Bread is science. Making bread is not something you can improvise, precision is required.
Also, making bread takes time. I've tried many recipes found on internet promising one baguette in 1 hour: it's just one hour wasted for an unsatisfiying result.
A perfect bread should be crispy outside and airy inside. It must be perfectly salted (so you don't perceive it) and must not taste baker's yeast.
The thing is, my brother spent a lot of time trying to find how to cook the same baguette you buy at the bakery. Actually he had never shared his recipe up to this day. But during the covid19 lockdown, he got pity of me and his son Louis sent me the recipe as a video tutorial, this was cute and now I'm sharing it to you.
- A kitchen scale (0.1g precision required)
- Oven, capable to heat up to 240 deg celsius
- One perforated oven plate
- Clean hands dusted with flour
| Ingredients |
|---|
| 7g of fresh or dehydrated baker's yeast |
| 420g of flour |
| 7g of salt |
For bread to be ready at lunch time, begin the evening before.
In a "cul de poule" (literally "chicken's ass", this is how we call fancy mixing bowls in French):
- Add 160g of ambient water
- Add 3g of baker's yeast
- Mix
- Add 150g of flour
- Mix until it's homogeneous
- Cover it with platic film (you can put several layers for a more efficient cover)
- Keep it all night in a fresh place, in a cave or a garage or in the fridge if you don't have choice
If you want bread at lunchtime, begin around 8/9am.
- Mix 150g of ambient water with 4g of baker's yeast
- Pour it in the poolish bowl
- Add 280g of flour
- Add 7g of salt
- Knead the sticky dough for 10 mins (if you have a Thermomix: 12mn / 37 deg / Mess mode). The dough is sticky because it contains quite a bit of water. This is expected, as baker's yeast microorganisms, which make for an airy bread, need water to develop. If you are kneading by hand, I recommend oiling your hand and folding dough on itself for 10 mins.
- Pour the dough on a wooden plate, cover it under a bell
- Wait at least 1h30, it is "la pousse"
- Split the dough into n pieces (6 pieces works well for small baguettes, you can also split into 2 pieces for 2 normal sized baguettes)
- Wait 15 mn, it is "la détente"
-
Slightly oil your oven plate so that the bread does not stick to it
-
For a baguette:
- Take a piece of dough
- Spread it with your finger to make a rectangle
- Fold it along its length
- Slightly tap to seal the dough
- Roll the dough
- Put it on the oven plate
-
For a miche:
- Take a piece of dough
- Spread it with your finger to make a rectangle
- Fold it along its length
- Fold it along its width
- Slightly tap to seal the dough
- Put it on the oven plate
- Cover the plate with a tea towel
- Put it in the fridge 1h
- Warm up your oven to 240 celsius, put a mug full of water inside to humidify the air
- Brush dough with water or use a water spray
- Incise the dough with a sharped knife, to form "la grigne". Feel free to be creative
- Sprinkle flour (unlike in this GIF, use a flour sieve for a better-looking result)
- Put the plate in the oven
- Throw away a cup of water inside the oven before closing it (this is actually my favorite part of this recipe), this will bring much humidity at once
- Bake for at least 18 mins. The bread is ready whenever the crust looks good to you
Bread crumbs is not as airy as it should this time (#fail).
Two normal sized baguettes
Home made bread is... home made, there is no antioxidant, so it will stay crispy less than one day, use a better flour to make it last more. Keep it in a tea towel.
Pull requests welcomed!
| Ingredients |
|---|
| 7g of fresh or dehydrated baker's yeast |
| 420g of flour |
| 7g of salt |
| Steps |
|---|
| +160g of water |
| +3g of baker's yeast |
| +150g of flour |
| One night in fresh room |
| +150g of water |
| +4g of baker's yeast |
| +280g of flour |
| +7g of salt |
| Knead 10mn |
| 1h30 under a bell |
| Split into 6 pieces |
| Wait 15 mn |
| Shape baguette on a plate |
| 1h in the fridge |
| Oven set to 240 deg celsius + mug of water |
| Brush baguettes with water |
| Incise baguettes |
| Sprinkle flour |
| Put it in the oven + throw water inside |
| Wait at least 20mn |