EFK Tested
Classic Poolish French Baguettes
Crisp, deeply golden crust. Light, chewy center. These bakery-style baguettes use an overnight poolish to build deep flavor and an airy crumb, with only a short amount of hands-on work.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 24 min
- Total
- 1020 min
- Yield
- 3 baguettes
- Cuisine
- French-style
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
Let’s get cooking
Ingredients
Tap an ingredient to check it off while you cook.
Directions
- 1. Build the poolish: whisk 250 g bread flour, 250 g room-temperature water, and 0.2 g active dry yeast. Cover and ferment at 70–75°F for 12–16 hours, until expanded and bubbly.
- 2. Combine 250 g bread flour, 4 g active dry yeast, and 6 g fine sea salt in a stand mixer bowl.
- 3. Add all of the poolish and mix on low with the dough hook.
- 4. Slowly drizzle in 100 g warm water (about 95°F), then knead 6–7 minutes until the dough pulls from the bowl sides.
- 5. Cover and rest 30 minutes. Stretch and fold 30–40 seconds. Rest another 30 minutes and repeat.
- 6. Bulk proof about 1 hour, until roughly doubled.
- 7. Divide into 3 equal portions, about 285-290 g each. Shape into tight balls, cover, and rest 30 minutes.
- 8. Shape each into a baguette, sealing the seam and tapering the ends.
- 9. Place on a parchment-lined sheet pan, cover, and proof 30 minutes.
- 10. Preheat oven to 475°F with a small pan containing about 2 cups water for steam.
- 11. Score each baguette with 3 overlapping diagonal cuts about 1/4 inch deep.
- 12. Bake 22–24 minutes until deeply golden and 205–210°F internally.
- 13. Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.
Equipment
Stand mixer with dough hook; precision digital kitchen scale that reads to 0.1 g; 2-quart container or mixing bowl; sheet pan; parchment paper; clean kitchen towel; bread lame or very sharp blade; small oven-safe pan for steam; instant-read thermometer; wire cooling rack.
Food safety & storage
Use an oven-safe pan for steam and avoid adding water to hot glass cookware. Use caution when opening the oven because accumulated steam can burn. Finished baguettes should reach 205–210°F internally.
View this recipe on the original EFK website ↗