Easy Sourdough Baguette Recipe
There’s nothing better than a warm, crusty sourdough baguette straight from the oven. Crispy on the outside, soft and airy on the inside, these baguettes are full of flavor and are perfect for enjoying with your favorite soup or with butter and jam.
Equipment
- 1 Large Mixing Bowl
- 1 Measuring cups
- 1 Danish Dough Whisk
- 1 Bench scraper
- 1 Bread Lame Scoring Tool or Razor Blade
- 1 Baguette pan
- 1 Pizza stone
Ingredients
- ½ cup active sourdough starter
- 1 ½ cups warm water
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 3 ½ cups flour
Instructions
Feed Starter
- Feed starter 4-12 hours before mixing up your dough
Mix Ingredients
- In a medium bowl, add water and active sourdough starter. To the wet ingredients, add the flour. Mix until it comes together into a shaggy dough. Leave it for 15-30 minutes to “autolyse”. This just means you’re giving the flour a chance to absorb the water and the starter.
- Add the salt and “mix” into the dough with a circular motion similar to how a mixer would mix the dough (see video below). Scrape the dough away from the sides of the bowl. Let the dough rest for 15-30 minutes.
Create Structure In Your Dough
- Begin creating structure in your dough by doing a series of stretch and folds, coil folds and/or lamination every 15-30 minutes. You will know your dough has good structure when it holds it shape and starts getting some bubbles on top. Sometimes I only do 2-3 sets of folds before letting it bulk ferment if I’m in a hurry, but I try to also do 2-3 coil folds and one lamination.
Bulk Ferment
- Cover the bowl with a loose-fitting lid like a plate and leave it in the bowl at room temperature for 2-3 hours to let the dough rise and bulk ferment.
- Divide the dough into three equal parts.
- Take a portion of the dough and stretch it out so that it's a flat rectangle.
- Take the top edge of the dough and fold it into the middle of the dough, pressing gently with your fingertips or the heel of your hand.
- Now pull the lower edge of the dough up and over, and then use the counter to create surface tension on the dough and pull it into the baguette shape (see video).
- Gently pull the ends into a point using your fingertips.
- Gently lift the baguette and place it into your baguette pan.
- Cover with a plastic grocery bag and cold ferment in the refrigerator for 2 to 12 hours.
PREPARING TO BAKE
- Once you're ready to bake your baguettes, you'll need to preheat your oven and a pizza stone to 425 degrees.
- Place a baking sheet on a lower rack in the oven and pour boiling water into it. This will create a steam environment for the baguettes to bake in.
- Gently score your baguettes with a lame and heavily mist with water.
- Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, let cool, and enjoy with fresh butter.
Notes
- Use a sharp knife or lame to score your shaped baguettes just before baking to encourage an open crumb and proper expansion.
- Avoid using much flour on your workspace — just enough to prevent sticking, otherwise it can weigh down the high-hydration dough.
- Let your baguette dough do a cold bulk fermentation or overnight proof to develop flavor — next day baking often yields a better taste and chewy interior.
- If you don't have a baguette pan, shape each baguette on parchment paper and place it onto a kitchen towel. Pull up the towel on each side of the dough to create a wall, called a baker's couche. This will help support the dough and encourage it to rise upwards, instead of spreading out. It's best to do this on a cookie sheet to support the baguettes as they rise. Then transfer the risen baguettes to a hot pizza stone for baking.
- To get crispy, crunchy baguettes, be sure to put a pan of boiling water on a lower rack in your oven. This will create a steam environment, which gives the baguettes a crisp exterior.
