Hello!
I've been baking the basic country loaf from Tartine every 3 days for nearly 2 months now. It's perfect every time, and I found that I prefer it a teeny bit less hydrated to get a taller loaf.
Today, I tried their baguette for the second time (a month ago I used it to make English Muffins, which were to die for!) and I have a few questions (probably dumb beginner ones!)
- I divided the bulk dough into 3 loaves, which came out to 700g each. Those were some seriously giant baguettes. I only have a standard home oven, and my largest baking stone is 16" corner to corner, and the loaves barely fit. My 'baguettes' look like french bread! I feel like they should have been 1/2 that weight to get the long delicate baguette loaves, since they have to be so short. Does anyone have ideas on that front? Is there an ideal weight? Or weight for 16" length?
- I found that by the time they were done rising in my couche, they had developed quite the 'skin' from the rice flour. The strips of crust between my slashes didn't stretch even a tiny bit, and the slashes didn't open well. Could that be due to my oversized loaves not having enough internal tension? I had the pan with towels/boiling water pre-steaming in the oven, but it's not nearly as good as in a dutch oven. Any tips for the oven spring or slashes?
The 'baguettes' were devine, and my girls have said that I need to make these instead of the country bread. I'm loving Tartine and can't wait to try more recipes!
link to video of my last loaf crackling, fresh from the oven!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vjTXLHQU_45JfLtBrp8tJGjn-jXyMFtl/view?usp=sharing
Thanks all!
Funny you mention this, I just did the same more or less.
in my case I took half the recipe and made three baguettes and they were still too big. I researched some more on this site afterwards and it looks like ~300g dough weight is the consensus I found for “Demi baguettes” around 16-17” long.
Good morning, Tamra.
Since we are talking about baguettes that come out of a home oven, and not from a bakery in the south of France, the ratio of length to weight is an individual choice. I struggled with this very same issue, My 16" round pizza steel was the limiting factor in the length of my baggies. I since have made a compromise and cook my baggie on a 18" tray. I lose that direct contact with the hot surface, while gaining a very important (to me) 2". Personally I like a little meat on my sticks. 400 G at 18" provides me with the prefect ratio of crumb to crust. Experiment, and see what ratio works best for your taste.
Kind regards,
Will F.