How to Make Better Homemade Baguettes with Tangzhong and Poolish

The ideal fresh baguette is complex in perception. It has an appetizing and rich aroma, paired with the complex flavors of long fermentation, and that dense yet holey crumb. Under a little pressure, it cracks and gives out a series of clean and crisp sounds, the sign of a crisp crust. To top all of these off, the baguette is made with only 4 ingredients, flour, water, salt, and yeast.
Such an ideal fresh baguette is the ultimate end goal of many bakers, including us. This video is a detailed guide on how to make better homemade baguettes with the basic tools we have on hand, and of course, based on science. To achieve that, we're using poolish and tangzhong, the first is for increased taste and aroma, and the latter is for a softer texture, to enable the baguettes to last for longer, and also prevent them from drying up in the oven, due to the prolonged baking. There are many important steps in the making of these baguettes, which we're going to be covering in this video, including long fermentation, proper shaping, and the right way to bake the baguettes for the perfect crumb firmness and crust brittleness. These baguettes are crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, and last for a good while, although they're always gone within an hour here! Watch the video for more!

Note: this video was made with clips from numerous batches.

References:

Featuring: @SeraphineLisheChannel

#tangzhong #yudane #baguette #poolish

Ingredients:

Tangzhong/Yudane
Bread Flour 50 g (10%)
Boiling Water 100 g (20%)

Poolish
Bread Flour 50 g (10%)
Water 50 g (10%)
Instant Yeast 0.5 g (0.1%)

Final Dough
All of poolish
All of tangzhong/yudane
Water 210 g (42%)
Salt 10 g (2%)
Instant Yeast 1 g (0.2%)
Bread Flour 300 g (60%)
All-purpose Flour 100 g(20%)
Total Hydration 72%

Chapters:
0:00 French Baguette Opening
0:54 Le Décret Pain
1:35 Research on Baguettes
2:35 Points to Pay Attention in Baguette Baking
4:37 Baking Homemade Baguettes
4:51 Tangzhong/Yudane
5:36 Poolish
7:06 Final Dough
9:02 Slap and Folds
10:15 Stretch and Folds
13:22 Preshaping
15:38 Shaping
20:18 Scoring
21:25 Baking

[barneymillerfan]

I have been making pizza/bread at home for about 45 years now. I have learned about sourdough starters, poolish, biga, baker’s percentage, cold fermentation, etc… but had never heard about Tangzhong/Yudane. This is what love about YouTube - it’s what you learn after you know it all that really counts! Am using Yudane in my current baguette batch - am looking forward to seeing the result.

[kebabfoto]

I love these high effort low views channels, always spitting so much facts that the average person gets overwhelmed and goes back to their clickbait 10 sec clips on how to make artisan bread. I have ADHD and can't focus on many things but you're not only nailing the facts you also display a passion for educating, which is required for me to focus. Thank you very much for your effort!

[adetomiquadri]

I tried this yesterday and although it didn’t look as great as yours it tasted amazing and worth the effort. Thanks for sharing and for your scientific angle to baking all things bread.

[parelli]

I've made it today! A mild, sweet aroma I ever experienced filled the kitchen. It's full of holes inside and crispy crust.
My husband was drawn to the smell in the kitchen and wanted to eat them while they were hot, so today I had him cut and ate...Only my regret is that I didn't had my baguette with blisters like yours. Thank you for your recipe!!

[awildandcrazyguy]

Made your Baguette recipe today and it worked great. I even went out and got the lava rocks, which I needed for a Banh Mi bread recipe, so good excuse to get them. Love all your detailed explanations. Keep the videos coming!

[techstacker]

Love the attention to detail and that you explain the why, not just the how, much appreciated 👏

Liked & subbed!

[cheesy]

Great video! Learned a lot from this. Thank you for the time and effort you put into this.

[idaeinjaw]

beautiful baguettes! i love texture of tangzhong breads

[pachin]

I can't help but hear the crunchy sound of fragrant bread being baked just by listening to it..　　　　　　Have a nice new week🥐

[davidclark]

I found this video to be very well-made and super informative and I will try the recipe and process but must remember this takes a rather long time so planning is a must.

[sallyhu]

The segment on baking temperatures and references to top/bottom temperature changes ... I'm confused.

I have a gas convection oven, with no top/bottom temperature selection option.

All ovens are different and mine tends to run low (ie, 500F is more accurately 480F) so baking time is always longer than as indicated in the recipe.

Should I use convection/fan or regular mode? For how long? At what temperature?

I use a baking steel so that ups the heat ... I'm guessing by about 20 degrees so I factor that in for the post-steam baking.

I am asking these Qs in a separate comment so viewers can more easily find it ... and benefit from your response.

Thank you so much for the quality of the video, and for taking the time to share your knowledge!

[polosandoval]

Excellent video and presentation thanks!

[douglasortiz]

Espectacular, bello, sublime... Me enamoré del pan !!! Saludos cordiales desde Venezuela ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[theupsidetv]

Excellent video, learned so much from you.

[fukumoristar]

❤I want to thank you so much for this recipe best bread I ever baked, although too much work, with TANGZHONG, I sieve it too, but the result fantastic. I can't even taste the yeast, where usually yes this recipe not taste like you buy it. But it isnt ( selfbaked)
Yesterday its rain the whole day, all I did to listen to your vlog, now look what tasty bread I baked because of your recipe..thank you so much 🎉

[paninobakery]

i try this way really its amazing you for you video

[sallyhu]

So happy I came upon this video!

Pretty experienced at baking baguette - have read many articles and watched many YT videos - but always looking to improve. This is the only one that significantly differs from all other videos.

I have a KA standmixer that recommends kneading dough at #3-#5 speed.

Q: What is the equivalent of kneading using the KA to replace the S&F?

How many minutes on and how many off? How long of a rest in between? How many rounds?

Thank you!

[nataliapv]

Muy bien explicado, ya he intentado hacer baguette y no siempre resultan del todo bien, voy a probar con tu receta y creo que van a salir mucho mejor. Gracias, ba bay.

[omgitsalion]

One tip to avoid sticky dough before the slap and fold process: After combining and mixing all ingredients, make a rough ball with scraper, cover with plastic, and let rest for 10-30 minutes. This process of autolyse will jumpstart gluten production, making your dough much stronger and easier to handle. You will see your dough start to become smooth and strong with less effort and clean up.

[PizzaHomie]

I'd love to see your recipes with the use of a baking steel. Maybe more oven spring with the softness given by the tangzhong...