Made my first traditional baguettes in class -- I had brought in my own sourdough starter (100% hydration, 50% whole wheat/50% unbleached flour) and substituted that for the old dough.
I had the benefit of a very nice perforated baguette pan and a rippin' hot convection oven, into which I'd placed a skillet for some ice to generate a bit of steam since our steam injection isn't hooked up on those ovens. This is how they turned out:
Shaping was half decent and I got really nice ears on one of them. The crust was delightful, but the crumb was decidedly more compact and regular than I would have liked... I'd like to attribute that to the whole wheat in the starter; the crumb was also darker in color, again, probably from the wheat flour; however, the taste was still amazing -- a perfect little tang to the bite that everyone in the class enjoyed.
Looking forward to picking up a baguette pan and trying these at home in the future.
They look good. Here is a great video on how the baguettes are supposed to be cut
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaLnzomvEF8
That's some amazing information -- thanks for the link, Scott!
When you score the bread at the right depth and angle, as it bakes and the seams open up, the cut edges bake up into the air more.
These have been nicknamed "ears" -- here's a nice page explaining more about them: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10121/bread-scoring-tutorial-updated-122009