Perhaps the hardest French lean bread to make at home is the baguette. That’s not just because the baguette shape is the hardest to master (tutorial and recipe to follow), but because our residential ovens are so limited in their capabilities. The missing piece in most cases: steam. Without steam in the first part of the bake, the crust comes out thick and grey in color. A baguette should be a golden color and have a crisp and thin crust.
For years I have been trying to overcome my crummy oven’s limitations to no avail! Unlike a normal loaf of bread that you can put in a dutch oven, properly steaming your oven to make a baguette is another matter. No baguette I have seen can fit in a dutch oven, of course. Naturally I tried my alternate steam options (all detailed in this post), but my oven is so well vented that nothing I do can overcome the obstacle.
Over the years, I did make some progress. I noticed that if I actually sprayed the raw baguette dough directly and before it went in the oven, this made a noticeable difference in the crust color. But the crust still tended to be too thick. Last week, I decided I was going to crack this problem once and for all.
Introducing the cake pan
Round 1
As it turns out, you can buy 3-4″ deep cake pans that fit most ovens. Initially, my idea was to put the baguettes into the pan and cover it with aluminum foil. About 12 minutes into the bake, I would remove the foil and continue baking uncovered.
Did this work? Sort of….
When I placed the baguettes directly inside the pan and covered the whole thing with foil, a lot of steam was generated inside during the bake. I was very pleased to see a small plume of steam come out as I unwrapped it 12 minutes into the bake. But then bad things started happening.
The baguettes really stuck to the aluminum bottom even though I dusted it ahead of time with semolina flour, and the bake was really uneven because the baguettes were sitting inside a 3-walled structure with a lot less radiant heat hitting them from the sides. The baguettes came out burnt on the bottom and very erratically baked on the top and sides. I tried to rotate them inside the tray but they were completely glued to the floor. Basically a disaster.
Round 2
Next, I decided to try using the cake pan as a cover rather than as a vessel. I figured that as long as the pan completely covered the baking stone (also a requirement), things would work out ok. The idea was to trap steam between the cake pan covering and the stone.
So did this actually work? Drumroll please.
Yes it did!!
I am happy to report that this does indeed give you a very close approximation to what an ideal oven would do (that is, a deck oven with steam). Is it perfection? No, not quite. In fact, I am still working on getting a little more steam generated. The way to do that is to create a small reservoir created out of aluminum foil which you can place on the baking tray that is filled with some water. As the reservoir heats up, more water will evaporate and add to the steam. Please comment below if you want more information on that.
Suffice it to say, I am pleased that I finally found a way to bake a proper baguette at home and wanted to share.
Questions or suggestions? Please comment and share below.
I appreciate your blog. I have tried multiple methods like you. But you should check out Bread cetera steaming method. You can download the video below. I have been using this method for years. He uses a pan very similar to you, except a little taller. He punch a small hole in the pan where he inject steam using a hand steamer.
http://www.breadcetera.com/?page_id=388
Hi Zuri! I found your blog while searching for an oven set up for baking baguettes. How clever is your solution! Do you preheat the cake pan and the cast iron griddle?
Congrats on the awesome work!
Hi Renata, I leave the griddle in the oven to preheat. The cake pan is thin aluminum so I place it in the oven with the baguette tray cold. Thanks for your comment!
Thanks for the speedy reply! Will be trying that tomorrow! If I get baguettes half as good as yours I will have made my day!
Please, please, please share your results with us!! Incidentally, I am now adding a small rolled up wet towel on each end of the tray to add even more steam into the cake pan during the initial bake.
The damp towel makes sense, I might add that too! Will be pleased to share my results!
Hi again Zuri, well this is my feedback. I had issues with my oven grid. It isn’t strong enough to handle the weight of the tiles ( I used tiles instead of a baking stone, I don’t have one) so the grid bent slightly but enough to let steam escape. I didn’t have room for the wet towels because my cake pan is just about the same size of the baguette pan. Result was a pale crust :o( I’ll keep on trying with a few adjustments here and there. Your setup is very promising! Thanks for sharing your experiences! BTW,… Read more »
Thank you for the feedback. I am not surprised you had a pale crust because the steam had many escape routes. Once you figure out the bending, I think that will go away!
I will definitely come back to update
Thanks!
May I know would you remove the cover & griddle after some 10minutes?
Depending on how long you want steam, but 10 minutes for baguette seems about right.
A good quality, 22 gauge stainless steel, full size 4″ deep hotel pan with lid is a perfect vessel for baking baguettes. Spray with Vegalene or similar pan release. sprinkle with corn meal, lay baguettes in pan. Bake 30 minutes with lid on, Take lid off for next 15 minutes. Inexpensive and easy to store too. Fill with at least 4 baguettes to provide enough steam from dough.