French Baguette

Next up on my bread-making journey is french baguettes.  When thinking about making and eating mussels, one thing came to mind - you need to have a crusty bread to go along with them to soak up all the sauce.  The best type of crusty bread for this job?  Baguettes of course.  So I looked up a few recipes and found one that looked easy enough.  It's a long journey to making baguettes - a total of about 16-20 hours, but one that is worth the wait to make 3 beautifully yeasty & crusty loaves.

As I've mentioned in previous bread recipe posts, making bread is part art and part science.  This was not only my first time making baguettes, but also my first bread recipe in Martha's Vineyard.  What does that mean?  Well the weather here is WAY more humid than it is in LA, so the rising and proofing time can vary quite a bit.  I adjusted the rise times for this recipe accordingly, but I was honestly kind of winging it since it was my first time.  Here's how I adjusted it - 14 hours for the poolish (starter) to form and I only allowed the dough to rise for 30 minutes for the first 3 rises.  It's also my first time baking in a new oven, so the bread crisped up a little more than I had anticipated on the top of the bread.  All in all though, it was a tasty crusty bread that worked really well with the mussels recipe we made.

Naturally, since I’m a perfectionist, I had to make the recipe again and see if I could perfect it. These pictures are from my second attempt at baking baguettes and they turned out way better. I think they could have still been a little crispy crunchier on the outside, but things also don’t stay crispy for long in 80+% humidity, so I’m not all that surprised. I’m marking this down as a success and moving onward with my bread making journey.

Total Time: 16-20 hours (includes rise time)

Servings: 3 medium sized loaves

Ingredients:

For the Starter (Poolish)

1 cup flour

2/3 cup water

pinch of yeast

For the Dough:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp yeast

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups water

Instructions:

1. Combine the poolish ingredients in a large bowl and stir until well combined.
2. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rest for 12-16 hours.
3. Add the flour, yeast, salt, and water to the poolish and stir until thoroughly combined.  Cover with a towel and let rise for 40 minutes.
4. Fold the dough over itself by lifting and folding the edges toward the center.  Cover and allow to rest for 40 additional minutes.  Repeat folding a second time and allow to rest for another 40 minutes.
5. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and divide into 3 even pieces.  Cover and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
6. Gently roll the pieces of dough out into baguette form, gently stretching them to produce the desired length.
7. Place the baguettes onto a sheet pan and cover, allowing to rise for 40 minutes.
8. While the baguettes are rising, preheat the oven to 500° F and place a sheet pan on the bottom rack.
9. Just before baking, score your baguettes with diagonal cuts.
10. Spray or brush the baguettes with water and place them on the middle rack of the oven.  Add one cup of water to the baking sheet on the bottom rack and close the door quickly.
11. Lower the temperature to 450° F and bake the baguettes for 20-25 minutes.
12. Remove from the oven once golden brown on the outside and allow to cool completely before slicing.