Oui, oui, iet ies see famoes Baguette Boule!
For people who, for various reasons, cannot or will not make baguettes, this bread is a great alternative! And you do not need a mixer…
This recipe will yield two breads of about 670 g each. We advice you to make this recipe as stated. You could divide all the ingredients in half and end up with one boule. But because of the lengthy process and the fact that the piece of dough for one boule will be a bit too small to handle during stretch and folds, we would urge you (provided you have the oven space) to make the two breads in one go.
From baguette to baguette boule recipe
So what’s the difference from our original 80% hydration baguette recipe ? The most important step was we only used 75% hydration instead of 80%, estimating we could shape a good loaf this way. So for the two baguette boules in this recipe we reduced the amount of water in the final dough from 304 g to 266 g. The amount of water in the poolish stays the same as in the original baguette recipe. The end result is great, the crumb is moist, lovely and sweet like the baguette, but the shape allows you to have a nice sandwich (we Dutch love our sandwiches). The oven spring was a joy to watch, the crust is much like the crust of a baguette. We also really like the color of this bread, you can see how beautiful it has caramelized.
So in honor of this successful experiment we decided that this bread is a keeper and should have a name. So next to the PR (Pain Rustique), PL (Pain au Levain), SF (San Fransisco Style Sour Dough) and the MB (Mini Boules) we now have the BB (which either stands for Baguette Batard or Baguette Boule, depending on the shape you choose).
Before you start, you might also want to check our tips for scoring bread with confidence and handling wet dough. You can check out the stretching and folding technique used for this dough in our baguette making video.
Ingredients for the ‘Poolish’
380 g bread flour
304 g water
3 g instant yeast (1 tsp)
Making the ‘Poolish’
Normally a poolish has equal parts of water and flour, however this time we make a preferment of 80% water which is in between a biga and a poolish. So it is less wet and much less slurry than an actual poolish. In a bowl stir together 380 grams of bread flour with 304 grams of cold water 3 grams of instant dry yeast. Mix it until you have a consistency that looks like very very thick dough-like batter. Cover the bowl and leave for one hour at room temperature. After this hour at room temperature you put the poolish in the fridge for 10 to 17 hours. So if you want to begin your bread making in the morning, you can make your poolish the evening before.
Ingredients for the BB’s
makes 2 Boules of 673 g each
poolish (687 g)
380 g bread flour
266 g cold water (straight from tap)
12 g salt
1.5 g instant yeast (1/2 tsp)
Making the BB’s
The times given in this recipe work best if your room temperature is between 19ºC / 66ºF and 23ºC / 73ºF. If your room is colder, use room temperature water instead of cold water (straight from tap) in the final dough.
Please note: There is no real mixing or kneading in this recipe. It’s all stretch and fold. In a bowl, combine the poolish (directly taken from the fridge!) with all the other ingredients until you have a shaggy mass. Cover your bowl and rest it for 10 minutes to let the flour absorb the water. Turn out the mass onto your working surface and stretch and fold for 2 minutes in a steady pace. Keep on at it because it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere but it will be OK. Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover and leave to rest for 45 minutes.
Stretch and fold a second time, doing two sets ( letter fold: right over left, left over right, bottom over top, top over bottom, repeat)
But back in your bowl, cover and again leave for 45 minutes.
Repeat the above stage another 3 times, but now each time doing only one set of stretch and fold.
Every stretch and fold is followed by a 45 minutes rest in a covered bowl except for the last one. After the last stretch and fold you leave the dough covered with some clingfilm (now looking nice and plump) on your bench for a 10 minute rest (bench rest).
Preheat your oven to 235ºC / 455ºF (at what stage you preheat your oven depends on how long it takes for your oven to heat through, some take 30 minutes, some, like ours, with stone floors take a lot longer, up to two hours.)
Now divide the dough into 2 equal parts and shape into boules or batards or your preferred bread shape.
Cover and leave to proof. This final proof should take about 40 minutes. To check if it is ready, dip your finger in some flour and gently poke in your dough.
If the hole disappears completely: under-proofed
If the hole dent pops half way back out: proofing is just right
If the hole stays entirely dented in: over-proofed
Score the top of the loaves with a lame/bread scoring tool.
Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
To get a nice crust, try to create some steam in your oven by putting a small metal baking tray on your oven floor when you preheat the oven and pouring in half a cup of hot water immediately after putting the bread in the oven. Release some steam by setting your oven door ajar (perhaps with the help of a wooden spoon or oven mitt) 5 minutes before the bread is ready. If you are going to create steam with a baking tray, you maybe also want to turn your oven temperature a bit higher, because you are going to lose some heat in the process.
