Foolproof BreadItaliano

Baguette with poolish: the recipe

Baguette with poolish

One of the most extraordinary breads, despite its apparent simplicity.

Indeed, the baguette may look like a simple bread, but it's one of the hardest to make. It calls for very few ingredients and a rigorous method. Done right, this recipe will give you an excellent result.

The baguette's defining feature is its high crust-to-crumb ratio. A deep, decisive bake is essential to get a crust that's brown, fragrant and crisp. The inside, by contrast, must stay soft, with a cream-coloured crumb and an open but even structure, with translucent walls and holes of varying size (without excessive gaps from shaping mistakes).

How consistent the result is depends entirely on precision and attention to detail at every single stage of the process.

This recipe is freely inspired by, or adapted from, a formula by Master Jeffrey Hamelman.

At a glance

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Ingredients

Quantities for 6 pieces of 340 g, kitchen at 21 °C

Preferment

  • Wheat flour (0, W320)393 g
  • Water393 g
  • Yeast0.4 g

Dough

  • Wheat flour (0, W320)799 g
  • Water417 g
  • Salt24 g
  • Yeast7.1 g

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Method

  1. Poolish: make it and let it ferment (at room temperature) (14 hours)
    • Weigh the ingredients
    • Make a mix with 2 ice cubes and 353 g of water at room temperature (to get it to 12 °C)
    • Dissolve the yeast in the water
    • Mix until you get a smooth batter
    • Seal it airtight (a lid, or plastic wrap pressed onto the surface)
  2. Weigh the ingredients and knead (25 min)
    • Use water at 23 °C
  3. End of mixing, start of bulk rise (at room temperature) (2 hours)
    Give it one reinforcement fold after the first hour.
  4. Reinforcement fold 1 of 2
  5. Reinforcement fold 2 of 2
  6. Divide/shape: weigh and form the pieces (10 min)
    • Divide into 340 g pieces, preshape into an oval.
    • Let it relax for 10 to 30 minutes, then give it the classic baguette shape.
    • Lay it between the folds of a linen couche, leaving room to expand, and cover with plastic.
  7. Start of proofing (at room temperature) (1 h 15 min)
    Proof for 1 to 1h30 at 24 °C: If your kitchen is colder, an oven off with the light on helps.
  8. Ready to cook
    Score the baguettes before loading the oven.

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Baking

    • conventional oven, with steam
    • Overall temperature: 240 °C
    • Time: 25 minutes
    • With steam

The calculator adapts baking times to the weight of your pieces. Open the calculator

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