Mini Half and Half Baguettes
 
 
Buttery, crisp and chewy crust with a soft, tender crumb inside! You would never guess that these delicious baguettes are ½ whole wheat. Baguettes are made from what is known as a "lean dough". It only uses basic ingredients, with no added fat or sweeteners. It is simple to make and translates easily to any artisan shape -- boules, battards, baguettes, etc.
Author:
Recipe type: Bread
Cuisine: French
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 283 grams unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 284 grams freshly milled, hard white wheat flour
  • 11 grams salt
  • 4 grams instant yeast
  • 13.5 ounces of warm water (about 110 degrees) (You may need a little more or less depending on the humidity where you are.)
Instructions
  1. Weigh out and combine flours in a large mixing bowl.
  2. weigh-flours
  3. Add yeast and salt and stir to combine.
  4. yeast and salt added to flour
  5. Add water all at once, so all the flour is quickly hydrated.
  6. add-water
  7. Stir until no dry flour mixture is left and the dough begins to take on a "shaggy" ball appearance. The dough will be very wet and sticky.
  8. shaggy-dough
  9. Pour a teaspoon or two of olive or vegetable oil onto the counter and spread it around to grease your work area. This will keep your dough nice and moist, by preventing excess flour from being worked into it. I promise, over the course of the next several steps, your dough will tighten up and become less sticky.
  10. olive-oil-on-work-surface
  11. Pour the dough out onto your greased work surface. Give the dough about five minutes to rest.
  12. After the resting time, you will begin the first of four "stretch and fold" workouts with your dough. This process will be repeated four times, at 20 minute intervals, until your dough is ready to shape. This technique allows you to work with super moist dough, gives the yeast time to ferment and develop great flavor and prevents breaking down all the lovely carbon dioxide bubbles you are forming in your bread dough during the resting periods, giving your bread fabulous texture.
  13. Moisten your hands with plain water, before handling the dough. Did you know that wet won't stick to wet? Because you are working with such a super-hydrated dough, keeping your hands moist will make it easy for you to work with the dough, without it sticking to your hands.
  14. For the first "stretch and fold", gently grasp the top end of your dough ball and stretch it out and up.
  15. stretch-dough
  16. Fold that flap of dough over the front of your dough ball and rotate the whole ball one quarter turn clockwise. Stretch from the top, once again, folding the flap over the front of the ball. Repeat the stretch and fold two more times, (making a quarter turn with each), until the dough ball has been rotated a full turn. If you need a little more olive oil on the counter, through this process, to prevent sticking, go ahead and add some.
  17. ready-for-rise1
  18. After completing this first full "stretch and fold" round, your dough will still feel pretty sticky, but already be smoother and "bouncier" than before you poured it from the bowl. Your stretching and folding will help the gluten strands to form that will develop great texture in your bread.
  19. You could spray plastic wrap and drape it over the dough, if you prefer. I simply set a large mixing bowl over the top. Allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes.
  20. cover
  21. After the first 20 minute rest, moisten your hands and repeat all four rotations of the "stretch and fold" technique, described, above. After the fourth rotation, cover the dough and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
  22. Now, it's time for your third "stretch and fold" session. Make sure to turn the dough ¼ turn after each fold. Cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes.
  23. Here you go! Fourth and final "stretch and fold".
  24. Now, cover and let the dough rest for a full 30 minutes.
  25. On the bottom rack of your oven, place an empty baking sheet, with sides, or a 9x13 cake pan. Place it as far to one side of the oven as you can get it, so it is resting against the side wall on that side.
  26. If you will be baking your bread on a baking stone, place the stone on the center rack, so that it can preheat with the oven.
  27. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
  28. After this final rest, your dough will be puffed up and wonderful, flavorful from fermentation and ready to be shaped into mini baguettes. (Compare the photo after step 16, with this one. See the difference in the smooth surface tension of the dough, after all that good gluten developing you did?)
  29. final-rise-of-baguette-dough
  30. To shape the baguettes, you will want a light dusting of flour on your counter.
  31. Using a bench knife, or sharp knife, cut the dough into 12 equal pieces. Mine weighed about 3.1 ounces, each.
  32. three-ounce-pieces
  33. Take one piece of dough and gently flatten and elongate it into a five- or six-inch-long rectangle, trying not to "de-gas" it, too much. Then use the "little finger" edge of your hand and compress a narrow ditch down the center of your rectangle.
