100 Whole Wheat Baguette Recipes

100% WHOLE WHEAT BAGUETTE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir in half (1 1/2 cups) of the flour, gluten and salt vigorously until smooth. Add remaining (1 1/2 cups) flour to form a dough; adding more if it feels too sticky. Knead for 10-15 minutes or until elastic on a lightly floured surface. Preheat oven to 400º and let rise near the stove in a well-greased bowl until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. Punch down and separate into 2 balls. Roll each into a 5 by 12 inch rectangle, then roll along the long side to form a long, thin log. Pinch ends shut, slash diagonally several times with a sharp knife, and arrange loaves on a greased baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Brush loaves with water and sprinkle with a bit of flour. Let rise again, about 20 minutes and bake for 15-10 minutes, or until golden brown.

EASY 100% WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

Steps:

• Mix the warm water, honey, and yeast in a stand-mixer bowl until mixture becomes foamy, about 5 minutes.
• Add half the whole wheat flour, olive oil, and salt to the mixture. Mix with a spatula or wooden spoon until incorporated. Let sit for 1 to 2 minutes.
• Mix with a dough hook attachment on low speed, slowly adding the remaining whole wheat flour, increasing the speed to high. Mix on high until the batter is combined and not sticking to the sides of the bowl, about 7 minutes. Cover the bowl with a towel and let rest for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, prepare a 9x5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Flour a surface to work the dough.
• Place the dough onto the floured work surface and shape into a loaf. Use more flour if necessary. Place into the prepared loaf pan.
• Let shaped dough sit in a warm place until it has risen over the top of the pan, about 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bake in the preheated oven until top of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 to 20 minutes before removing from the pan and transferring to a wire rack. Let cool an additional hour before slicing; otherwise it will feel doughy.

CHEF JOHN'S WHOLE WHEAT CIABATTA

Steps:

• Stir 1 cup warm water, 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup rye flour, and yeast together in a large bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit until the sponge bubbles and doubles in volume, 5 to 6 hours.
• Stir 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 water, sunflower seeds, polenta, flax seeds, salt, and honey into sponge with a wooden spoon until a very sticky dough ball forms, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the the sides of the bowl, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and let dough rise until doubled in volume, 10 hours to overnight.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dust parchment paper with 1/2 teaspoon all-purpose flour and cornmeal.
• Scrape dough out of bowl onto a lightly floured work surface, press down to remove air, and form into a smooth oval loaf. Place dough on the prepared baking sheet. Dust top of loaf lightly with flour, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Place a baking dish filled with water on the bottom rack of the oven.
• Remove plastic wrap from risen dough and mist the top of the dough with water.
• Bake loaf in the preheated oven, misting the top of the loaf with water every 8 to 10 minutes, until loaf is golden and sounds hollow when tapped, 30 to 35 minutes total. Transfer bread to a cooling rack and let cool completely before slicing.

WHOLE GRAIN SOURDOUGH BAGUETTES

Steps:

