints: 1) slightly sticky dough 2) move the oven rack to the upper position.
I’ll be making these baguettes often.
May 26th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
I have been baking bread long before going to culinary school and these were the best I’ve made so far. The crust had just the right crunch and the inside was wonderful. Since there were three baguettes I shared the other two with my daughters. Thank you so much for this recipe.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
I have been working with an earlier baguette recipe that I was given at the King Arthur Baking Education center. It calls for 16.25 ounces of King Arthur All Purpose Flour and 10.5 ounces of water in a formulation that yields 2 baguettes about 17 or so inches long. I would have thought that to get 3 baguettes, I would have had to increase the flour and water to 22.875 and 15.75 ounces each, an increase of 50%. Your formulation gets there with 19 ounces of flour and only 12 ounces of water. Am I not thinking correctly about how to increase the yield of a recipe?
Also, why does the use of ‘bread’ flour require more water?
Using my old and very much trusted formulation for baguettes, I have stuffed them as you suggested with wonderful results. A variation that my wife enjoys is a mixture of spinach, freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a few chunks of provolone. Be sure to squeeze as much moisture out of the spinach as possible. Two tablespoons or so of the mixture does the trick.
Hi Kevin: Well, bread baking is as much art as science. Perhaps the baguettes you made were fatter; they were longer, which makes a difference. You’re kind of thinking correctly about how to increase the yield of a recipe… but not taking into consideration how much more volume is involved in a fatter, longer baguette (because it’s impossible to tell, really). As for bread flour, it’s higher gluten (higher protein), and the higher the protein in flour, the more water it will absorb. So you need more water (compared to all-purpose flour) to produce the same consistency of dough.
Love your suggestion for Parmesan, provolone and spinach - that’s now on my to-do list! Thanks, Kevin- PJH
June 15th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
PJ, we’ve made the stuffed baguettes several times now, and it may take us weeks before we run out of ideas for what to stuff them with. On the list of things to try are pepperoni/marinara/mozzarella, tuna/tomato/cheddar cheese, brown sugar/cinnamon, and some kind of fruit stuffing, most likely peaches.
So far our favorites have been ham with pepper jack cheese, sun dried tomato turkey with pepper jack and beef with either cojack or pepper jack. (I think the latter are even better with a little tomato, which I sliced fairly thin then blotted with a paper towel to keep the baguette from getting too soggy.)
Today we tried some with shrimp and marinara, shrimp and asiago/romano/parmesian, and crab with asiago/romano/parmesian. The shrimp ones were a bit of a disappointment, but that’s probably because the shrimp was a bit short on flavor. I also added a little butter to the cheese ones, to make sort of an alfredo-like sauce.
We’ve also learned that they can be made up a day in advance, but you need to give them about 2 hours to warm up and they take a little longer to bake. (I may try warming them up in my proofer to see if we can speed that up.) I’ve also got 3 in the freezer to see how well they handle being frozen before being baked.
Yesterday, I substituted 2 oz of medium rye flour and made a set that way,the ham and cheese were excellent, I thought the best was a stuffed reuben with pastrami, a little mayo, swiss cheese and some sauerkraut. I think I could have nearly doubled the amount of rye flour.
WOW, Mike - you certainly know how to take an idea and run with it -big time! Thanks for all the great ideas. I love anything involving cheese and tomatoes, so I think I’ll go that route first… thanks again - PJ
June 29th, 2008 at 3:58 am
I just want to thank you for this excellent run through! I used this recipe over the last day as a way to test out my stand mixer. It was the first time I’d ever baked bread… and both the regular and stuffed baguettes came out amazing! I used half unbleached white and half traditional whole wheat flour for the dough and londonport, fresh mozzarella, and hot mustard for the stuffed. If it weren’t for the quality of this walkthrough (and KA flour), I doubt my first loaf would’ve turned out so well… and I’d be out a new hobby!
Will, that’s GREAT! Welcome to the great big wonderful world of bread-baking. It can be as simple (or complicated!) as you want, and make it… Check out the other yeast recipes we have here (hot cheese bread, and onion buns, for instance) - and stay tuned for my next post later today, Focaccia Five Ways. And kingarthurflour.com is loaded with bread recipes. Thanks for using King Arthur Flour (it’s the best - no brag, just the truth); and ENJOY. (P.S. Are you using SAF instant yeast? Instant yeast is SO much less expensive and easier to use than active dry…) - PJH
June 30th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Wow, I’m really enthusiastic about trying baguettes again after seeing the pictures and reading the comments. My earlier attempts following Julia’s recipe and directions turned out only so-so. I’ll let you know how it works. Here in Central Ohio I can’t get an authentic baguette, so I’m really hoping this will work.
Good luck, Peggy. Having those step-by-step, “hold your hand” photos is really useful, I think. And remember - practice makes perfect. If they’re not exactly what you want the first time, don’t give up - they’ll still be edible, I’m sure! - PJH
July 10th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Hi. If Mike in Nebraska is still watching this (or if anyone else wants to comment), I’d be curious to know how the baguettes that were frozen turned out. I may have to make 15 or more baguettes for a wedding coming up soon, and just can’t see staying up all night trying to make them for a morning wedding. Wish I could convince the bride to have rolls like those yummy, yummy semolina rolls.
Thanks.