Baguette Boules Time Table
Day 1
Make ‘poolish’
Day 2
Mix ingredients until shaggy mass
00:00- 10 minutes rest
00:10 – 2 minutes stretch and fold
45 minute rest
00:57 – 2 letter folds
45 minute rest
01:42 – 1 letter fold
45 minute rest
02:27 – 1 letter fold
45 minute rest
03:12 – 1 letter fold
10 minute bench rest
03:22 – divide + shape
03:27 – proof
40 minutes final proofing time
04:07 – into the oven
45 minutes baking time
04:52 – take out and leave to cool
Hi,
Dit you try to make this with sourdough culture inteath of yeast?
Thx, mike
Hi Mike,
No we have not, but I have to say it is sort of deliberately. We love this bread for the sweet taste we also love in the baguette and with sourdough it would be completely different.
I would suggest if you want to use sourdough you use this recipe as a base (it is for six mini boules but you can adjust this to make two loafs or divide the recipe in half for one loaf), http://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/sourdough-mini-boulles/
You could only use bread flour instead of adding a percentages of wholewheat and this way it would also become a lighter loaf, resembling the BB a little. If you make the two bigger loafs instead of the six mini boules the final thing you have to adjust is the baking time which will be approx 45 minutes instead of 25.
If you want to use sourdough with this BB recipe you very probably would have to adjust proofing times but I cannot tell you from experience by how much.
Good luck with the baking,
Ed and Marieke
Thx,
i’m gonna try your original recipe.
I like the mini Boulles, made them couple of times.
mike
Hi guys,
I’m about to make this recipe, but i will use Active Dry Yeast instead of Instant Yeast so should i use the same amount or should i increase it?
Thanks,
Mike
You should increase it by about 25% if you are using active dry yeast instead of instant.
Happy BB baking!
Thanks guys
I normally use fresh yeast. I was thinking of doubling the amount you list for dried. What do you think? I will also bake inside my le creuset/cast iron casserole. For me this has proved to be the best way to get a fantastic crust. My oven door has a poor seal. No amount of spraying seems to give me the same result as putting the dough in a cast iron pot. Only disadvantage is all my loaves are now boule shaped!
Hi Gill,
The rule of thumb usually is tripling, doubling could be a starting point but the times would probably be a bit longer (you never know exactly until you try it).
Using the le creuset, given the state of your oven is a very good option fr this recipe. Before we had the Rofco we used the pan too, because our oven never gave the result we were looking for. We also had the Sassafras La Cloche ‘oven in an oven’ , but the dish broke after a while, before that it also worked very well, getting heat and moisture close to the surface of the bread.
Let us know how it turns out with the fresh yeast. I love working with fresh yeast (the smell!) but there are not many places we can buy it so we only use it ones in a while.
Happy BB Baking,
Marieke
Ah Ha! So we have the ciabatta-focaccia and the baguette-boule. I can’t wait for the croissant-miche and the bagel-pizza.
Haha , you are very creative Bill and yes there’s definitely room for more ‘cross pollination’ and the croissant-miche especially sounds very intriguing and quite a mouthful :O
I will send you a picture when I make the first one. I am thinking of a croissant-miche sandwich with thick slices of flaky buttery croissant type bread with really good ham and cheese toasted till the cheese melts.
Oh yes please do, this should be awesome :O !
Hi there Bill,
If you do have a picture of your croissant-miche sandwich we now have the means to showcase it on our website! See: http://www.weekendbakery.com/your-loaves/
Happy Baking!
Ed and Marieke
Hi,
baked your baguette ‘boule’ recipe today; not very successful – not sure whether I mis-measured, but the final dough was very wet, even after all the stretch & folds, and stuck to the banettons as I tried to get them onto my peel, so thought I’d lost them before I baked them….the dough was was almost runny!
Baked on my stone, and had some good oven spring, but the loaves ran together.
They taste fine, with a good crust, but I was concerned about the final texture of the dough…it is wet & cold here today, this may have had an effect..
pics here…http://flickr.com/gp/27240960@N06/z0V889/
be grateful for your comments!
Simon
p.s. the loaves were so soft, I wasn’t able to use your lame!
