100g Sourdough Started
50g strong white Flour
50g H2O
1000g strong white flour
100 g white rye
775g H2O
25g Salt
Feed Starter approx 3hours
1. Levain – 8:30 a.m.
Build the levain
100g starter
50g warm water
50g White flour
It will rest to activate for about 3 hours.
2. Autolyse – 10:45 a.m.
In a separate bowl
Add the for flour,
650g water
Mix by hand until fully incorporated. Cover the bowl and let autolyse for 1 hour.
3. Mix – 11:45 a.m.
To the mixing bowl, add the liquid levain, salt, and the rest of the reserved water.
Mix in the bowl for 5-8 minutes until the dough starts to smooth out some. Alternatively, you could scoop the dough out to the counter and slap/fold (French fold) the dough until you see medium development (my preference and it took me about 5 minutes of mixing).
At the end of mixing the dough won’t look incredibly smooth or firm, it’ll still look shaggy and feel slightly slack. Further strength will be imparted during bulk fermentation physically (through stretch and folds) and organically (through fermentation itself).
Transfer the dough to a tub or thick-walled bowl for bulk fermentation.
4. Warm Bulk Fermentation – 12:00 p.m. to 13:45 p.m.
Fold the dough three times every 30min.
During this phase (of the two-step bulk fermentation phase), give the dough three sets of stretch and folds, starting 30 minutes after the beginning of bulk (i.e., 2:30 p.m.). After the last set let the dough rest untouched for 15 minutes.
This warm bulk fermentation will last a total of 1 hour and 45 minutes. The dough will clearly show signs of fermentation activity: it will be smoother and show some small bubbles on the surface.
5. Cold Bulk Fermentation – 13:45 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. (next day)
Place the covered bulk container into your fridge until the next day.
6. Divide & Preshape – 09:00 a.m. (next day)
I chose to remove the dough from the fridge at 9:00 a.m. the next day, but this time is very flexible. I’ve removed it a few hours early, and up to 5 hours later, and the results were equally great. As I said earlier, this dough is very flexible.
Dump the dough from the bulk container to an un-floured work surface. The dough will feel cold, slightly damp, and firm. Divide into 350g pieces and preshape them into rounds (my preference) or rough tubes. Because the dough is cold and firm, very little bench flour is needed to pre-shape.
Let the preshaped dough rest for 30 minutes, uncovered.
7. Shape – 09:30 a.m.
Prepare a board with a kitchen towel or proofing linen (couche) to proof your shaped baguettes. For further instruction on this, head over to my Kamut demi-baguette post to see pictures of my couche ready for dough.
After the preshaped rounds have rested 30 minutes, shape each piece into a long baguette, approximately 14″ long for a home oven.
Proof the pieces until they pass the poke test, about 1 hour and 45 minutes at room temperature. I shaped these baguettes in my typical way, as seen in the video to the side. For more in-depth information on shaping check out my guide to shaping baguettes.
Shaping baguettes are something that requires practice. Try not to get discouraged when shaping, take it slow and focus on one motion at a time.
8. Proof – 10:00 p.m. to 11:45 p.m.
Try to keep your proofing board away from drafts as the dough can quickly develop a crust on the outside. It may help to drape the edges of your linen over the shaped baguettes or cover them loosely with plastic. If you cover with plastic, be aware the dough may stick.
9. Bake – Preheat oven at 10:45 p.m., bake at 11:45 p.m.
Preheat your oven with baking stone/steel for one hour at 500°F (260°C).
One challenge with these baguettes is you’ll likely have to bake these in two batches. If you have two racks each with a baking stone (or Baking Steel), you could utilize both surfaces and bake all six simultaneously. My method is to break the bake up into two sessions: in the first, three are loaded and baked. Then, the remaining three baguettes are left on the couche, folded up gently, and placed into the refrigerator until it’s time to start the second baking session.
To start the first baking session, ready a pizza peel lined with parchment paper. I use one large piece to cover the entire peel, which is the same width as my baking surface.
Grab the right end of the couche and pull it out, moving the piece of dough away from the rest. Then, using a dough transfer board (a smaller pizza peel or a small cutting board could also work), place the board to the inside of the baguette (the side closest the rest of the dough pieces). With the hand holding the couche, quickly flip the dough onto the peel by tugging up and slightly over the transfer board. The baguette should now be seam side down on the transfer board.
Slide the dough off the transfer board and onto the prepared pizza peel with parchment paper, seam side down, and continue until you have three pieces.
Once all three baguettes are on the parchment paper, score each with three slashes. Each slash should be reasonably shallow to the dough, and the beginning of one should overlap about 20% of the previous.
Slide the parchment paper with dough onto your baking surface. Due to the smaller mass, these baguettes will take less time to bake than a large hearth loaf. Once you load the dough, steam the oven and turn it down to 475°F (246°C). Bake for 20 minutes with steam. Then, remove the pans used for steaming, vent the oven, and turn it down to 450°F (232°C). Bake for an additional 20-25 minutes until done.
Cool on a rack and repeat for the remaining three baguettes from the fridge.
You can freeze if too many!
Just defrost and heat it up in the oven.
TIP wet the Baguette with your hands to get the crunchiness back!
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