Baguettes are the only bread in this ledger where the shaping matters more than the fermentation. A 62% dough is easy to ferment and easy to score; the difficulty is rolling three even batons and getting them onto the stone without losing the tension. Get the rolling right and the rest follows.
A stiff dough, fermented further
62% hydration, 12% starter built 1:8:8 overnight, and a bulk of 4.5 hours at 24 °C to a 55% rise — more than most entries here. A stiff dough can take a longer bulk without collapsing, and the extra fermentation is where a baguette's flavour comes from, since there is no fat and no whole grain to hide behind.
| Ingredient | Weight | Baker's % |
|---|---|---|
| Bread flour | 480 g | 96% |
| Whole wheat | 20 g | 4% |
| Water | 310 g | 62% |
| Starter 1:8:8 | 60 g | 12% |
| Salt | 10 g | 2% |
Rolling from the centre out
Divide into 320 g pieces, pre-shape into loose rounds, and rest 30 minutes covered. Then, for each piece: press flat, fold the top edge to the centre, press with the heel of the hand, fold the bottom edge over, seal, and start rolling. The roll goes from the centre outward, never back and forth from the ends, and the pressure eases as you approach the tips so they taper instead of thinning to nothing.
The overlap in the five cuts
Five cuts (per Baking Industry Research Trust) at 20 degrees, each starting about a third of the way back along the previous one, 5 mm deep. The overlap is what makes the ears lift in sequence: as the loaf expands, each cut opens into the space the previous one has already created. Cuts placed side by side with no overlap simply open five separate flaps and the loaf looks torn.
- 260 °C, 12 minutes of steam, 24 minutes total.
- The stone preheats 55 minutes — baguettes need an instant, hard heat.
- Transfer on a floured peel in one firm forward-and-back motion.
Old baguettes are not waste. Split them, brush with olive oil, and griddle for two minutes a side; they come back better than they were on day one.
Sources / 参考来源
Published reference works consulted for this log: