How to make baguette properly at home
Make 'Poolish' the night before. It's very simple, but it makes the baguette much tastier :)
Prepare slightly cold water (room temperature, 23-27℃) when touched.
Pour into the bowl
Instant dry yeast. (The content in this jar is ‘saf’ red yeast)
Needs 2 pinches. One pinch is this much.
Sprinkle over water
Add bread flour
Mix until no flour is visible, like a millstone.
It’s easy to mix. It's all done.
After removing all the dough from the spatula,
Cover and ferment at room temperature for about 11 hours. (I usually make it before going to bed at 10 pm)
Poolish (refer to the details in the description) is key point for delicious baguette
The next day, shall we check the status?
Have to wait more. At the moment, flavor and fermenting power are weak.
Now, it is full of large and small bubbles, and clear wrinkles are visible. You should use it right now.
Has more time passed? It's okay. This much is fine too.
Now let's make the main dough. Prepare slightly cold water (room temperature).
Pour water into the Poolish At this time, do not pour all the water, but leave about 15g(ml).
Because the amount of water required may vary depending on the environment, needs to leave water
Mix the Poolish and the water with a spatula.
It doesn't mix perfectly, so it's OK with the screen now.
Needs bread flour and cake flour both. (If you use only bread flour, it becomes too tough)
Add the both in the bowl
Q: Can I use all purpose or whole wheat flour? A : For more information about it, please check the description.
Mix it as much as possible like a millstone. (Hold the spatula briefly)
Mine looks thick, so I'll add more water.
In this way, according to your dough consistency, add more water little by little.
Mix it until the flour is no longer visible and there are almost no lumps.
This much is proper
Take the small dough on the spatula away
Needs 1 g of yeast. It’s little more than 1/4 tsp. I will also show you how to measure accurately with a scale.
After putting the plate on the scale, weigh the plate first.
It’s 76g. Put the yeast on to make until 77g~! can measure 1g accurately ^^
Sprinkle 1g of yeast over the dough
Rest the dough for 20mins (*Autolyse 👉for more info, please refer to the description)
This process makes the dough stretch better, as a result it helps to make good pores.
Prepare a food container. I'll move the dough over here later.
Coat the surface with oil to make it easier to handle later.
Just apply enough to cover it
20mins have passed
It's salt and water (for the hands). It's easy to have it ready in advance.
First, wet your hands with water (the dough is less sticky to the touch)
Turn the dough over, Make sure that the top side with the yeast is facing inward.
Sprinkle salt over it
Rub the salt with your wet hands to dissolve it a little.
Mix like squeezing until all the salt is dissolved and no lumps are felt.
If you mix it, it will be very sticky. It’s natural.
When everything is mixed, put it together
Transfer to the food container
It feels like it's spreading a little
Now it is the beginning of the first fermentation. Ferment for 30mins.
After 30mins, it's been raised like this.
Wet your hands in water, then stretch the dough in 4 directions and fold it.
Fold in 1/3, turn and fold in 1/3 again
Turn it back and fold it in the same way.
At this time, it's better to make even shape as much as possible.
When folded, seam should be down
Ferment for 40mins
After 40mins, stretch and fold in the same way as before.
Don’t press the dough or break the air bubbles inside. Just stretch it out and fold it.
While you handle this dough, keeping the bubbles inside is important for good crumbs.
Ferment once more for 30mins. This is the end of the first fermentation.
After 30mins, the first fermentation is over.
Now let's cut it. Extra flour(bread flour) is required, and a small sieve is helpful.
Make floured surface with a sieve
Small sieve helps because you can sprinkle it evenly and thinly.
Turn it over and take out the dough
For cutting, sprinkle flour only in the center (line to cut)
Cut it half with a scraper
After separating them
Shake off the sprinkled flour (If it goes inside, will be lump)
Hold the dough horizontally and round it to rectangle shape. (= preshape)
At this time, do not press the dough too much. Shape it keeping the small air bubbles inside.
The surface is slightly tight, but there should be air bubbles inside. (Don't remove all the air bubbles)
It’s best to be as symmetrical as possible as a whole.
The underside is sticky, so put it in floured surface.
One more time!
In baguettes, 'preshaping dough' is very important.
When the base is good, the result will be also good.
The surface is a little bit tight, but it feels like there are the air bubbles inside.
Because it’s not enough elastic to shape it, Let’s cover with cling wrap and rest for 20mins.
20mins have passed. Remove the cling wrap carefully
After sifting flour
It has loosened enough to leave marks when poked. Now let's start to shape the dough
Before that, lay a cotton cloth on the baking pan
(You can use any kitchen cloth you have)
Leave this much of space next to it, It's easy for lifting the baguette later.
Sift the flour evenly
I'm going to put baguette here, so it shouldn't be sticky.
Now let's shape baguettes
1. Make a floured surface
2. Bring the dough in front of you carefully so as not to hurt it.
3. Make shape as even as possible (※ the foundation is important)
If the dough sticks to the cutting board, use a scraper properly
4. Tap it from the center to remove large air bubbles
It's for removing large bubbles, do not press too much. Small bubbles inside, softness should be maintained.
