How to make sourdough baguettes
Learn how to make these crusty, mouth-watering sourdough baguettes.
Their complex flavour and beautiful taste come from the long fermentation and retardation time (time in the fridge), 100% hydration of the sourdough and a little bit of stoneground and fava bean flour.
These baguettes are quite small so that they fit into the domestic oven but they are delicious. Best eaten fresh from the oven. One of the flours in the recipe is fava bean flour but we ended up using fava and garbanzo flour as this was the only one available in our local health-food store.
Unit size | 200g (7.055oz) |
Number of loaves | 6 |
Total flour | 685g (24.127oz) |
The following steps outline how to make your pizza:
Step 1 – Make the sourdough
Follow the instructions on how to make a sourdough.
Sourdough – Ingredients
Ingredients | Measurements |
Starter | 26g (0.905oz) |
High Protein Flour | 166g (5.851oz) |
Fava Bean Flour | 2g (0.060oz) |
Stoneground Flour | 3g (0.121oz) |
Diastatic Malt | pinch |
Water | 171g (6.032oz) |
*342g (12.064oz) |
*Starter weight not included in total
Fermentation Time | 6 hours |
Required Dough Temperature | 20°C (68°F) |
The sourdough created in this stage will be 26g (0.905oz) more than is required in the bread dough. This amount will be removed from the sourdough stage before adding it to the bread dough and will be your starter for the next time you bake.
Step 2 – Make the Final Dough
Ingredients | Measurements |
Sourdough | 343g (12.064oz) |
High Protein Flour | 485g (17.070oz) |
Fava Bean Flour | 12g (0.422oz) |
Stoneground Flour | 17g (0.603oz) |
Diastatic Malt | 2g (0.054oz) |
Sea salt | 14g (0.507oz) |
Water | 329g (11.581oz) |
1200g (42.307oz) |
Dough to Oven Time | 29 hours 30 mins |
Bulk Fermentation Time | 4 hours |
Intermediate Proof Time | 30 mins |
Retardation Time | 24 hours |
Final Proof Time | 1 hour |
Baking Temperature and Time | Preheat oven to 250°C (482°F) and bake for 20-25 mins turning around after 10 mins. |
The video gives you a good idea of how to mix the final dough, mould and add to the tray to store in the fridge over night and then bake off.
- Weigh and add flours to mixing bowl.
- Weigh salt and leave to one side.
- Remove starter weight from sourdough and store in fridge as your next starter.
- Add sourdough to bowl.
- Weigh water and add to the bowl.
- Mix ingredients together and add more water if necessary to achieve a soft dough. Tip onto bench and knead gently for a 5 minutes.
- Leave covered dough to rest for 15 mins.
- Knead for 10 mins, cover and leave to rest for 15 mins.
- Add salt and knead until salt is dissolved.
- Place dough back in to the oiled container and cover for the bulk fermentation time of 4 hours.
- Dust bench with a generous amount of flour and scale dough into 200g (7.054oz) pieces shaped as a baton.
- Leave to ferment for the intermediate proof time of 30 mins.
- Shape and roll out into baguette shapes and place on a tea towel on a wire tray. Then cover with a tea towel and place in fridge overnight.
- Remove from fridge and leave to ferment for the final proof time of 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to the 250°C (482°F)
- Once they are ready for the oven, place the dough on the peel, slash them and load them onto the oven stone and bake for 20-25 mins turning half way through.
If you have our app then the alarms are worked out for you, here is an example of the schedule.
Time | Action |
Saturday 8am | Make sourdough |
Saturday 2pm | Make final dough |
Saturday 3.30 pm | First turn over of dough |
Saturday 4.30 pm | Turn over dough |
Saturday 5.30 pm | Turn over dough |
Saturday 6.30 pm | Scale and shape as a baton for intermediate proof |
Saturday 7pm | Mould and roll as a baguette. Place on a wire rack on an oven tray covered with a tea towel. Leave in the fridge over night. |
Sunday 8am | Remove loaves 1 to 3 from fridge. |
Sunday 8.20am | Prepare oven to 250°C (482°F) |
Sunday 8.50am | Boil water for steam |
Sunday 9am | Bake loaves 1 to 3 for 20-25 mins turning around half way through. |
Sunday 10.15am | Remove loaves 4 to 6 from fridge. |
Sunday 11.15am | Bake loaves 4 to 6 for 20-25 mins turning around half way through. |
For the good oil on slashing, don’t forget to read this POST.
Check out our Bread Boss app on iTunes and the Google Play Store for more recipes and the ability to create your own alarms and recipes: