Pain d'épi — Sourdough Wheat Stalk Baguettes

Dough Mixing, Bulk Fermentation, Optional Retard

Mix the ingredients in a bowl. Add the water slowly until there are no dry bits. The target dough consistency is a tiny bit wetter than hand-kneadable.

Transfer the dough to a straight-walled container if available, note the level of the dough, cover and let rest 20-30 minutes.

Perform several rounds of gluten development with 20-30 minute rests in between. If you plan to retard the dough at the end of the bulk fermentation, you don't need much active gluten development; one round of stretching and folding is fine. For a same-day bake, aim for three or four rounds.

Let the dough rise until it is puffy, aerated, and has expanded by about 75%. My dough needed 5 hours from initial mixing for this expansion at room temp of about 75F. Refrigerate the dough at this point if you would like more complex fermentation flavors and additional passive gluten development.

Pre-shaping, Bench Rest, Shaping, Cutting

If you retarded the dough you will divide and pre-shape the dough straight from the refrigerator and give it a longer bench rest to warm up for the final shaping.

Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and divide it in two pieces, 300-315g each.

Pre-shape into two rounds, cover with an inverted bowl and let the dough rest 20-30 minutes for warm dough or about 50 minutes for cold dough.

Prepare a linen couche or a tea towel by rubbing flour into it.

Flip over each dough ball and shape it using the technique depicted in the video above. Transfer the baguettes to channels in the tea towel and cover with the tea towel itself.

Proofing, Baking Prep, Cutting

Let the dough proof for 30-90 minutes depending on the ambient and dough temperature. My same-day process batch proofed 30 minutes. My overnight-retard batch proofed 90 minutes.

During the final proof, preheat the oven, baking stone, and your steam system to 500°F for 30 minutes. See the Notes section for how to create the steam setup (or use your preferred method).

Prepare a sheet of parchment paper on an inverted baking sheet. This will be your peel for sliding the dough onto the hot stone.

Boil a cup of water to have ready for steam.

Flip the baguettes off the tea towel onto the parchment paper.

With a pair of kitchen scissors positioned almost parallel to the baguettes, cut about 3" inward but not all the way through the dough. Pull the cut piece to the side. Repeat every 2-3" and alternate which side you pull the cut dough to. The video above depicts these instructions.

Slide the baguettes and parchment paper onto the hot stone, pour the boiling water into the aluminum pan, and close the oven door.

Bake for 15 minutes, rotating the baguettes once after about 10 minutes. For a crispier baguette, after turning off the oven, prop open the door with a wooden spoon and leave the baguettes on the stone an additional 5-10 minutes.

Serve warm or after cooling. Any bread remaining after the first day can be stored on a cutting board under a rectangular cake pan or wrapped in plastic. Recrisp in the oven if desired.