Baguettes

This was a first for me! I'd never tried making baguettes before, though I kept meaning to.

I started with a pre-ferment stage which made a bubbly blob! I'm not sure whether this is a Biga or a Poolish, as I read definitions for each and this one is sort of a combination...drier like the Biga, but fermented for the shorter time of the Poolish. The recipe book just calls it a starter dough, so maybe I'll just go with that! This is what a bit of yeast, water and bread flour looked like after about 4 hours.

I then made a second dough incorporating the starter into it and let it rise before turning it out on a floured board to divide and shape.

I shaped the dough and arranged it on a sheet pan. I would like to get a proper baguette pan soon. I clearly need some practice with shaping! I think the shaped pan will help too, as I'll know just what size I'm aiming for. Also, I was worried they would rise and stick together arranged like this, in fact, I moved two to a second pan just after the photo as they were getting too close. I think the actual baguette pans are longer, so your loaves are longer and thinner too.

Just before putting them in the oven, I brushed them with water and sprinkled two with everything topping and two with sesame seeds.

I followed a recipe from One More Slice by Leila Lindholm. You can see a clip of her making chocolate baguettes here. That recipe calls for the same starter dough, so you can see how it's used.

So yummy!!!