  34. pressing-center-line
  35. When you're finished, your piece of dough will look like this.
  36. dough-with-center-line
  37. Facing the dough, gently take the long edge of your dough (the one furthest away from you) and carefully press just the edge of it into the center indentation.
  38. first-fold-shaping-baguette
  39. Now, take the bottom edge of the dough and do the same thing. Fold the edge of it to the center, pressing it into the indentation.
  40. second-fold-shaping-baguette
  41. Pinch the top edges, above the indentation closed, to form the basic roll.
  42. pinch-together
  43. Gently -- very, very gently -- with the lightest touch, roll the baguette back and forth on the counter in front of you, five or six times, with your hands on the outside edges of the roll. This will help to smooth out the seam and to create the traditional tapered shape.
  44. roll-to-taper
  45. Baguettes are usually slightly thicker in the middle, tapering to a point at each end.
  46. formed-baguette
  47. Transfer the shaped dough to the back side of a baking tray covered in parchment paper (back side, because you will transfer the parchment to a baking stone when ready to bake) - OR - a baker's peel dusted with cornmeal (also for transferring to a stone) - OR - baguette pans, like I'm using. Ideally, you will bake these on a stone heated in your oven, or the baguette pan. (If you have none of those options a plain baking sheet can be substituted.) This will create the most traditional crust for your baguettes. If you don't have either one, you can certainly bake them on a regular baking sheet, realizing that the texture of the crust will be more like loaf-bread than baguette crust.
  48. Shape the remaining eleven rolls and place them on your chosen pan to rise.
  49. on-baking-sheet
  50. Spray a piece of plastic wrap and drape it over rolls, to keep them from drying out when they rise.
  51. plastic-wrap
  52. Set your timer for 20 minutes. You want the baguettes to begin rising, but you need to catch them before they are fully doubled. If you wait too long, scoring them will cause them to deflate. After 20 minutes, if you feel like they still need a little more rising time, check them every 5 minutes. I wouldn't go much past 40, typically, for these small rolls. They should rise to about 1½ times their original size.
  53. Using a very sharp serrated knife, slash two or three cuts diagonally across the top of the baguettes. They may appear to fall slightly, for a moment, but don't panic, they will continue to rise and "bloom" in the oven, if you caught them before they doubled.
  54. slash-before-baking
  55. If you are baking these on a stone, slide the parchment, with the risen baguettes, off the baking sheet (or off your peel) onto the pre-heated stone in your oven. If you are using baguette pans, as I have, place the pans on the center rack in your oven.
  56. Immediately after placing the bread in the oven, pour one cup of water into the baking pan you've had preheating in the oven. Protect your hand from the steam, by wearing an oven mitt or wrapping it with a towel. Close the oven door, immediately to trap the steam inside. This steam is what will help to form the delicious chewy, crispy, crackling crust on the outside of your baguettes, while the insides stay soft and tender. Baking these on a baking sheet is 100% possible. The crust, especially the bottoms, of your baguettes will just not have the same texture as when you use a preheated stone or the baguette pans that allow the steam to surround each roll on all sides. They WILL, however, taste absolutely delicious!
  57. Bake the rolls for 5 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 450 degrees.
  58. Continue baking another 10 - 15 minutes, until the rolls are golden brown on top and have reached an internal temperature of about 200 degrees.
  59. Remove the baguettes from the oven and allow to cool on a cooling rack, (if you can stand to wait). I like to brush the tops with a small amount of butter while they are still hot. That is optional, of course.
  60. hot-from-the-oven
  61. Serve them plain, with fruit and cheese, sliced for sandwiches or mini french bread pizzas. You can hollow them out to use as "boats" for scrambled eggs, dips, or any other delicious stuffing you can think of.
  62. mini-baguettes
  63. Personally, I love them warm from the oven, with some good olive oil and a garlic or citrus vinegar.
  64. DELISH!
Recipe by Grain Mill Wagon at https://www.grainmillwagon.com/mini-half-and-half-baguettes/