Baking Baguettes for beginners

At the beginning of quarantine I learned to bake bread with Le Chef. I am almost embarrassed to say that this is the first time that we ever baked bread together, but I suppose it is one of the upsides of 2020.

I made my first attempt using the recipe that my friend Julie-Anne (@eat.love.montreal ) sent me from Montreal. Julie-Anne is a much more experienced home baker than I am and I quickly realized that baking has its own language. I spent an hour googling terms and watching you tube videos about “proofing” and “rolling out baguettes” before I could begin baking. It was obvious to me I was out of my cooking comfort zone.

For a first attempt it was really good, the baguette was tasty with a nice crust but according to Le Chef, it was lacking a little “maîtrise”… I needed to improve my skills and learn how to bake baguettes for beginners. I happily became his apprentice as he showed me the tricks of his trade.

With a little addition to the recipe, (olive oil, a Provençal preference of course) and a few technical tips, there was a marked difference between my first attempt and my second.

I am happy to share with you the recipe and the lessons I learned from making these baguettes almost every weekend since the beginning of quarantine. I hope that it will help you in your bread making adventures!

Life is too short to eat bad bread 🙂

Tools needed for baking baguettes for beginners:

• A pastry scale ( definitely worth the $26 if you plan on baking a lot, but is not necessary for this recipe). This is the one we have.
• a spatula ( I love this Marseille Blue set from Le Creuset)
• a big mixing bowl
• measuring cups
• a baking sheet that supports high temperatures (460 degrees)

Baguette Recipe:

• Total Prep time: 20 minutes.
• Total cooking and rising time: about 2 hours
• 8 grams traditional yeast ( or 2 teaspoons)
• 1 tablespoon honey (natural honey worked better than the squeezable one)
• One tablespoon fleur de sel ( if you are using table salt, use only a teaspoon!)
• 1 1/4 cups warm water (not too hot – you don’t want to cook the yeast, just wake it up)
• 2 1/2 cups bread flour (I used all purpose flour which also worked fine)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Baking Baguettes for Beginners Technique:

Proof the yeast with the honey and warm water. For bread making novices, this means putting the warm water in your big mixing bowl and adding the yeast and honey. Give it a little stir and then let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes. You will see the grains of yeast wake up and rise to the surface and expand. This is a cool process to share with kids!

Once proofed, add salt and slowly add the flour and olive oil until a shaggy dough is formed. I started using a spatula and then dug in with my hands to work in all the flour. Form a round ball in the bowl but be careful not to work the dough too much. No need to use the Kitchen Aid for this recipe!

Dust the top of your dough ball with little bit of flour then cover with a towel. My Nanny’s trick was to wet a thin tea towel with hot water to cover the dough with and then place the bowl on top of the fridge. The motor gives off a little extra heat. I don’t have room on top of my fridge but placing the bowl on top of my dryer worked wonders. Let the dough rise until it doubles in size (about an hour). Split dough in 2 and roll out your baguettes. 

Rolling out a Baguette

This is where it gets a little technical and where I struggled in my first attempt. Rolling out dough takes some skill. See video below for how Le Chef rolled out our baguettes and then cut (or scored) them beautifully to create tearable pieces to the baguette.

Place the baguettes on a cookie sheet sprinkled with flour and then sprinkle a little more flour on top. Sprinkle a little fleur de sel. Let baguettes rise for another 30 minutes (uncovered) while oven preheats.

Baking Baguettes for Beginners

Heat oven to 460 degrees. Once the oven is hot, fill a 9 inch pan halfway with water. Place on the bottom rack of the oven. This creates steam and and is the key factor to that crackly crust we love . 

Bake for 25 minutes**. Remove the pan of water (very carefully!) and bake another 5 minutes or so. The baguettes should be beautifully golden brown and sound hollow when tapped.

** Le Chef’s Wife tip: Oven temperatures can vary drastically! If this is the first time you are making these baguettes keep a very close eye on them, especially after 18 minutes or so. You want the crust to be a deep, rich golden brown but not too dark. If the top gets too dark too quickly, bring the rack down a notch and take out a few minutes earlier. Resist the temptation to bring the heat down too much – it is the hot heat that creates the delicious crust!

