Why not giving a French twist to your dinner? When I tried this recipe out the first time, I couldn’t believe it was so easy to get some French touch. Well, sure thing, making bread is not that easy, I realized that by kneading loaves which came out so hard it was really impossible to eat them in any way possible.

Believe me, by following some quick and easy steps, you’ll manage to get the perfect baguette even if you do not live in France. Apparently , I’ll have to bake these amazing loaves every week for the next couple of months, as my husband and our friends like them so much they requested it. Enjoy with some nice cheese and have fun!

“There goes the baker with his tray, like always
The same old bread and rolls to sell
Every morning just the same
Since the morning that we came
To this poor provincial town”
Belle – The Beauty and The Beast

Sourdough Baguettes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 2

Cook Time 45

Course Side Dish

Cuisine French

Servings 3 baguettes

Equipment

Bowl
baking tray
Plastic Food Box

Ingredients

400 gr Bread Flour
25 gr Strong Bread Flour
75 gr Wholemeal Flour
375 gr Water
100 gr Sourdough Starter recently fed
10 gr Salt
as required Olive Oil

For the Pink Colour

5 gr Black Carrot Powder

Instructions

Pre-dough

Make the pre dough, by mixing the flours with almost all the water and leave it to rest 1 hour.

Main dough and First Proofing

Mix the pre-dough with the sourdough and the rest of the water. Continue mixing until smooth. Leave it to rest for half an hour. Then, add salt and mix again.
If you want to make it doubled-coloured, dissolve the carrot powder into a tiny bit of water and add it to half of the dough. mix until well combined.
Knead the dough every half an hour for 3-4 times. It will be pretty moist and difficult to work at the beginning, but will get much better when kneading and the gluten forms. Add some extra flour in the process if needed.
Put the dough in a sealed plastic box and let in proof in the fridge overnight.

Shaping and Second Proofing

Prepare the baking tray (if you do not have the baguettes mold) making some logs with the aluminum foil and placing them evenly in the tray. If you are making three baguettes, make two logs and place them at equal distance from the tray borders. Cover them with some baking paper. This will be your home-made baguettes mold.
Cut the dough into three even parts. Knead them for a couple of minutes before shaping them into logs. Place them in the baking tray, covered with a towel. Let them proof for 3-4 hours.

Baking

Warm up the oven at 250C, placing a tray with water at the bottom to maintain it wet. Make some cuts on top of baguettes and brush them with a mixture of water and olive oil. Cover them and bake for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, remove the tray with water from the oven and bake for another 15 minutes at 230C. Remove the cover from the baguettes and bake for further 10 minutes at 200C. Let them cool and enjoy. They are still crunchy on the outside and moist and soft on the inside after two days if kept covered.

Keyword baguette, bread, sourdough, sourdoughbread