I followed this recipe as best as I could https://tasteofartisan.com/french-baguette-recipe/ Everything seemed to be going great until it was time to bake. It was supposed to bake for 30 minutes total, but I smelled burning at minute 24 and removed at minute 25. There’s some minor burning on the top and bottom, but it’s pretty okay everywhere else. I’m not sure what happened?? The only major differences I can think of was I used an inverted baking tray instead of a baking stone. They’re also shorter / fatter than the recipe, ~11” instead of 14-15”, but I’d think they’d take longer to bake, then? We have a brand new electric oven + we baked brownies yesterday, and they came out perfectly. I added a photo of the crumb as well, if that helps; I notice it’s smaller than the recipe photos.
It does have a burnt taste and is a little dry, but it also has a nice crunch and a soft, chewy inside. I will still eat and enjoy it, but I’d like to know what went wrong for next time. Thank you!
by aynonaymoos
35 Comments
You burnt it
Too much hot for too much time
If they’re fatter than the recipe instructions intended, then the inside would take longer to bake, but the outside would end up overdone by the time the inside was done.
You might want to try lowering the temperature a bit to allow for the longer bake, but that doesn’t work with all breads. Until you’ve had some experience, you might want to stick to the recipes as much as possible.
I feel like it’s about to tell me I am being put in Griffindor….. O_O
I like King Arthur Flour recipes, by the way. Try this one: [KAF Baguette by Martin Philip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8l5Qi43U3c&t=105s)
“minor burning” lol
I bake my baguettes at 475 for 20 minutes. 30 sounds like a long time, but those look so dark that I’m suspicious of your oven too. You might want to get an oven thermometer and see if it’s lying to you.
Next time try giving them a look at 20 minutes. Baguettes are thin enough that you can judge just based on color. If they look good, take them out.
Is it possible you used a setting on the new oven that kept cycling on the burners? To me it almost looks like the broil was on or something. Or it was up too high in the oven.
The pizza stone would keep an oven at a more consistent temp and reduce the oven kicking on and off so it’s possible it’s just that? You could try cast iron instead it would work similarly.
Fwiw I wouldnt start with baguettes. These are decent though for your first bread effort though. These look more black than the brown/dark brown you want
That’s peak leather
those look well baked. 😋
Looks like I baked them… sorry I’ll stay out of your kitchen!
My advice is to watch this video about scoring baguettes. It’s truly informative. It helped me tremendously.
[How to Score Baguettes](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1ebKpEG0tBM)
That looks like something unearthed at an archeological site. It surprisingly doesn’t even look burnt to me. Just mummified in time and dust somehow. I’m so intrigued. 😦
The crumb looks great by the way.
Looks like Mr. Hanky
Either your oven runs hot, or their process was incorrect. When you bake a new bread for the first time, I normally hang close to the oven so I can watch for things like this, because I never fully trust anyone else’s recipe to work in my kitchen like it does in theirs.
I’ll add in that because you are new to the discipline of bread baking, there a decent chance that some things that experienced people know to do out of hand might be things you are still learning (been there, still am sometimes). There’s a dozen little things that could have gone wrong or been forgotten.
End of the day, don’t sweat it. Mix up another one, and watch it bake. When the crust looks right, temp the interior for doneness. Eat, and evaluate the product. Then correct a thing here or there, go again. It’s all about experience and repetition. I will say your forming and scoring are absolutely on point, the interior structure looks very good. You’re super close, just a temp / time issue.
Looking forward to seeing more from you.
I’d check your oven temp. Put an oven thermometer in there. 25 minutes and that’s what you ended up with is crazy. Almost like the recipe was for Fahrenheit and your oven is on Celsius.
if it’s burnt on the top and bottom but fine in the middle, the oven was likely too hot. bake at a lower temp for the same time or slightly longer until you reach 210 degrees fahrenheit.
Did you set your oven based on Celsius when the recipe said Fahrenheit…?
Nice crumb but a little too dark for me.
Baguettes are tough! I’ve been making bread for years and it didn’t go well when I tried them a couple weeks ago. I’d make your first bread an easier one
Drop your oven temp 25 degrees and pull the bread 5-10 minutes soomer
Did you yeet it into the sun?
Nothing if this is rye bread.
Lower oven temp. Check setting, maybe the fan was on.
Don’t throw it. You can make french toast with it (Pain perdu : “Lost bread”)
When it comes to following cook times you always gotta make adjustments for your particular oven and how it performs when baking things.
Once you bake enough you can kinda translate instructions to how you know your oven is going to perform.
My first thought is was your oven on convection by accident? Echoing others thoughts on time and temp.
Watch the bread as it cooks
Your oven probably reads too hot
Do you use a thermometer in the oven instead of the oven thermostat? Sometimes the oven thermostat can be very off.
Come on down to flavor town. Extra crispy is all
Possible underlying causes:
*Baguettes are not a beginner bread.
*Website recipes aren’t necessarily tested to high standards.
I recommend starting with a basic yeasted white bread and working your way up to baguettes.
A reliably good website for bread and other baking recipes is the King Arthur Flour site. Their recipes are well tested, and they have instructional videos.
Also, search on YouTube and find Julia Child’s episode of The French Chef where she does baguettes. It includes a demonstration of shaping them with Raymond Calvel.
It looks like what the sorting hat was made from in Harry Potter