One of my favorite fragrances is bread baking in the kitchen! It makes the whole house feel so cozy and it definitely whets the appetite. I have been making regular French baguettes for a long time but wanted to try my hand at whole wheat baguettes.
I’m not a fan of the taste of whole wheat really, so I decided to make these baguettes with a 50:50 ratio of all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour. They turned out very well, crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside!
There is some special equipment that comes in very handy when making baguettes. To the left, I’m showing you a photo of my baguette pan. It’s wonderful because it keeps the shape of the baguette – plus all of those perforations help the outside of the baguette get really crunchy. To the right, I’m showing you an image of my “couche”. It’s a linen piece of cloth that you shape into an accordion so that your baguettes can rise, keeping their shape. “Couche” is the French word for diaper and “coucher” means to sleep. So it’s an appropriate word considering we are wrapping our dough and letting it sleep!
If you don’t have a “couche”, you can use a very clean cotton pillowcase. Just make sure it has no scent of detergent on it or your baguettes might taste like your fabric softener. Yuck! If you don’t have baguette pans, you could try scrunching up pieces of foil to place between your baguettes as you bake them on a baking sheet – this should help them to keep their shape as they bake.
The recipe is easy, but it takes some time – though it’s definitely worth it! You start the dough on day 1 and finish it up on day 2. Just 5 ingredients! All-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, yeast, salt, and water.
On day 1, I whisk all of the dry ingredients together then add the water. Using a spatula, I combine the ingredients into a sticky dough. I will often give up on the spatula and slap on my vinyl gloves – I find it’s much easier that way. Then I cover the dough with cling film and a tea towel and place it in a warm spot overnight – anywhere from 12-24 hours.
On day 2, I knead the dough for 10 minutes, let it rest for three hours then divide and measure the dough into 4 equal pieces. You could eyeball the dough if you want, but I like to use my kitchen scale to get the 4 pieces to measure as close as possible in grams.
After dividing the dough, I preshape it into logs and let it rest for 20 minutes. Then I roll each log into the shape of a baguette and place it on my floured couche. I roll up the couche accordion-style and let the dough rest for another 30 minutes. I use juice containers to prop up either side of the couche so the baguettes will keep their shape.
While the dough is resting, I preheat my oven to 450F. I also place a deep pan filled with hot water on the bottom of my oven. The steam will help create a nice crust on the baguettes.
Just before putting the baguettes into the oven, I score them 4-5 times with a sharp knife. Some people use a razor blade. I tried that and let’s just say, me and razor blades – not good bedfellows! ☺ Ouch…got a few nicks! So I am sticking to my sharp little paring knife to score! After scoring, into the oven they go for 30-35 minutes until they have a nice light/golden brown color.
Not only does the house smell AMAZING, I now have 4 delicious baguettes to nibble on! Baguettes are always best eaten the day they are baked because they go stale really fast. I’m working on a post about the best way to freeze baguettes, so stay tuned!
Whole Wheat Baguettes Recipe – Crunchy and Delicious!
Course: Bread, Food and Recipes4
servingsDelicious healthy homebaked Whole Wheat Baguettes! This recipe does take time, but it’s super easy to do and you’ll be very pleased with the results!
Ingredients
2 & 1/4 cups (350 g) all-purpose flour
2 & 1/4 cups (350 g) whole wheat flour
3 tsp (15 g) active dry yeast
2 & 3/4 tsp (17 g) salt
1 & 3/4 cups (450 ml) room temperature water
Directions
- Day 1: Add all dry ingredients to a bowl and whisk to combine. Make a well in the center and pour in the water. Mix to form a sticky dough. Cover and let proof for 12-24 hours in a warm spot.
- Day 2: On a well-floured surface, knead dough for 10 minutes.
- Put the dough back into the bowl, dust with flour, cover, and let rise for 3 hours in a warm spot.
- Transfer the dough onto a floured surface, measure, and divide into 4 pieces. Preshape each piece by rolling it into the shape of a log, cover, and let it rest 20 minutes.
- Roll out each piece of dough into the shape of a baguette. Place on a floured couche “accordion-style” as seen in the photo above; cover and let rest 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 450 F (230 C, gas mark 8). Fill a deep pan with hot water and place on the bottom rack of your oven.
- Transfer the baguettes from the couche onto the baguette pan. Score the tops 4-5 times. Bake 30-35 minutes until light/golden brown.
Recipe Video Instructions
Notes
- Baguettes are always best eaten the day they are baked as they go stale very quickly.
- As of the date of this post, I’m working on the best method to freeze the baguettes so stay tuned!