• Levain/Starter
• Prepare your 115g of starter by mixing 25g starter with 45g water and 45g flour. This is approximately a 1:2:2 starter preparation, but other builds are fine too. Mark your jar with a rubberband and let it sit overnight or until at least doubled.
• Saltolyse
• Mix the flour, water, and salt together in a bowl. Cover and let sit about 1 hour.
• Fermentation and Gluten Development
• Add the ripe starter to the dough, stretching, folding, and gently squishing the starter into the dough.
• Cover and let the dough rest for about a half hour. Then do two rounds of coil folding or dough rolling, one lamination, and one final round of coil folding. Separate each of the four rounds of gluten development with a 20-30 minute covered rest. Here are videos showing how to coil, roll, and laminate dough.
• When the dough has expanded by about 65%, end the bulk fermentation. For the ambient temperature in my kitchen, this was five hours after adding the starter to the dough. Alternately, you can stop the bulk fermentation a smidge sooner and refrigerate the dough overnight to deepen the flavors before moving on to the next steps.
• Preshape
• Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and divide it into four pieces, about 225g each.
• Roll the pieces into four balls and cover them with a large bowl or slightly damp towel.
• Let the dough rest for 20-30 minutes.
• Shaping
• Prepare a linen couche or a couple of tea towels by rubbing flour into them and making four channels for the baguettes to lie in.
• Lightly flour your counter and flip a dough ball onto the flour. Shape your dough into four demi baguettes. You can watch a video of this technique here or follow these instructions: Stretch the dough into a small square. Fold down about an inch of the top of the square, pat the seam down, then stretch out and fold in the sides by in about an inch. Repeat until you have a tube, then roll and pinch the two edges of the tube.
• Transfer the baguettes to the channels in the couche, laying them seam-side up, and cover with the sides of the couche or a tea towel.
• Final Proof and Oven Prep
• Let the dough proof at room temperature for 30 minutes, while you prep your oven.
• Put a stone, steel, or baking sheet on your oven's middle shelf, and put an aluminum pan with a pinhole poked into it on the oven shelf under the stone or steel. This creates a drip system for steam. When making the pinhole, test over your sink that water drips through it about 1-2 drops a second.
• Preheat your oven set-up to 500°F for 30 minutes.
• Baking
• When the final proof and oven preheat are complete, flip the baguettes onto parchment paper (two per parchment works well).
• Score the baguettes 2-3 times on the diagonal as shown in this video.
• Boil a cup of water (a glass pyrex in the microwave works well).
• Using a peel or upside down baking sheet, slide the parchment sheets onto your hot stone. Immediately pour the cup of boiling water onto the aluminum tray below and close the oven door to trap the steam.
• Bake for 15 minutes (rotate 10 minutes in for even browning if needed).
• Turn off the oven, prop open the door with a wooden spoon, and leave the baguettes inside for an additional 10 minutes.
• Baguettes stale relatively quickly, so if not eaten in a day, wrap them to keep them from hardening and toast them before eating to re-crisp the crust.

BAGUETTES (WHOLE WHEAT)

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water in a large bowl, let stand 5 minutes.
• Add 3 1/2 cups of the bread flour, wheat flour, semolina and salt to yeast mixture; stir with a whisk until well blended.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
• Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes); add enough of remaining bread flour 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent douogh from sticking to hands dough will feel tacky.
• Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top.
• Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 45 minutes or until doubled in size.
• (Test by pressing gently into dough. If indentation remains, the dough has risen enough.) Punch dough down, cover and let rest 5 minutes.
• Divide into thirds.
• Working with one portion at a time (cover remaining dough to prevent drying), roll each portion into a 16-inch rope on a floured surface.
• Place ropes on a large baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.
• Cover and let rise 40 minutes or until ropes are doubled in size.
• Uncover dough.
• Cut 3 slits in top of each rope.
• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Throw water onto floor of oven (avoiding heating element).
• Place baking sheet in oven.
• Quickly close oven door.
• Bate at 425°F for 30 minutes or until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped.
• Remove from pan, and cool on wire racks.
• Cut each loaf into 12 slices.

WHOLE WHEAT BREAD 100%

Steps:

• Place about three cups of the 5-6 cups of whole wheat flour in the bowl of your stand-type mixer. Add the yeast. Carefully measure 2 cups room temperature (80 degrees) water. The water should feel cool to the touch. Mix the water with the flour with a dough hook for 30 seconds or until the yeast is dissolved and the ingredients begin to combine.
• Add the salt, egg, sugar, and butter and continue mixing. Add most of the remaining flour and continue mixing at a medium speed for at least four minutes adding more flour as needed to reach a soft dough consistency. (It is important that the dough be mixed for at least four minutes to develop the gluten.) The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but will be soft, not firm, to the touch.
• Once the dough is mixed, place it in a large greased bowl, turning once to coat both sides, and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight or for up to three days.
• On the day that you would like to bake your bread, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it warm to room temperature--about three hours. The dough should rise to nearly double in size.
• Once the dough has risen, form the loaves. Coat your hands with flour and gently form a loaf by pulling the dough around itself to create a slightly stretched skin. You may need to coat your hands several times if the dough is sticky. If necessary, pinch the seams together on the bottom of the loaf. Lay the loaf gently in a well-greased loaf pan (5x9-inch) and cover with plastic wrap. Repeat with the second loaf. Let double again in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Once the dough has doubled (the loaf should be very puffy), place the two loaves on a shelf in the top half of the oven, well-spaced so that air can circulate between the loaves. Bake for thirty minutes or until done. The interior of the loaves should register at least 185 degrees F when an insta-read thermometer is inserted through the bottom crust. Remove the bread from the pans and cool on wire racks. Let it cool completely before cutting.