How To Make Sourdough Baguettes (The best baguettes ever)

1) Refresh the sourdough to make a biga

Make the biga ahead of starting the dough. To do this, measure the water into a bowl, add the sourdough and then the flour. Give it a mix for a minute or two until the mixture has an even consistency. Cover, and leave on the kitchen table for 6-8 hours or until it’s doubled in size.

2) Weigh the ingredients for the dough and combine

When the sourdough biga is developed there will be large bubbles breaking its surface. At this point weigh the remaining ingredients. In a large bowl, add the biga to the water and combine with the flour. Retain the 2nd water and salt for later

3) Start the autolyse

Use a plastic dough scraper around the edges of the bowl to combine the ingredients into an even mass. Place a cover over the bowl and leave on the table for 30 minutes.

4) Mixing the ingredients

Next, add the salt and set a 5 minute timer. Then with a plastic dough scraper make sweeping movements to combine the ingredients in the bowl. Once the dough forms a mass, knead slowly on a table, using a stretching motion. Continue this until the timer beeps, by now the dough should have an even consistency. Scrap the dough back into the mixing bowl, cover with a bag and place it in the fridge.

Dough mixer steps:

After the dough has rested, use a plastic dough scraper to empty the dough into a mixing bowl fitted with a dough hook attachment. Add the salt and mix gently for 6 minutes.

5) Add the second water

Take from the fridge to the table and set a 5-minute timer. Knead fast using the stretch, slap and fold technique until the timer ends. Place back in the bowl alongside the second water and push the dough into the water with your hands. When the dough starts to incorporate the water turn it back out onto the table and knead for another 3-5 minutes.

Dough mixer steps:

Set a timer for 8 minutes and increase the speed of the mixer. After one minute, add the second water to the bowl – it might be useful to slow down the mixer speed temporarily for this! Continue fast mixing until the timer ends. The dough is strong and thin when stretched (windowpane test), if not mix for a few more minutes and check again.

6) Bulk fermentation

Place the dough in a mixing bowl, cover and leave to rest. If the dough is warm and sticky (use a temperature probe (+25C or 77F) to be precise) use the fridge, otherwise, it can be left on the kitchen counter. Leave for 1 hour.

7) Stretch and fold

Remove the dough from the bowl and complete a stretch and fold. Just gently knead it for 20 seconds if you find this difficult.

8) Bulk fermentation continued

Return the dough to the mixing bowl, cover and leave to rest for another hour.

You may want to extend the bulk fermentation for another hour or two for the dough to become more gassy. I would normally encourage this but these baguettes were so bloody nice I wouldn't worry too much!

9) Divide the dough

Turn the dough out on a lightly floured worktop. Using a metal dough scraper, divide the dough into 260g pieces.

10) Preshaping

Shape the pieces into cylinder shapes and leave them on a lightly floured area of the table to bench rest for 20 minutes.

11) Prepare the couche

Prepare a couche by dusting it with flour and semolina. Make a crease on the left-side edge of the cloth. Then, working left to right, as each baguette goes into the couche, the edges on the righthand side are going to be folded to act as a barrier between the next dough piece.

12) Shaping

Once relaxed, from the centre of the dough, roll out using both hands until the length of the baguette is formed. This should be about 30cm or the length of your oven. You can taper the ends if you wish by applying more pressure. As you shape each one, transfer them onto a floured couche or tea towel.

13) Final proof

Cover the baguettes with a spare section of the couche (or with another dusted couche/tea towel) and leave to proof for 3-4 hours. Preheat the oven to 250C (480F), in this time with a baking stone and a lipped baking sheet below it. It is best to use the bottom heat only setting when heating.

14) Testing when it’s ready

When ready for the oven, the dough should be smooth and almost pass the poke test. Slightly under proofed is preferred for baguettes.

15) Onto the peel

Take a long baguette peel to remove the baguette from the couche. You can either put them onto a large board (or peel) to slide them in the oven a batch at a time or slide them individually using only the baguette peel. Doing them in batches is best however I don’t have a peel big enough to fit the baguettes so am doing them individually.

Pick up a baguette by sliding the peel to the side and tipping it out of the couche. You can straighten it with your hands if you need to. Either drop onto a board and collect the next one or if doing them individually, cut it on the peel.

If you don't have a baguette peel you can make do with a thin chopping board. Try to avoid melting it on the hot baking stone if it's plastic!

16) Cutting

Using a lame, make 3-4 angled slashes in the dough and then drop the bread gently onto the baking stone. Repeat for the remaining dough pieces whilst leaving a two-inch gap between them as they are loaded into the oven. You might not fit all of them in the oven in one go. If this is the case, place the couche in the fridge whilst the first batch bake, taking care to keep it flat.

You have to work fast when placing the baguettes in the oven one by one like this. If you have a large board or peel you can slide them into the oven in one go.

17) Baking

Once the baguettes are in the oven, pour a couple of cups of boiling water on the hot baking sheet and quickly shut the door. Change the oven heat setting to the top and bottom heat selection, and bake for 20-25 minutes, opening the oven door after 15 to check up on them and release some of the steam.

18) Remove from the oven

Once the baguettes have a nice, dark but golden colour, remove them from the oven using a peel and allow them to cool. Repeat for the second batch if required.

19) Cooling

Leave to cool for 1 hour before eating. Enjoy!