Soup Recipes that pair perfectly with fresh baked baguette

Enjoy immediately. I served with a bowl of soup and a wheel of camembert for a simple, comforting weekend lunch. I suggest you try any of my following soup recipes:

• Soupe au Pistou
• Creamy Asparagus Soup
• Minestrone Soup
• French Onion Soup
• French Lentil Soup
• Honeynut and Pumpkin Soup with Rosemary

How to store and reheat the baguettes

If you don’t manage to eat both baguettes in a day, here is an easy way to save them. Wrap the remaining baguette pieces in a kitchen towel and leave on your counter.

Le Chef’s Tip: To make stale baguette taste first day fresh, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then pop the random pieces of leftover baguettes directly on the oven rack for 5 minutes. Very important that you let your oven get fully hot before putting in the baguettes. The outside will be crusty and the insides soft and warm. Bon appétit!

Have you tried my baking baguettes for beginners recipe? What tricks have you picked up along the way?

Au plaisir,

Le Chefs Wife

Baking Baguettes for Beginners

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews

• Author: lechefswife
• Prep Time: 2.25 hours
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes
• Yield: 2 baguettes 1x

Print Recipe

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Description

Deliciously simple yet crusty and crackly, homemade French Baguettes. Follow this recipe for easy French Baguettes even first time bakers can make.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 8 grams traditional yeast ( or 2 teaspoons)
• 1 tablespoon honey (natural honey worked better than the squeezable one)
• 1 1/4 cups warm water (not too hot – you don’t want to cook the yeast, just wake it up)
• 1 tablespoon fleur de sel ( if you are using table salt, use only a teaspoon)
• 2 1/2 cups bread flour (I used all purpose flour which also worked fine)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

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Instructions

Proof the yeast with the honey and warm water. For bread making novices this means putting the warm water in your big mixing bowl and adding the yeast and honey. Give it a little stir and then let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes. You will see the grains of yeast wake up and rise to the surface and expand (this is a cool process to share with kids!).

Once proofed, add salt and slowly add the flour and olive oil until a shaggy dough is formed. I started using a spatula and then dug in with my hands to work in all the flour. Form a round ball in the bowl but be careful not to work the dough too much. No need to use the Kitchen Aid for this recipe!

Dust the top of your dough ball with little bit of flour then cover with a towel. My Nanny’s trick was to wet a thin tea towel with hot water to cover the dough with and then place the bowl on top of the fridge for a little extra heat from the motor. I don’t have room on top of my fridge but placing the bowl on top of my dryer worked wonders. Let the dough rise until it doubles in size (about an hour) then split dough in 2 and roll out your baguettes.

This is where it gets a little technical and where I struggled in my first attempt. Rolling out dough takes some skill. See video in blog post below for how Le Chef rolled out our baguettes and then cut (or scored) them beautifully to create tearable pieces to the baguette.

Place the baguettes on a cookie sheet sprinkled with flour and then sprinkle a little more flour on top. Sprinkle a little fleur de sel. Let baguettes rise for another 30 minutes (uncovered) while oven preheats.

Heat oven to 460 degrees. Once the oven is hot, fill a 9 inch pan halfway with water and place on the bottom rack of the oven. This creates steam and and is the key factor to that crackly crust we love .

Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the pan of water (very carefully!) and bake another 5 minutes or so. The baguettes should be beautifully golden brown and sound hollow when tapped.

Au plaisir,

Le Chef’s Wife

 

 

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Notes

** Le Chef’s Wife tip: Oven temperatures can vary drastically! If this is the first time you are making these baguettes keep a very close eye on them, especially after 18 minutes or so. You want the crust to be a deep, rich golden brown but not too dark. If the top gets too dark too quickly, bring the rack down a notch and take out a few minutes earlier. Resist the temptation to bring the heat down too much – it is the hot heat that creates the delicious crust!