Hi Simon,
Judging by your description our first guess would be to look at the measurement. Another thing that could make a difference is your flour, maybe it absorbs less water than the flour we use, so if this is the case you have to adjust by using less water (trying different types and brands of (organic) flour is also good to find out which one gives the best result because there can be a huge difference, also in taste).
Hope you will give it another try.
Marieke & Ed
Simon
I hope Marieke and Ed don’t mind me butting in here but I got into the same position with my first attempt at baguettes using the weekend bakery method at the weekend (?”!*!’#). They were very wet and probably over risen and the blade dragged. What I did, and any real baker would probably be horrified, was put them in the oven for a couple of minutes until a skin had started to form THEN slashed them. The result was nice straight cuts that still opened out . I think your bread actually looks pretty tasty.
Bill
By the way I have tried both cane and wood fibre banettons and nothing, however gloopy, EVER sticks to wood fibre. http://www.weekendbakery.com/webshop/#woodfibre750
Hi Bill, Simon,
First of all anything that works for you and has a result you like can be seen as good. But we have to say you are playing a dangerous game with your oven spring Bill ;O … Some people leave the baguettes uncovered the last stages of the proofing. This way a very thin skin is also formed. Maybe an alternative method that might work.
But we are of the school that advocates starting with slightly less wet dough and take it from there and just keep on practicing with the scoring. Use one hand to guide and stabilize the dough as you score with the other, might be an additional tip you can use.
Hi Simon.
.
It took a while but we now have the means to showcase your baking results with our recipes on our website! See: http://www.weekendbakery.com/your-loaves/
You can also add private and public information if you wish. Love to see your version of our favorite bakes, be it boules or baguettes or both
Happy Baking!
Ed and Marieke
Had another go at the BB today and again they came out really crispy and tasty. My only problem seems to be with the scoring: I can score the loafs, but the score opens up widely straight away, which leaves me hurrying to get them in the oven before they look like proper pancakes. I always get a very good oven spring, but do end up with a round top: no grigne whatsoever. The score just completely disappears, no matter how deep I make it. Could it be the dough is over-proofed? Ik keep it fairly warm in between folds in the airing cupboard (24 – 26C).
Well, not much of a problem, because they look and taste fantastic!
Hi Claartje,
Yes, first of all I would keep an eye on the proofing. In this post you can find some more tips from us and other commentators on how to check for proofing stages: http://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/the-myth-of-double-in-size/
Secondly it could be that the flour you use absorbs less water than ours, leaving you with a wetter dough, so you could try and make a batch with a bit less water.
Hope this helps. Enjoy the bread!
Hey, I am from China and I have learned so much from your website! Thank you guys! I have tried sevral of your recipies and I am keen on trying more. So far, this one is my family’s favorite. We love this bread! It has taken everyone’s heart, from old people like my parents and two-year-old niece. Just come up to say thank you!
haha ,meant to say won everyone’s heart. Got distracted by my niece coz she wanted another piece of the bread! And misspelt several.
Hello Yang,
We are really touched by your generous comment! So glad the whole family can enjoy good and healthy bread. It is a skill that will last a lifetime and hopefully you can pass it on to your little niece one day!
Happy Baking.
Ed & Marieke
This recipe works very well with wholemeal spelt flour.
I shaped it to a Couronne with my newly acquired banneton from Annecy, France. I had a ball in the wholesalers for bakeries in Annecy. They have everything you need for Frensh bread baking (also for ice making and chocolatiers).
When you ever visit the place here is the address:
Albert Dahan
Matériels et produits pour Boulangeries
5, Rue de Pré Paillard
74940 Annecy le Vieux
(Promo film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsKpM3_Q3Vg)
Hello Govert,
Thank you very much for sharing this information. It must be a treat visiting such a great place in such a beautiful location.
We always feel like kids in a candy shop too when visiting a place like this.
And you have inspired us with the Couronne shape, must try that too.
Lots of loaf!
Marieke
I am just so pleased to have found this site.I have recently moved to France and after only a year of baking bread in the UK I have just spent the most awful 6 weeks trying to understand the french flours.Thankfully your site has saved me
I have never seen such dough I had tried everything ,now I calmly sit down study your recipes , pick one ,use your videos and voila I am improveing.My husband was all set to get my favourite flour brought from the UK but I said NO we are living here now I will learn.Unfortunately the breads of our village are not very good ,I know this is France but if I say the best tasting from here comes from the supermarket then you have an idea of how bad it is.
Many many thanks again for being on the web.
