Sourdough Baguettes

Baguettes are hard to get right. But you won't just woke up one morning being good at them you're to have to practice if you want them like mine.

Quintessentially French, I grew up eating sourdough baguettes. Morris was one of the customers I served age 11, onwards. He spoke patois and he'd eat his bread with the wine he'd trodden with is feet, and the fresh cows chase made with milk from his own herd of 4 cows - raw milk. As he got into his 80's he would fetch his bread on his tractor, refusing to use a mobility aid, he'd drive his T20 to the bakery instead and wait until someone brought his bread out to him.

Perfectly fermented, and with light, airy holes, they are heavenly when freshly baked. The ideal sourdough baguette has a caramelised, golden crust, which, when you pull it apart, reveals a soft, open, tender interior that is ideal for French-style open sandwiches. Sourdough baguettes are also one of the most challenging breads to make. I recommend that you master the classic loaves before attempting sourdough baguettes. Honestly, I am not kidding when I say that baguettes are challenging. I've suggested 2 different hydrations, according to your skill level. Please do not attempt the higher hydration unless you really are an advanced baker, or it will be too challenging to shape, and will ruin your confidence before you develop the skills needed to handle the dough.

A word about flour. Most modern baguettes — even in France — are made with white flour, and a great many commercial ones contain emulsifiers that interfere with the gut microbiome and undermine the very benefits that long fermentation works so hard to create. I personally prefer to use stoneground wholegrain flour. It increases the diversity score of the bread, feeds a broader range of gut bacteria, and allows the fermentation to work at its most powerful. France produces some of the finest milling in the world, and I spent a great deal of time there visiting bakeries. It was through those visits that I first encountered Foricher, a French mill whose flour I was so taken with that I approached them directly, put them in contact with British distributors, persuaded them to produce 1kg bags for home bakers, and introduced them to Richard Hart. Their flour is exceptional, and it is what I use here.

Here is my sourdough baguette advice:

• Make sure you always use a long (2–3 hour) autolyse and keep your fridge temperature at 5°C.
• When your dough is fermented and it is time to shape, you will need to both shape and pre-shape lightly. It is worth studying the shaping technique in the video below before you begin.
• Creating steam in the oven helps with the oven spring. Place a tray full of water in the oven while it is preheating.
• When it comes to scoring, cut deeply and confidently. In part, the tension you create when shaping will determine how well the baguettes score.
• Don't forget that Eau de Bassinage is put in after the mix, just after you have worked the gluten.
• You will need a couche or heavy linen tea towel dusted with flour for the final prove. Alternatively, if you are new to baguettes, you can use a baguette tray.
• Do measure your oven before shaping the baguettes – your oven might be smaller than the one I have here and you may need to adjust the size of your baguettes to fit.

Please do not be discouraged by the challenge of shaping baguettes. In the video, Adam Pagor — who owns Grain & Hearth bakery in Whitstable — makes this look very easy. Let me tell you, it is not. Professional bakers can shape 100 baguettes a day. That is 500 a week, 2,000 a month, and 24,000 baguettes a year. If this is your first baguette, please celebrate your attempt with humour, accept that it might look like a toddler shaped it, and renew your appreciation for the craftsmanship of bakers!

Getting baguettes into the oven is a little bit tricky; I use a flipping board. If you don't have one, you could use a piece of very sturdy cardboard. It needs to be about 14–15 cm wide and as long as your oven (mine is longer, as I have a Rofco oven).

Gently place the board along the length of the baguette, just touching the couche. Take the couche and flip the baguette very gently on to the board. Now position the board about 13 cm to the right of where the baguette needs to be on the baking tray or stone, and gently flip it left to place the baguette in the right position – it almost won't know it has been moved! Take great care to avoid disturbing the dough as you move it. This move is so gentle, it reminds me of moving my babies when they were sleeping.

Remember that, by using Botanical Blend No. 2 and stoneground wholegrain flour, you are increasing the diversity score of this bread significantly. The long fermentation process also breaks down the phytic acid in the wholegrain flour, making minerals more bioavailable, and produces the short-chain fatty acids that feed the gut lining and support a healthy microbiome. To take things even further, I highly recommend that you eat this with cultured butter to increase your levels of probiotics.