I find this recipe pretty easy to pull off, and this high-hydration dough is surprisingly easy to work with despite how wet it feels at first. I mostly eat sourdough bread, so I call this one my “grocery white” baguette. Don’t get me wrong, it’s much better than anything store-bought, but flavor-wise it’s a light-year away from a good sourdough. It’s also a lot easier and faster to make, so it’s a fair tradeoff.

If you’ve never worked with a wetter dough before, don’t panic when it looks more like batter than bread at first. A little patience and a good fold technique go a long way, and you’ll end up with a crust that shatters nicely and a crumb that’s still soft enough for the kids to tear apart without a fight.

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(Experiment 37) Baguette

Ingredients

600 g bread flour
90 g rye flour
520 g cold water
8 g salt
3 g active dry yeast

Instructions

In a large bowl mix the yeast, flours, and salt then add the water. Mix until you have somewhat of a ball and there are no clumps of flour. Cover and let rest 45 minutes (first rise)
Take the dough out on a countertop, don’t add any flour. It will be sticky so wet your hands to prevent it to stick to your hand then do 6 slap and fold (see video for how-to) . Put it back in the bowl, cover, and let rest 45 minutes ( second rise).
Repeat the previous step. Cover and let rest another 45 minutes (Third rise).
Repeat the previous step. Cover and let rest another 45 minutes (Final rise).
Flour your work surface and dump the dough. Lightly flour the dough and cut into 4 equal pieces.
Pre-shape the baguette; using one piece of dough flatten it light with your finger to make a square, fold one side unto the middle, then the other side to the middle.
Then slightly fold to the inside each end then fold the whole thing unto itself lengthwise. Cover with a plastic film or clean dishcloth and let rest 15 minutes.
It’s time to shape the baguette. On a lightly floured surface, using your finger press down the dough and make a rectangle; it doesn’t need to be perfect but it makes things much easier. You then need to roll it until itself ( kinda making a whirl) . Once you reach the end you need to seal it by pinching it, I use my thumb to do that but you can also use your palm, whatever you do make sure it’s sealed else it will burst from them when in the oven. Then roll it on the surface so it lightly coats with flour the baguette and places it on a couche if you have one, I don’t so I use a clean floured dishcloth.
Again make sure the baguette and couche or whatever you are using is floured else it will be hard to remove.
Repeat for remaining dough pieces. When adding to the couche pinch the material so that each baguette doesn’t touch the other but make sure they are side to side. This ensures they keep their shape and rise upward VS just slurp sideways. Cover with another clean dishcloth and let rest for 30 minutes
Pre-heat your oven at 430F. Add a pan with hot water at the bottom of the oven, this will create steam when baking.
Transfer 2 baguettes to parchment paper on a baking tray. spray them with water and score them 4 times sideways; about a ¼” deep. Cook for 16-20 minutes then let it cool on a wire rack.
Repeat for the remaining 2 baguettes