Regards
Christine
Thank you so much Christine. Quite an adventure to move to France and I think I would have the same attitude as you, trying to adapt to the ways of the country. I think on our last holiday to France we visited around 25 bakeries and sadly I agree with you on the average quality of the French loaves. But of course there are good artisan boulangers to be found and it is sort of a nice sport to find them (we came to avoid the ‘banette’ signed ones because they were almost always disappointing). I think for your own bread baking if you could find a supplier of type65 flour (for pain rustique and also baguette) or type 80 flour (high gluten content) that would be a good start. And type 55 if you want to bake croissants and brioche type breads. Type 45 for delicate cookies and pastry. Something like this in your neighborhood would be nice I guess: http://www.moulinsdeversailles.com/boutique/famille/visite.pdf
Maybe a google search with words like farine type 65, and moulin would generate some more results.
Good luck with everything and keep us posted on the results!
‘De cuisson heureux’
Marieke
PS: I just saw they also sell online in France: http://www.moulinsdeversailles.com/boutique/index.php?cPath=21_45&osCsid=c5f0098b8a481e8d44963803e29b7d73
Thank you Marieke for your advice, I have visited the site you mentioned and am making an order as we speak .I have promised myself a visit the next time we drive to Paris and meanwhile I have found a very picturesque Moulin de Verteuil (16) deep in the Charente so that will be my first visit I think.The Moulin looks beautiful and only seems to have a blogspot so I can’t help with a website address.
Meanwhile back in the kitchen I am watching a pain rustique take its own time rising .
Bewell
Christine
Hi Christine,
.
I am so glad I could be of help and it seems like you have already found one reliable source for your flour, and maybe even more. Great! Busy over here with the pains rustiques too and also a second test version of another type of French country bread ‘miche style’. Although the weather is awful outside, inside in the bakery it is very warm so prosperous rising
Also doing another test run of my organic oreo style biscuits. Almost were I want them to be. A lot of fun making and eating.
Enjoy the baking and the weekend,
Marieke
First and the most important, – thanks to the master and all contributors on this excellent website. Just what I need, decided to learn the art of bread baking from a lean dough.
Wonderful taste and a very nice crunch. I formed two batards. The oven spring was very nice as well. My concern was that the dough was to soft for batards, but I just … about managed to keep the shape of the loafs.
Thank you Endre for your very kind comment! Glad the recipe worked out well for you too.
Wishing you many more tasty loaves and happy baking,
Marieke & Ed
Hello Marieke & Ed, now that I have your attention.
There is a question I have been meaning to ask, although I’m not sure this is the proper place. The first bread I baked (successfully) was a so called ‘no-knead’ bread of 82% hydration. Whole wheat and 5% rye and with just a 1/2 tsp of dry yeast resting for 12 hours on the kitchen bench, – 19 deg C room temp. Baked in a dutch oven.
Now, what is the difference here, – between that dough and a poolish? What would be the difference if I say took this recipe and let the whole lot rest on the bench overnight? Is there a hydration limit for ‘no-knead’ doughs?
Hi Endre,
Yes, a very good question. Why would you do things differently if it would yield the same result? The answer is that it does not of course and that is why you get so many different recipes, aiming at the perfect loaf with perfect taste and crust and crumb. Of course you can also try and make this recipe into a no knead version. You will probably end up with a good, very edible bread, but it will be different from the one you get making this exact recipe. The best way to find out is to make them both and compare of course and see which one you like best. And of course you can also make this bread and let it rest overnight. There is an optimum hydration for every kind of bread, no knead bread can be higher because there is not much handling, but of course there is a limit to hydration levels. You do not see much over 90%. Any form of shaping will be hard at these levels, you are in focaccia and ciabatta territory here.
The main difference between no knead and the extensive stretching and folding in this recipe is of course the development of the dough (the gluten in the dough) that result in the moist sweet crumb and the baguette-like crust. With the no knead version it is only time that develops the dough, so you can expect a different crumb structure and probably a thicker crust and as for the taste…only one way to find out?! Let us know how it goes!
Happy baking and a great weekend,
Ed & Marieke
Ed & Marieke
Thank you so very much. This is exactly the kind of information I am seeking:
‘You do not see much over 90%. Any form of shaping will be hard at these levels, you are in focaccia and ciabatta territory here.’ – Enables me to leap forward in understanding and knowledge.
