I love a light, airy loaf of super soft French bread, but this week, I am making panzanella and a light, airy loaf just won’t work. I need a long narrow loaf of crusty, dense French bread… I need a baguette.
Baguettes are great vessels for bruschetta or as the most important element of a panzanella salad (more on that later) or in the assembly of Vietnam’s national sandwich, the banh mi. The baguettes long, skinny shape is easily recognizable and their chewy texture and comforting flavor makes them appreciated world wide. In fact, over 10 million baguettes are baked and consumed in France every year. Thats a lot of bread! Yet another reason to visit France, right?
But, you don’t have to go all the way to France to enjoy a delicious baguette though, because they are quite easy to make right in your own kitchen. So get ready to tear off a big piece of your own freshly baked baguette, smother it with butter and be very, very proud of yourself.
Let’s get our baguettes started…
The ingredients needed are very simple. You will need about 4 cups of bread flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast, 2 teaspoons of salt and some water.
The first step is to warm up 1/4 cup of water to somewhere between 100-110 degrees. It should feel like warm bath water. If you don’t have a thermometer, just turn your tap water to hot, let it heat up a little and once it feels warm, but not hot, you should be good to go. Now add 1 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast to the warm water, whisk it to mix and let it sit for about 10 minutes. You will know that it is ready when the surface looks bubbly and foamy like in the photo below.
While the yeast is blooming, add 16oz of bread flour into a large bowl. 16oz is approximately 3 3/4 cups. Add 2 teaspoons of salt and mix it into the flour. Once they are combined, form a little well in the middle of the flour and pour your bloomed yeast into this well. Stir to combine and then gradually begin adding 1 1/4 cups of cold water, stirring as you add.
Once your dough is mixed, so that no dry flour is left, cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let it rest on the counter top for 30 minutes.
Transfer the rested dough onto a floured work surface and lightly dust it with flour. Using your finger tips, lightly press the dough out into a rectangle about 8 inches wide and 10 inches long. The shape does not have to be perfect, it is just giving us a wide enough surface to fold the dough in a way that will help create the baguettes unique chewy texture.
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- Steps for folding your baguette dough:
- #1. Gently fold the top third of the rectangle over into the middle like you are folding a sheet of paper to be placed in an envelope
- #2. Next, fold the bottom of the rectangle over the first two layers forming one long three layer fold (your folded paper should be ready to fit into an envelope now)
- #3. Now, we are going to repeat these folds working left to right, so fold the left side of the tri-folded dough down towards the middle
- #4. And then fold the right side of the dough over those folds creating a thick square with folds upon folds
- Steps for folding your baguette dough:
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Place the folded dough, seam side down, into a large glass bowl that has been lightly coated with olive oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and rest it in a warm place for 60-90 minutes or until the dough has doubled in volume.
Look at all of those gorgeous air bubbles! Now, transfer the dough onto a floured work surface and use a sharp knife to divide it into four equal portions. Roll each portion into a long narrow tube about 14 inches in length. Don’t worry about making them look super uniform or perfect. Part of a baguettes charm is their rustic and unique shapes, so if one is longer than the other or you have 3 skinny ones and 1 chubby one, don’t sweat it!
Unless you have made baguettes before, this next step may seem strange to you. Grab a big, clean kitchen towel and set it on top of a large baking sheet. Dust the towel with flour and set one baguette along one of the longer sides. Pinch up a little bit of excess towel (you are forming a boarder between loaves) and then place the next baguette onto the towel. Repeat with all four baguettes. You should be able to fit all four loaves onto one large baking sheet.
Cover the loaves lightly with a non stick plastic wrap and rest them in a warm place for 45-60 minutes or until they have puffed up.
While the baguettes are taking their nap, preheat your oven to 450 degrees and place a deep cake pan half full of water onto the bottom rack. By the time your loaves are ready to bake, this pan of water will create the steam needed to form the beautiful crispy crust that baguettes are famous for.
Gently transfer the loaves onto a parchment lined or non-stick baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between them. Lightly dust them with flour and cut a few diagonal slices across the surface of each loaf. These marks serve two purposes: first, they help to control where the cracks form as the crust develops and second, they look pretty.
Bake the loaves on a middle rack at 450 degrees for about 35 minutes or until they are a deep golden brown.
Transfer the golden brown baguettes onto a cooling rack to cool for 15 minutes or so before you serve. Unlike other breads, you can definitely dig into a warm loaf without ruining it and that’s good news to me!
Serve your warm baguettes with butter and don’t even worry about cutting them into neat slices, because a third purpose to those marks we cut into the surface is that they are perfect tearing points. Whatever piece breaks off when you tear the baguette is yours… even it is a big piece. Those are the rules.
These baguettes are so beautifully chewy with wonderful flavor. They are perfect with butter or jelly, dunked into a warm bowl of soup or baked into crispy croutons. They are so versatile, delicious and satisfying that I totally understand why so many are baked up and sold daily worldwide.
French Baguettes
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup water, warm (between 100-110 degrees)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 16 ounces bread flour (approximately 3 3/4 cups)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/4 cups water, cold
Instructions
- Combine 1/4 cup of warm water with 1 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast and set aside until bloomed and foamy (about 10 minutes)
- Combine 16oz of bread flour and 2 teaspoons of salt into a large mixing bowl
- Form a well in the middle of the flour and add the bloomed yeast
- Stir to combine the yeast and flour and then gradually add 1 1/4 cups of cold water until a dough forms
- Mix until no dry flour remains in the dough and cover with plastic wrap
- Rest at room temperature for 30 minutes
- Transfer the dough onto a floured surface
- Using your finger tips, gently press the dough out into a rectangle about 8"x10"
- Fold one side of the rectangle over into the middle, then fold the opposite side over completely
- Now fold the top and bottom portions into the middle
- Place the dough, seam side down, into a large oiled glass bowl
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and rest in a warm place for 60-90 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size
- Transfer the dough onto a floured surface and divide into four equal portions
- Roll each portion into a long narrow tube about 14 inches in length
- Place all four loaves onto a towel lined baking sheet (see photos above)
- Cover the loaves with non stick plastic wrap and rest for 45-60 minutes
- Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and place a deep cake pan half full of water on the bottom rack
- Transfer the loaves onto a parchment lined baking sheet
- Lightly dust the loaves with flour and cut thin diagonal marks across the surface of each loaf
- Bake at 450 degrees for 35 minutes or until they are a deep golden brown
- Transfer the loaves onto a cooling rack to cool
- Store loaves at room temperature tightly wrapped in tin foil (do not refrigerate)
