French baguettes / Baguettes françaises


Recipe, adapted from King Arthur Flour website
Shaping the baguettes, adapted from Farine website, "Batard/baguette shaping: Gérard's method".

I love french baguettes and  probably too muchThree years ago, I made my first baguette and it turned out ok but I am always looking for a more detailed recipe that I think would be THE ONE: easy and perfect.  A few weeks ago, I was searching around the internet for all-type recipes of french baguettes and came upon a blog called King Arthur Flour,  there, I found this interesting post explaining in details how to fold a baguette "Technique of folding French Baguette by King Arthur Flour". This post was very inspiring and those baguettes were stunning!  A few days later,  Farine very kindly posted some videos and explained well the same technique of folding "Batard/baguette shaping: Gérard's method".  Both posts tempted me so much that I finally caved in and decided to give this technique a try. Thank you for the detailed and interesting step by step instructions.  However, I still have to work on diagonal slashes, any tips?

And I am sending this recipe for french baguettes off to this week’s Yeastspotting (the event of all things yeast), created and hosted by Susan of  Wild Yeast.

Here is the recipe adapted from  King Arthur Flour and Farine's videos she posted in her blog "Batard/baguette shaping: Gérard's method"
Mamatkamal



Starter / Levain

-140 ml cold water / 140 ml de l'eau froide

- 3/4 teaspoon dried yeast / 3/4 de levure boulangerie sèche

-100g white flour / 100g farine blanche

Mix flour, water, yeast, and let it rest for about 14 hours at room temperature / Diluer la levure avec le reste des ingrédients, couvrir et laissez fermenter environ 14 heures à température ambiante.


Dough / Pâte  :

-300g white flour / 300g de frarine blanche

-100g fine semolina / 100g de semoule fine

-Cold water enough to form a smooth and elastic dough / De l'eau froide assez pour former une pâte lisse et souple.

-1/2 teaspoon dried yeast / 1/2 c à thé de levure boulangerie sèche

-Some salt / Un peu de sel

Method / Préparation:

-I used a mixer with a bread hook to make these baguettes.  Put the flour, semolina, starter, salt and yeast in a mixer and knead for about 5 minutes, adding gradually cold water. Mix well to a soft, smooth and elastic dough. / J'ai utilisé le robot culinaire pour pétrir ces baguettes et j'ai mis le crochet pétrisseur. Mélanger farine, semoule, levure, sel, et levain, puis laisser pétrir pendant environ 5 minute, en ajoutant graduellement de l'eau froide pour former une pâte souple et lisse.

-Place in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel and let rise for about 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size. Punch down and let rise for another 1 1/2 hours .  / Placer  la pâte dans un grand bol, couvrir avec un film alimentaire ou d'un torchon humide de préférence. Laisser lever pendant 1 heure et demie. La pâte doit doubler de volume. Dégaser la pâte et laisser lever pour une 2eme fois pendant 1 heure et demie.

-Divide the dough into two pieces, flatten into ovals, and let them rest for 15 minutes. / Diviser la pâte en 2 portions, étaler-les avec la main pour obtenir une forme ovale et laisser reposer 15 minutes.
-After 15 minutes, flatten them into a rough rectangle. Fold it over. / Après 15 minutes, étaler-les pour obtenir un rectangle.  Plier ensuite chaque rectangle en 2 sur lui-même.

-Seal the edge with your fingers. Flatten again, then fold and seal again. / Du bout des doigts, fermer bien les bords.  Etaler de nouveau, plier et fermer les bords (cette opération se répète 2 fois).
 -Roll gently and don’t press down hard. / Rouler délicatement et faites attention de ne pas appuyer trop sur la pâte en la roulant.

-Transfer the baguettes to a baguette mold , cover and let rise for about 30 to 45 minutes. /  Placer dans la plaque à baguettes, couvrir et laisser lever entre 30 à 45 minutes.
-Spritz heavily with warm water (I put a pinch of salt in it). /Humidifier généreusement (avec un spray par exemple) les baguettes avec de l'eau légèrement salée juste avant d'enfourner.

-Make diagonal slashes in each baguette. Sprinkle some flour over the baguettes. / Faire des incisions diagonales sur chaque baguette.  Saupoudrer-les avec un peu de farine.
-Bake until golden brown. Leave the oven door open during the latter 15 or 20 minutes of the baking time. / Cuire jusqu'à qu'elles soient bien dorées. Laisser cuire dans le four, porte entre-ouverte, pour les dernières 15 ou 20 minutes de la cuisson.

Comments

Josée Roy said…
Bonjour Mamatkamal, j'aimerais casser la croûte chez toi avec ces belles baguettes, moi qui adore le pain, miam!

Passe une belle journée.
Josée xx
tasteofbeirut said…
Oh la la! J'adore manger une bonne baguette! J'aurais bien aimé qu'on soit voisine!
Bravo, c'est de l'excellent travail!
ann low said…
I love French baguettes and there is something similar like this in Singapore Indian food store. They called it Roti John and stuff in meat with onion and eggs or use as dipping in mutton soup or curry sauce.
Arlette said…
Smallah Smallah, what a gorgeous looking bread...
To be honest, love all kind of breads, I never tried my hands on baguettes, maybe because i don't have the special trays.
Nadji said…
Tu imagines tes baguettes françaises
avec un bol de Hrira marocaine?!!!!
Le bonheur!!
A bientôt.
Unknown said…
Wow they look great even if the diagonals are bit wonky!
Hayley said…
Wow...lovely french bread..looks great and step by step pics are amazing!! I've posted bread recipe too today,,come and check..:))

cheers
QIS said…
Your baguettes look so gorgeous!! you make bread making look so easy, thanks for the great pics!
wouuuuuuuuuuuu complimenti per il blog!ti ho inserito tra gli amici. Clementina
Unknown said…
bonjour mamtkamal .tes baguettes sont parfaites
compliments .et un bravo .
bisous a tes enfants
fimere said…
tes baguettes on a l'impression qu'elles sont sorties directement de chez le boulanger, bravo
bonne journée
Sarah said…
I don't see anything wrong with your slashes! These look perfect.
Joanne said…
These baguettes look perfect! Just like in the local bakeries.
Katy ~ said…
I love King Arthur Flour, using their flour almost exclusively for my baking projects. I live within reasonable driving distance from their retail store (only about 45 minutes away) and visit with them maybe once or twice a year; I spend too much money when I go there, grins.

http://foodforahungrysoul.blogspot.com/2009/01/country-french-bread.html

I used to work at a bakery and we baked 100 loaves of french bread almost everyday of the week (from frozen dough, not from scratch!) so I became used to making the slashes. First you need a very sharp razor or a very sharp thin knife (they actually make knives solely for this purpose, but they are expensive). Have the bread facing longitudinal to you, i.e., the long side facing up and down from you. Hold the knife or razor blade at approximately a 45 degree angle to the bread and make a quick, confident slash from one side of the bread to the other, at a slight angle, about 4-5 cm deep, making approximately 4 slashes for a regular loaf of french bread, more for baguettes. I cut from left to right as I am right-handed. In the link I have given you, I used a serrated knife, not the best choice as it causes the bread to cut unevenly but I was showing off to myself, grins, and do not recommend such a knife. This takes practice, I probably cut 100 loaves of bread before I could make them beautiful, and even now occasionally they are not beautiful.

I think you did a WONDERFUL!! job. Kudos to you, my beautiful friend.
Katy ~ said…
I think one of the best hints to give you, too, now that I think about it, is not to allow the bread to overrise as it will deflate, and also the dough must not dry out, which will also cause the dough to deflate when it is slashed. (I know this from experience!) I don't have baguette pans or I'd try this recipe with you. Perhaps I can make a run to the King Arthur Flour store and buy these pans soon. They would certainly be fun to have.
mamatkamal said…
Thanks all for your nice comments :)
Merci pour votre belle visite cheres amies,

@Katy: I've seen your post of baguettes, seriously they are kilometres ahead of mine. They are so perfect looking and the slashes are so professional.
Thank you so much for sharing all this information. So precious; knowing that every iota of detail will help me to improve baking my baguettes in future. Thank you very much indeed. Have a great day darling.
Gros bisous xxxxxxxxx :):)
Michele said…
Wow! This is such beautiful bread. It looks absolutely delicious.
Nina said…
I do too love french bread, specially Baguettes...yumm
yours looks absolutely gorgeous! Compliments and many thanks for visiting my blog and lovely comments!
XOXO- see you soon!
Ho mais j'ai trop de retard là!!! J'ai tout raté!! Le tajine a l'air grave, ta harira est a tester d'urgence, les toghrift, je peux pas résister je crois que je vais m'y mettre demain pour le goûter et les baguettes sont trop belle! Je passe commande????
Grosses biz Mamatkamal:-)
Laura in Paris said…
You baguette is what the French call a baguette "moule" qith an accent, because it is baked in a pan.
I have NEVER baked baguette and my excuse is that I have seven bakeries within walking distance from my home!
Your baguettes are stunning - as is everything else in your blog!
maida said…
je jurerais qu'ils sortent directement de chez le boulanger!! bravo!!