Baguette

Method

1. mix3 min
   room temperature
   poolish flour + poolish water + a pinch of instant yeast, beaten to a loose pancake batter — the yeast quantity is deliberately absurd-looking small, because it has twelve hours to work
2. ferment720 min
   covered, 68–72°F
   poolish until it domes, webs with bubbles and smells of cream and cider. This is where the flavour and the extensibility come from; the enzymes also slacken the gluten, which is why the final dough needs almost no kneading. Past about 14 hours it collapses, goes sour and loses its lift
3. mix5 min
   no salt yet
   poolish + final-dough flour + final-dough water, mixed only until no dry flour remains. Salt withheld so the flour can hydrate freely
4. rest25 min
   covered
   the shaggy dough — an autolyse. Water finding the protein does the work that kneading would otherwise do, and it happens without oxidising away the wheat flavour
5. mix4 min
   pinch and fold in the bowl
   + salt + instant yeast, pinched through the dough until it stops feeling gritty and comes together smooth. Salt added now, after hydration, because it tightens gluten and slows the yeast — adding it up front would mean twice the mixing
6. fold120 min
   room temperature, one fold every 30 min for the first 90
   stretch each side of the dough up and over the centre, four folds per round. This builds strength in a 71%-hydration dough that would tear under a kneading hook. Be gentle on the last fold: the big bubbles you knock out now are the open crumb you wanted
7. prep20 min
   floured bench, covered
   divide into two equal pieces, fold each loosely into a rectangle, then bench rest. The gluten has to relax before final shaping or the dough will fight you and the skin will tear
8. prep10 min
   floured couche or parchment, seam down
   flatten each piece, fold in thirds along its length, seal the seam with the heel of your hand, then roll from the centre outward to about 14 inches with tapered ends. Aim for a taut outer skin — a slack surface has nothing to hold the score, and the cut will spread flat instead of standing up
9. proof60 min
   covered, 75°F
   the shaped loaves until a pressed fingertip springs back slowly and incompletely. Underproofed, they burst at the side; overproofed, the gluten has no elasticity left and they tear and go pale rather than blooming at the cuts
10. score2 min
    blade at about 30° to the surface
    three or four slashes down the length, each overlapping the next by a third, about ¼ inch deep. The shallow angle undercuts a flap of skin that lifts in the oven — that is the ear. A vertical cut just splits open
11. bake25 min
    475°F, steam for the first 10 min then vent
    loaves on a preheated stone. Steam keeps the crust surface gelatinised and stretchy while the loaf springs, and it dissolves surface starch into the gloss; vent it after 10 minutes so the crust can dry, set and caramelise to deep brown. Cool on a rack at least 20 minutes — cut hot, and escaping steam condenses back into the crumb and turns it gummy