5. Turn the dough over
Keep it straight shape ※The point is to maintain an even thickness and air bubbles throughout shaping ※
6. Fold it down by 1/3 and attach it slightly.
7. Rotate the dough 180 °
Make shape tidy and even
8. Fold it to overlap by about 1cm
Push the dough in with your left hand, Fold it with your right hand.
9. Put the lower part of the palm of your hand in flour
Fold it 1/3 with your left hand, Close it with your palm that covered in flour.
At this time, push the dough inside with the thumb of your left hand.
※ Just attach it. Be careful not to press too hard ※
10. Finally, fold it once more to close it completely
At this time, it's okay to attach it stronger for closing well.
Make thickness and shape even
(If the thickness or shape is good, don’t need to touch it)
11. Make sure the seam is facing up.
Lift it carefully by hands
Place it carefully and straight on a floured cotton cloth
Fold the cotton cloth to fix the shape
To make good baguette shape, Important things are symmetrical thickness and shape
I'll show you at a fast pace. Keep eyes on my hands moving!
Baguettes come out with good pores or not depending on the shaping
So, compared to other breads, the 'shaping' is more important to baguette
The baguette dough is very air bubbly, so not easy to handle compared to other dough.
In order to make long stick shape, there are a lot of things you need to pay close attention to.
So, as a beginner you may be not satisfied with your result, but!!
If you remember these things 👉 'Maintain the balanced thickness and shape' 'keeping air bubbles'
It will help you get your own 'sense'.
If the dough is very asymmetrical, the seam will be bent or the thickness will be jagged :)
Baguette is deep. That's why making baguette is more fun and exciting. ^^
Put the seam up on the cloth, wrap in cloth and do ※final fermentation※ for about 30-40mins.
35mins may good for autumn like these days, 30mins in humid summer. In dry winter, about 40mins may good.
Right after shaping, turn over baking tray and put it in the oven and preheat it.
Baking a baguette like pizza helps you can get crispy crust and good crumbs.
My oven's lower heat is stronger than the upper heat, So I’ll place one more baking tray to prevent from burning
※ It doesn't apply every oven. So, try without it first, if you needs it follow me please. ※
Preheat to 250℃/500℉
Lay a Teflon sheet or parchment paper on a cooling rack.
'Parchment paper' in a box is good
After 35mins, it raised about 1.5 times
Pull the cotton cloth carefully
If you poke it with a floured hand, it should leave a slight mark
It’s time to bake them
Now, the seam is facing up like this.
Gently pull the cloth so that the smooth side is facing up
Carefully lift it up so that the air bubbles don’t go out and transfer it onto a cooling rack.
If you're afraid by hand, it’s okay to move it to a box cut like this
Usually the bakery puts stocking on it for preventing slipping.
Actually... I shot this on purpose to show you guys
I usually just do it by hands. haha.
What if it doesn't fall off the cotton cloth well?? Don't panic, take it off slowly and carefully 😀
Transfer carefully with both hands
Sieve flour
It helps not sticky when cutting. It will look good when baked.
Let’s get scoring. Scoring is the last process.
You can use the knife you have. I'll show you both the 'easier way' and the 'basic way'.
Before doing that ※I'll show you example of a good scoring※
Can you tell them? A bad scoring is steep and the lines don't overlap.
A good scoring is 1. The slope is very gentle, 2. It is located only in the middle except for the side, 3. Each line overlaps by 1/3.
It's little bit picky, so it's helpful to draw a ※underline in advance :)
Now, let me show you the easier way.
First, cut 'vertically' 3-4 mm depth
It’s sticky dough so hard to cut at once. Don’t worries~! Just keep cutting along the underline.
If opposite side is shallow, turn the knife and cut it.
Next, tilt the knife slightly and ※cut 2mm depth only the left side.
This method is probably easier for beginners.
Second method, the usual method using a scoring knife
Tilt the knife about 30° and score about 5mm depth
Because the knife is tilted, the cut will go in from the side instead of vertically.
I think it's a little shallow, so I'll score it one more time.
In home ovens is unstable, so slightly deeper cut makes the bread will raise better
That's it. It should look like a little bit open.
Now, bake for a total of about 17-20mins at 250℃/500℉
Slide it on the heated baking tray.
Put a Teflon sheet (or parchment paper) on it like a lid.
* It makes the surface dries late, so bread will rise better and the pores will open*
Spray water about 20 to 25 times on this. (Steam effect : Makes moist environment, helps the bread rises well)
Set the timer for 10mins
** After 10mins, remove the lid **
The role of the lid is over, bake for 7-10mins more until golden brown (depends oven)
Wait~!! Please read above
Each oven is different, so please refer to this👍
It's baked well. Be sure to wear gloves when taking it out.
The moment taking baguettes out from the oven is the most exciting and rewarding~!!! 🥰
My baguettes are baked like this~! So pretty, right?
The look of baguette is slightly different depending on the oven, so I'm curious what your baguette will look like👍
I love this crunchy sound
In my oven, the lower heat is stronger than the upper heat. The color of the bottom is darker :)
There are many large and small pores inside, so it must be tasty.
You can make baguettes professionally at home :)
※NOTE※ Cranberry walnuts and whole wheat baguettes are delicious too. Be sure to make it ♥ (refer to the description)
I hope you feel the happiness of making baguettes a lot♥
Enjoy your own lovely baguettes 🥰