I know practice can not be replaced, so I bake a loaf every second day now (we are only two in our household). I use a fixed amount of flour (425 g) and play with hydration up and down, flour types (wheat, spelt, rye) etc. just to learn.
We also found that sticking to one recipe for a while and tweaking it to perfection really works best when developing your baking skills. If you change recipes every single bake you will never get a firm grip on what goes right or wrong. And simply writing things down and keeping track of your small changes also helps us a lot.
Hi guys,
you are amazing and your site is amazing.
.
I have just started again to bake and want to get better and better hopefully will be able one day to have a micro bakery of my own…for now I self-train
I’ve baked the boules tonight and they look great and taste grate.
I think the strong canadian flour I am using probably sucks up more water as my dough was firmer than the one in your pics..but it still worked..Will try again adding a bit more water.
However was wondering what should I do to get a crisper crust as mine is quite soft..It was nice and crusty when I took it out of the oven but now it’s gone all soft.
Also while scoring it seems I’be burst a gas bubble and now my bread has a hole. What should I do to get a bit of a “grigne” as one has it and the other one doesn’t?..Maybe I’ve scored the one with no grigne too much?
Thank you very much for all your help and time invested in the site!!
I will send the pics for your gallery.
Hi Raluca,
Thank you very much for your kind words and contribution to the ‘Your Loaves’ with your wonderful baking results.
You are right adding some extra water (5 to 15g per loaf would be about right) when using Canadian flour making an European recipe. Canadian flour can be even stronger than American.
Crusts going soft rather quickly usually indicate that your bread is not fully cooked. This means there is still too much moisture in the bread and this moisture travels to the surface, making your crust soft. Several things can be checked:
The temperature of your oven could be a bit lower than the thermostat indicates, so you could attempt setting it a bit higher next time. You could also bake the bread a few minutes longer.
These tips might help you further:
http://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/bread-baking-tips-making-the-most-of-your-oven/
http://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/tips-on-handling-high-hydration-dough/ (esp. read the one about checking the core temp of your bread).
If you see a large gas bubble when shaping, you can just pinch it at that moment. Otherwise I would just leave it, this one was right in the way of the scoring, but next time it will be different I’m sure. Getting grignes takes a bit of practice, all kinds of things can go wrong, from scoring too deep or not using the right angle to not getting good oven spring.
We have tried to give some pointers with these tips, we know other bakers have found helpful:
http://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/bread-scoring-with-confidence/
http://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/bread-baking-tips-making-the-most-of-your-oven/
Thanks again, the pics will be on our website shortly!
have a great (baking) weekend,
Marieke
Thank you very very much Marieke! you guys are simply the best!!
I will have a look over the tips now.
I did take the bread out a bit sooner, as it got dark very fast at 235C..
I dropped the temperature, but still it was close to burning, that’s why it came out. it’s tasty though, even without a proper crust.
I will start using an oven thermometer and still waiting for my electronic probe for the dough/bread.
Will add some more water as you mention to compensate for the strong flour.
Thanks again for everything and for publishing the pictures.
Hi Raluca,
If your oven is not that big it could be that your heating element is rather close to the bread when baking, darkening the crust too quickly while the bread itself is not yet done. You can also try and start at a lower temperature or cover the top with some foil at a given moment. And with your new tools you will know exactly what is going on
Have a great baking weekend!
Can I add whole wheat and/or rye flour to this recipe? If so, do I add it to the poolish and the dough, or only to the dough?
thanks!
Hi Jessica,
Yes you can, but we would advice to limit the amount to 10 to 15% of the total flour if you want to keep the baking result somewhat the same. We would add it to the poolish so it can preferment.
Happy Baking!
Ed & Marieke
Hello
I have only recently discovered your wonderful website and am so happy that I did!
I made my first baguette boule last night and me and my family have just enjoyed it for our breakfast, it was amaaazing! I have never been able to produce a bread with a good crust that has not softened after cooling, but this loaf has stayed crusty and delicious and I really enjoyed the technique to make it, much more satisfying than the typical British ‘pummel the dough’ method.
I can’t wait to try another of your recipes and thank you for all the great tips and videos!
Happy Sunday!
Michelle
Wonderful to hear about your fine results Michelle!
We just posted a new bread recipe ‘Tartine Style’ bread, no kneading involved. You might like it too.
http://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/our-version-of-tartine-style-bread/
Plus it has a build in dough calculator (under the ingredients list) with which you can decide how many loaves you want to bake and how big or small you want them. You can even play with temperatures.
Happy Baking!