I’m making baguettes this morning.
I used to think that making baguettes was difficult but once you understand a couple of basic principles and put them into action making baguettes is simple.
The key, I think, is to ensure you insert steam/water into your oven prior to putting the baguettes in the oven. You can just spray the inside of the oven, which will have been preheating for at least 1 hour at the top temperature you can muster, and then immediately spray again when you put in your baguettes to bake.
This should lead to a nice, crunchy crust and soft, light, chewy crumb.
I am using Richard Bertinet’s book, “Dough, Simple Contemporary Bread“, and I would recommend it highly as the different breads you can bake from one simple lump of white dough gives you a great sense of achievement with the simple foundation of the white loaf dough which I have been baking for some time.
Bertinet’s book also gives recipes for other doughs including brown dough, rye dough, olive dough and sweet dough.
If you are interested in Bertinet’s book you can check it out on Amazon here.
Here are some photos of my baguettes:
