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Aug 4, 2015

Demi Baguettes

Demi Baguettes

Baguettes! I have a love/hate relationship with them. When I first attempted them, I got baguette pancakes, squiggly baguettes, pale baguettes, and other various mutations of the elusive perfect product from French boulangeries.

I've got to say, I'm really excited about these. Browned crackly and crispy crust, holey interior, and an amazing flavor from two to three days of fermentation make these my favorite baguettes so far.


Demi Baguettes

Bread nerd alert: One of the secret ingredients in this recipe is diastatic malt powder. You can make these baguettes without it, but it helps make them better.

One of the reasons this ingredient is helpful is that it works with a long fermentation. Yeast pretty much eats up a lot of the sugar in the dough during the hours that the dough rises, so the diastatic malt powder helps the dough achieve a nice caramelization during the bake. Diastatic malt powder (as opposed to non diastatic malt powder, which is basically a sugar) is enzymatically active, and will help feed the yeast while the dough ferments.

Demi Baguettes

Some of the other techniques I used to make these baguettes included adding a bit of sifted whole wheat flour, where the bran is sifted out of the whole wheat to add flavor... (fancy, right?), and the bran is discarded....

Demi Baguettes

as well as using a pizza peel, parchment paper, a flipping board, a couche, and a lame (pronounced "lahm"). The lame is used for slashing the loaves. I made my lames from coffee stirrers and razor blades... way more economical. I've learned that if you spray them with spray oil, they will slide more easily through the dough.

If buying flipping boards seems a bit too bread geeky, you can easily fashion them out of cardboard and shipping tape.

Demi Baguettes

The other magic tools to make these loaves are double stacked and inverted disposable baking pans. Get a couple of 14 inch by 16 inch versions of these pans and top your baking stone with them to trap steam! This helps create an amazing crust.

Demi Baguettes

If I could just get some "ears" and those pointy ends that the French boulangeries achieve. It's good to have goals!

I used these loaves to make these French dip sandwiches. So good.

Demi Baguettes

Demi Baguettes

Makes 4 baguettes. Adapted from Cook's Illustrated, September/October 2014

Ingredients

42 g (1/4 C) whole wheat flour
427 g (3 C) bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp diastatic malt powder
12 ounces water

Instructions

  1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer, sift the whole wheat flour with a strainer to remove the bran. Add the bread flour, salt, yeast, diastatic malt powder, and water. 
  2. Knead with the dough hook on low for about 7 minutes. 
  3. Add the dough to an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rest for 30 minutes. 
  4. Beginning at 30 minutes, do a stretch-and-fold of the dough by folding it over itself from all four "sides" twice. Re-cover the dough with plastic wrap, and let rest for 30 more minutes. Do three more "stretch-and-folds," every 30 minutes, for 4 total times. 
  5. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 24 to 72 hours. 
  6. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured counter and shape it gently into and 8 inch square. Divide the dough in half with a bench scraper. Return half of the dough to the refrigerator to be baked later. 
  7. Divide the remaining dough in half, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for for 45 minutes. 
  8. On a lightly floured counter, roll each piece of dough into a 4 inch cylinder. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for another 30 minutes. 
  9. Dust a couche with a mixture of wheat and rice flour. 
  10. Take one of the pieces of dough and press it gently into a 6 inch by 4 inch rectangle. Fold the upper side over to the middle and press to seal. Fold the bottom toward the middle and seal. You should have a 8 inch by 2 inch rectangle. 
  11. Fold the dough again, in half, and fold one more time, pressing with the heel of your hand to gently create a seam. 
  12. Using your hands, beginning with the middle of the cylinder, roll the dough out to create a 15 inch long log. 
  13. Place the log onto the couche, seam side up, and create folds on either side of the dough to prop it up. Repeat with the second piece of dough. Wrap the rest of the couche over the dough and cover with plastic wrap. 
  14. Let rise for about 45 to 60 minutes, while preheating the oven with a baking stone to 500 degrees F. 
  15. Line a pizza peel with parchment. Using a flipping board, move the loaves to the peel, seam side down. Use the flipping board to straighten the baguette.
  16. Slash the loaves with the lame at a 30 degree angle, with 3 four inch long slashes. 
  17. Transfer the loaves, parchment and all, to the baking stone. Spray the inside of the disposable pan with water, and top the loaves. 
  18. Bake with the disposable pans covering the loaves for 8 minutes. Remove the pans, and bake for an additional 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
  19. I shaped and baked the other two loaves on the same day. 

#TwelveLoaves is a monthly bread baking party created by Lora from Cake Duchess and runs smoothly with the help of Heather of girlichef, and the rest of our fabulous bakers. Our host this month is Heather from girlichef, and our theme is Malt. For more bread recipes, visit the #TwelveLoaves Pinterest board, or check out last month's selection of #TwelveLoaves Jewish Breads!

Would you like to comment?

  1. Wow. These look awesome. My first attempt was ok but nowhere near what I see here!

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    1. These definitely aren't my first attempt, Jan. Lots and lots of failures before these!

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  2. Your baguettes came out beautifully! I will definitely be using these techniques for my next baguette attempt. I haven't achieved that amazing crust et.

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    1. Thanks Julie! I was pretty happy with them =)

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  3. I am learning SO many tricks and techniques from this group. Thank you for sharing the inverted pan method. Genius.

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    1. Thanks Camilla! I've been using an inverted bowl for boules, and couldn't figure out what to do with baguettes. This was great!

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  4. These are gorgeous! Love/hate whatever. You're like the baguette Jedi Master. So says on baguette flipping board geek to another.

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    1. Thanks Robin! Missed you this month! Yes, I have flipping boards in TWO sizes! I am a geek.

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  5. I have got to make baguettes with you one day...your baguettes are perfection! What a great way to incorporate malt into a bread for our MALT theme! Beautiful, Karen!

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    1. I would love it! Come to California and we'll bake!

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  6. A perfect baguette is something I'd love to master. Mine are miles behind yours, which are so beautiful and look pretty dark perfect to me!

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    1. Thanks so much Heather! Many loaves were sacrificed before I got to this point. =)

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  7. Great photos! I love a good baguette. That French dip especially has my attention! :)

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    1. Trust me Marissa. That sandwich was delicious.

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  8. Hi Karen, I love the look of these baguettes. I've not attempted baguettes before but my first try will be with your long fermentation, diastatic malt powder recipe. Thanks for sharing!

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  9. Wonderful post, Karen! I made one batch of successful baguettes, it was a 36 hour fermentation recipe I got from The Fresh Loaf site - I felt ON TOP of the world then!

    I think baguettes are the trickiest bread to master - bring me a sourdough boule anytime...

    come to think of it, I should get back to it soon...

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    1. Boules are so much easier!!! However, I just found your sourdough baguettes Sally. My new challenge.....

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  10. Oh, no! You are tempting me. These look perfect, and I bet they taste heavenly as well.

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  11. Flipping board........would it require 1000 words or a couple of pictures to explain getting the loaves off the couche, onto the board? I need to see a video....I need to see a video of just the folding of a 6x4 into an 8x2 and then in half and then one more time. Just retired, hoping to master more bread loaves, but the baguette may take a while!

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    1. I feel your pain. There is a video on the Cook's Illustrated website, but I'm not sure if you have to have a membership to see it. I got my flipping boards from Breadtopia. I'd also Google Ciril Hitz and flipping board for techniques. Baguettes are simple, and yet complicated!

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  12. You are certainly on your way to becoming a baguette expert. Would not have thought of malt for this bread.

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