Baguette

This recipe will make 2 baguettes of approximately 30 cm.

This recipe can be made with regular white flour, but works just as well with whole wheat flour. The latter will yield a drier dough.

The baking process calls for moist air in the oven during the first few minutes. This can be achieved by spraying the preheated oven with water, or by using a pan with boiling water for the first minutes of the bake.

If you don’t have a convection oven, make sure to bake without too many layers between the heating elements and the bread.

Ingredients

160 g water
3 g dry yeast
dash of white sugar
250 g flour
5 g salt

Directions

heat up 50% of the water to ~50 °C (warm to the touch)
gently stir in the yeast and the sugar with the warm water
wait for 5 minutes
add the cold water to the mixture and stir gently
put the flour in a large bowl
on one edge, make a hole for the salt and cover it
on the opposite edge, make a well for the yeast/water
add in the yeast/water
mix and make sure the liquid has combined with flour before it touches the salt
when it has formed somewhat of a dough, pour it out on the counter
knead until homogeneous and not too sticky (5 to 10 minutes)
tuck the dough into a ball
oil a clean bowl and drop in the ball of dough
cover and let rest for 40 minutes
flatten the dough
make two equal parts and tuck into balls
cover and let rest on the countertop for 15 minutes
flatten the balls into discs and tuck into balls again
cover and let rest on the countertop for 10 minutes
preheat the oven to 230 °C (with a pan of boiling water for steam)
form the bread (flatten to envelope-sized rectangle, fold 1/3rd in and press, fold over the rest and pinch, roll up)
cover and let rest on the countertop for 10 minutes
make cuts in the bread (1 lengthwise or 3 sidewise)
cover and let rest on the countertop for 10 minutes
optionally, sprinkle flour on top
bake for 5 minutes in the middle of the oven
remove the hot water pan
continue baking for 15 minutes