Traditional French Baguette (Four Spices) is a traditional French recipe for the classic fluted French bread, the baguette, based on a traditional Breton recipe. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic French version of: Traditional French Baguette.
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I used to have a really great recipe for a proper French Baguette. But somewhere along the way, in moving from one country to another and one laptop to another it got lost or corrupted. So I've been trying to recreate that recipe, which was based on one from a bakery in Dakar, Senegal. Recently (getting old I suppose), I've been re-connecting with family and friends of the family. So I took a trip to Brittany to meet distant family. As it turns out, one of the Breton hordes was a traditional baker, and a very good one. My being a historian of food, and their being proper bakers we looked into the origins of the baguette and where it came from. Several batches later and this version of the traditional baguette was born.
Any mistakes in the recipe are mine as we were communicating in a tri-lingual mix of Breton, Cymraeg and French. The secret here I think is in the hydration, the particular blend of flour and water, which is why I give metric quantities only as you really need to be precise with measurements. The use of honey is a nod to the medieval origins of the bread where honey was a much commoner sweetener than sugar.
They're a little rustic in appearance, with a crunchy crumb an an airy interior. Exactly what I was looking for. My wife, growing up in French West Africa loves them (even though she's more a fan of soft bread) so they score highly on that front too. And thay're exactly what I was looking for in a lunchtime baguette sandwich or a bread to dip in soups.
Because of the hydration levels here we opted for a blend of strong (ie high protein/gluten) bread flour which is the traditional flour for baguettes and plain (all-purpose) flour to give the right balance to the finished loaf.
The baguette is, of course one of the national dishes of France so I really couldn't publish a food/recipe website without a good recipe for a baguette on it.
Ingredients:
300g strong white bread flour
200g plain flour
350ml water
4g active dry yeast (or 3g instant yeast)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp light honey
Method:
If using active dry yeast, combine the yeast, water and honey in a large mixing bowl, stir and let sit for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, add the flour and salt, and mix everything until it comes together into a rough, sticky ball. If needed, use a bowl/dough scraper to scrape the sides and help shape the dough. Cover your bowl with a clean kitchen cloth and let sit on the counter for 20 minutes to prove. (Note: if you're using instant yeast you don't need to pre-prove the yeast, just combine all the ingredients together and mix.)
After the initial 20 minutes proving turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and perform 3 sets of 'stretch and fold'. This is where you take the dough and use the heel of your hand to stretch the dough away from you. After stretching fold the dough back in on itself then flip the dough over then repeat the stretching, folding and flipping two more times. After three sets of 'stretch and fold' shape the dough back into a ball, return to the bowl and let it prove for 20 minutes more. Every 20 minutes for the next hour perform 3 sets of 'stretch and fold' (so 4 in total).
After the final sets of stretch and fold, shape the dough into a ball then return to the bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with clingfilm (plastic wrap) and place it in the bottom of your refrigerator to ferment slowly over-night. At minimum of 8 hours is ideal, but it can be left for up to 24 hours.
The following day, turn the dough onto a lightly-floured working surface. Cut the dough into three equal parts. Roughly shape them into oval shapes, cover with a clean kitchen cloth and let the doughs relax for 1 hour.
Lightly flour your hands so they don’t stick to the dough. Stretch the first dough into a rough rectangle and fold into a cylinder. Seal the seams and roll to a 30-33cm long baguette. Repeat with two other doughs.
Carefully lift the cylinders and transfer them into a lightly floured proving bed. Repeat with the two other doughs, cover with a clean kitchen cloth and let then rise for 45 minutes.
Pre-heat your to 245°C (or as high as it will go). If using a baking stone, place the stone in the oven while it preheats. Otherwise use an inverted baking tray, also placing this is the oven to warm up. Place a baking tray half full of boiling water in the base of the oven (this lets the baguettes steam for the first half of cooking).
In the meantime, transfer the baguettes onto a large piece of parchment, with the seam-side down. Using a bread lame, make three diagonal slits equally spaced in the top of each baguette. This allows the baguette to puff while baking and reduces resistance.
Spray the baguettes with some water using a spritzer, or using wet hands and sprinkling over them.
Transfer onto the hot baking sheet or baking stone. Bake for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 230°C, remove the water bath, and continue baking for 10-15min longer. Keep an eye on the baguettes so they don’t over-bake (every oven bakes differently). You want them golden brown to slightly darker, based on your preference.
Once done to your liking, remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Let rest and cool for at least 10 minutes before eating. These are best served warm.
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