This will be my first attempt at baguettes. I have the baguette pans (metal with air holes) and am wondering if I should line with parchment before baking, and if the baking temperature/time would be different than on a baking stone. Thank you for the recipe and I’m crossing my fingers on my first try!

Hello Cas,
This is perfectly normal and cannot be helped. It is not for nothing bakers in France bake baguettes several times a day. Even in their climate the baguettes have a tendency to do this after a few hours. So in your case, with the extra humidity, this will happen.
You can use the freezer, give the baguettes a quick turn in the oven again or use a toaster to get some crunch back. But eating fresh is the best option.

Hi again!
I have since tried baking baguettes twice, following your advice on humid environments. I reduced the hydration to 65% and used ice cold water, and these seemed to work well! the baguettes were delicious straight out of the oven!
however i realised that after 3-4 hours on the bench, the crust became soft and more chewy, while the interior stayed the same. i suspect it is due to the humidity in the environment on the countertop…?

Perfect! Thank you for the dough calculator! I will definitely use it.

Jasmine

Hello Jasmine,
Very happy to read the recipe is so well loved. Glad to help you. It is very simple with the dough calculator that comes with the list of ingredients. Open it and where you see ‘total flour’ you fill in 1140 instead of the current 760 (the calculation behind this is you divide the one batch by 4 and then multiply x 6). Each loaf needs 190 grams of flour so 6 x 190 =1140. When you have filled in this 1140 g for the flour the rest of the ingredients are shown also for your 6 baguettes.
Hope this will work for you. Let us know if you need our help!

Best of luck and enjoy,
Marieke

I hope you can help!
Jasmine

Hello Cas,
Thank you. These are very different conditions to ours. The main changes you need to make when humidity and temperatures are this high is to lower the hydration of the recipe. So you should probably start with 10% less hydration, maybe even go to 20% less. We cannot tell you from our experience what would work best. The other thing is that because of the humidity your baking time could be a bit longer because of the slower evaporation, so take this into account too. Of course the proofing will go quicker too in these conditions. You can lower the yeast amount, shorten the proofing times or do a combination of both. Our suggestion would be to start with 1/3 to 1/2 of the yeast amount, depending on the temperature not only of the surroundings but of everything you use and the dough itself. If everything in total is 30C then use 1/3 of the yeast, maybe even less.
Hope you will work it out with a few tries!

Thanks for your reply!

Much appreciated Jasmine!

Thank you so much. I will follow the receipt to a T as I have discovered that your recipes are incredible and incredibly thorough.
I am going to be trying the baguette recipe again with the .7 gram in the poolish and I am hoping to try your classic croissant recipe this weekend coming up.

Again, your website and how you explain everything is very well done.

Thanks,
Jasmine

Hello Jasmine,
Thank you for your kind comment. It really is 0.7 grams and not 7. So that would be 1/4 of a teaspoon or double that amount when it is really cold. If you used 7 grams we almost cannot understand it was not over-ripe the next morning and even collapsed and soupy. Maybe it was really cold or did you put it in the fridge? Or is the yeast you use a bit older or not from a sealed package. That could also explain less activity.
You can assume, with our recipes that the amounts you read are correct and also look at the comments of other people who have already made them that they have good results.
We hope you will try it with the right amount next time (so maybe you need to use the 1.4 grams or 1/2 teaspoon with your conditions).

Above all we hope you will enjoy your baguette baking and if it works it works!

Greetings from Holland,
Ed & Marieke

Thank you again for the work you put into these recipes and posts before you deliver them to us.

Jasmine

Hello Christina,
This is not an easy question to answer, the recipe we describe here is perfectly balanced for yeast. If you want to add sourdough to the preferment we would suggest using 40 grams of active sourdough culture for this and still use the small amount of instant yeast in the final dough, so make a hybrid version and you can stick to the method and times given in the recipe. If you do not want to add any yeast you need to adjust the proofing times, but we cannot tell you what would work best to get a good result. Also take into account that a 100% sourdough version will be very different in taste and texture and thickness of the crust.

I meant using my sourdough culture.

I wanted to do the baguette using the sourdough starter. How much starter should I use together with the 380 of flour and 380 of water?

Hello Tina,
Excellent, thank you for your feedback and enthusiasm. Yes, your refreshed culture with enough quantity can of course function as a poolish.
Great you are making big steps forward already on your second attempt. Baking and confidence are two words that go together well and lead to better results in our experience too 🙂

Enjoy your baguette baking and maybe try the baguette boules too?
www.weekendbakery.com/posts…he-recipe/

Hello Sara,
Thank you for your lovely comment. And you are certainly no baking dummy when tackling this kind of recipe with this level of stickiness!
And you will get used to it more and more with practice.

Enjoy your baking , eating and sharing in 2020!