Classic baguette
Description
Homemade baked goods for tea. We will be making French baguettes using a Polish sponge (opara), which ferments for 12–14 hours. It's best to prepare the sponge the night before, so you can enjoy a crispy, aromatic baguette for breakfast in the morning. One version of the baguette's origin states: "In the 1920s, a law was passed in Paris prohibiting bakeries from opening before 4 a.m. Because of this, bakers couldn't deliver fresh bread to customers on time." Therefore, they would prepare the sponge overnight and bake the baguettes in the morning. The baking is complete. Serve at the table.
Instructions
- 1
Step 1
For the sponge, dissolve 1 g of yeast in 165 g of water. Pour into flour (165 g) and mix with a spoon. Cover the bowl and leave it in a warm place for 12 hours. In the morning, you'll have a sponge like this.
- 2
Step 2
Dissolve yeast (5 g) in water (165 g), mix with the starter.
- 3
Step 3
Add to the sifted flour, mix with a spoon until smooth. Once the flour has absorbed all the water, add salt and knead the dough. Place the dough into a clean bowl, cover, and let it sit in a warm place for 2 hours.
- 4
Step 4
During the first hour, perform 3 envelope-shaped foldings of the dough (using the "stretch and fold" method) every 20 minutes. To do this, wet your hands with water, stretch the dough in the bowl into a rectangle, grab the dough from the far side, bring it to the center, and press it down. Rotate the bowl, grab the dough from the bottom far side, fold it in half, and press it down. Repeat the same with the sides, rotating the bowl each time.
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Step 5
This is how the dough will look after two hours.
- 6
Step 6
Standard classic baguette: weight 200g, length 60cm. But such length doesn't fit a home oven and baking sheet width, so adjust according to your baking sheet size. I weighed the dough and divided it into 5 equal parts.
- 7
Step 7
Gently flatten a piece into a round, trying not to crush the air bubbles in the dough. Gather the edges of the round toward the center, flip it over, and gently shape into a round ball.
- 8
Step 8
Cover the pieces with plastic wrap and let them rest for 5 minutes.
- 9
Step 9
Slightly flatten the dough into a rectangle, fold the far edge to the center, and press down. Unfold the dough, grab the far edge, fold it to the center again, pressing the edge firmly. Place the thumb of your left hand in the center of the dough, use your right hand to gather the dough over the filling, and seal it with the base of your palm along the entire edge.
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Step 10
Roll out the dough pieces starting from the center, increasing pressure toward the edges. If the dough "resists," cover and let the pieces rest for 5 minutes, then roll them out again.
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Step 11
Take parchment paper, make folds on it, place the dough pieces on it, sprinkle them with flour, cover, and let rise for 30 minutes.
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Step 12
Preheat the oven to 230 degrees. Make cuts using a sharp blade. Bake the baguettes with steam for 25 minutes. To create steam, you can throw pieces of ice onto the bottom of the electric oven or generously spray the oven walls and the baguette dough with water from a spray bottle.
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Step 13
Take the baguette out of the oven, break off a piece, and enjoy!
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Step 14
Remove from the oven and serve warm or cooled.