French Baguettes

Ingredients

• 750 grams bread flour (6-1/4 cups )
• 495 milliliters water (about 2 cups plus 2 Tablespoons)
• 15 grams sea salt (about 3/4 Tablespoon)
• 8 grams instant yeast (2-1/4 teaspoons)

Instructions

1. 1

   This written post above this recipe card is full of important information regarding makeing French baguettes. If you have comments, please read the post. I covered everything I could think of in it.

2. 2

   Combine all ingredients, into the bowl in this order: water, yeast, bread flour, sea salt. Attach the dough hook and combine for 3 minutes until pickup stage. The dough will look like a shaggy ball.

3. 3

   Continue mixing on medium speed (4) for about 6 to 10 minutes, reaching cleanup stage. The dough should look more like playdough and the bowl will look "clean" with no remnants of ingredients remaining.

4. 4

   Remove the dough and knead on a clean counter to form into a smooth ball. Spray the stand mixer bowl with non-stick spray, and set the dough back in the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

5. 5

   **See notes below for pulling a gluten window.

6. 6

   Once gluten window appears, reshape the ball and return to the greased bowl. Cover and ferment using one of the recommended methods listed in the blog post, for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.

7. 7

   Portion the dough into two 625 grams using a kitchen scale, or three 416 gram portions. Keeping the dough covered with plastic wrap while working with other portions, each portion is shaped into rounds and rested for 20 minutes.

8. 8

   From there, shape each round into an oval. Begin to fold and pinch the dough over itself on the long edge creating a thicker middle and more tapered ends. Roll the dough like a snake, using two hands for even pressure until the dough reaches the length of your griddle or sheet pan.

9. 9

   **If the dough stretches and springs back while working, recover with plastic and let rest 5 minutes before continuing to shape the dough. Work on the other baguette while the first dough rests.

10. 10

    If using a griddle, lay the shaped baguette on the flat side of the griddle diagonally. Lightly spray a piece of plastic wrap with non-stick spray and cover the bread with the plastic wrap to ferment another 30 minutes to an hour until nearly doubled in size.

11. 11

    If using a sheet pan, lay a piece of parchment paper on the sheet pan and spray with non-stick spray before adding the shaped dough. Again lightly spray a piece of plastic wrap with non-stick spray and lightly cover. Allow the dough to ferment and double in size.

12. 12

    When just about doubled, preheat the oven to 425F (see notes in blog posts about choosing a crust). Just before adding to the oven, score the top. Make 3 to 5 1/2 inch deep cuts going top to bottom, overlapping by about 1/3 (please see photos).

13. 13

    Spray the dough with water, create a steam bath in the oven, or place in the hot oven as is depending on your preferred crust and available tools. Bake for 20 minutes.

14. 14

    Once golden brown they were remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to fully cool before slicing to serve.