The French Baguette

Here’s the recipe to make baguettes!

There aren’t a lot of ingredients but each one of them is essential!

In the olden days making bread required a lot of strength. Today machines facilitate this task, but you must pay attention and watch what’s happening to have a high quality of production.

Here is the material used to make baguettes.

Studying the composition of flours tells us more about the main ingredient in baguettes. It allows us to get more information on the quality of baguettes.

What can you do if your flour’s protein rate is not between 10.5 and 12.5?

You now have all the knowledge you need to launch a production.

This video presents the equipment and ingredients required.

Once you have dosed your ingredients and checked the water temperature, you can launch the mixture kneading stage. Here is where you mix the ingredients together. It begins the kneading process. Turn on the video for more information.

Once the slow speed kneading has finished, we can start the high speed kneading process.

This video presents you with specificities of a spiral mixer.

This video presents you with specificities of a spiral mixer.

What should you do when the kneading process is over?

Unfortunately, there are often small defects in dough. Observing its behavior will help you determine the causes. Here are some frequent defects and remedies you can try out.

Here are a few possibilities to tweak the dough production process to your working conditions.

As you learned, each ingredient plays a key role. So what can be done if you don’t have the same characteristics?

You now have all the knowledge you need to succeed in making dough.

The dough is divided into 330 gram (11.64 oz.) dough pieces.

What happens during the shaping procedure?

Be careful, this gesture is a very technical one! Shaping will take a lot of practical experience before succeeding in doing it well.

Once the baguettes have been shaped and have rested, we can begin the proofing time.

How do we know if the baguettes are ready? Watch the video to find out.

The baker has one last operation before cooking. He puts blade marks on the surface of the baguette.

What adjustments must be done on an stone hearth deck oven? The video will give you all the important information.

The baguettes are placed on a cooking plaque before cooking in a rotating rack oven.

What adjustments must be done on an a vacuum filter oven? Watch the video to find out.

Be careful, when you open your oven, its heat will be evacuated!

Once the cooking is done, the baguettes must cool. During the cooling process, we have the cooling phenomenon, where baguettes loose water.

Sometimes you have to freeze baguettes, either because of your production organization or to conserve them for customers.

Your goal is to sell good and good-looking bread. How can you check your production?

Making bread is international know-how. Each country has its own idea and its own specificities. You have to use your senses to judge the quality of bread and seduce your consumers and customers.

Baguettes regularly have defects that you have to know how to identify to correct them. It’s a great challenge to improve until your dough is perfect!

Here are a few possibilities to tweak the baguette production process to your working conditions.

There you are! The baguettes are ready!

And don't forget to send us pictures of your productions at helpdesk@baguetteacademy.com so that we can share your photos on social media!