Pictorial, Making Long Baguettes

[dcarch]

What is a baguette? According to Wiki:

“A baguette is "a long thin loaf of French bread” that is commonly made from basic lean dough (the dough, though not the shape, is defined by French law). It is distinguishable by its length and crisp crust.

A standard baguette has a diameter of about 5 or 6 centimetres (2 or 2⅓ in) and a usual length of about 65 centimetres (26 in), although a baguette can be up to a metre (40 in) long. “

Let me share with you a method I use to make good looking long baguettes. This method also has the benefit of having a baguette with crispy crust similar to that from a “steam oven”. BTW, Throwing water or ice cubes in a normal oven gives the steam effect only for a few seconds and can damage ovens which has an enameled interior, cracking the glass window or warping the metal walls.

Material:

1. Two sections of steel gutter guard from a hardware store ($3.00)

2. Two caps made from empty cans of suitable diameter ($0.00)

3. Large silicone bake sheet which you may already have.

Basic idea:

1. Make your dough based on your preferred recipes.
   

1. Form the dough to the same length you are trying to make the baguette. Maximum length is dependent on the diagonal size of your oven. I can bake a 26” long baguette in my oven diagonally.
   

1. And score the dough like a baguette.
   

1. Put the dough in a tube formed by rolling the silicone bake sheet and cap both ends with caps made from cans.
   

1. Put the tube on the gutter guards.
   

1. Let the dough rise in the tube at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
   

1. You can check the dough rise by peeking into the tube.
   

1. Bake the dough in the tube at the same temperature as you would normally.
   

1. The baguette would be steam baked inside the tube, and perfectly formed by the support of the gutter guards.
   

dcarch

[Todd in Chicago]

Wow! What an awesome idea.....I don't have a silpat, but I may get one just to try this out. I "bought" a pre-made baguette pan, but it is much shorter than yours.

Love the idea.

Todd in Chicago

EDIT: P.S. What temp and for how long do you normally bake?

Edited October 6, 2012 by Todd in Chicago (log)

[LindaK]

Brilliant! A couple of questions:

- re: the rising, do you leave any expansion room within the tube, or doyou let the dough rise to fill it?

- how do you check for doneness? the bread really browns within the silpat, no need to finish it outside the tube?

I love the gutter guard idea.

[rotuts]

stunning. thats it.

[janeer]

Very interesting. Can you tell us about the crust?

[dcarch]

Thank you everyone!

Brilliant! A couple of questions:

- re: the rising, do you leave any expansion room within the tube, or doyou let the dough rise to fill it?

- how do you check for doneness? the bread really browns within the silpat, no need to finish it outside the tube?

I love the gutter guard idea.

It's up to you. If you let the dough rise to fill the tube, you will get a very smooth uniformly round loaf.

Yeas, the loaf browns inside the tube. Silicone is a good conductor of heat.

Very interesting. Can you tell us about the crust?

The crust developed is similar to the method of baking with a covered cast iron Dutch oven.

dcarch

[DianaM]

That's so incredibly ingenious. Thank you so much for sharing!