How to Use a Baguette Pan: Very Easiy Process!

We know what it takes to prepare that baguette dough before putting it in the oven. It can be exhausting or too annoying. Even if it is just a few minutes – preparing it can be tons of work.

That’s why you must know how to use a baguette pan. You don’t want that precious baguette dough to eventually cook up unevenly or just not have the crispiness you want.

To prevent your baguette dough from going to the waste, we’re going to help you use the pan like an expert. Whether you’re just starting to make baguettes for the first time or you’re already experienced but changed pans recently – you’ll find an excellent guide below. So keep reading!

Why Use a Baguette Pan?

If you’re here, then you probably need no convincing about why a baguette pan is, so an excellent product to have. But we’re still going to confirm your suspicions and make you believe even stronger why a baguette pan is such a useful tool in the kitchen. Consider these points:

• These pans have the ideal shape for the bread to cook up evenly and with proper form.
• Some of them boast perforations that add up to the cooking and crispiness of the dough.
• Hold several baguettes at once at different sizes (depending on what you get).
• They all have non-stick surfaces that prevent the dough from sticking.
• Make it easy to get the baguettes out of the oven (safer and more manageable).

So, are you sold out about using a baguette pan? Then go on and learn how to use it.

How to Make French Bread Dough

Before we teach you how to get the most out of the baguette pan, we need to teach you how to make baguette dough that’s perfect for the pan in the first place.

Here are a few tips you want to follow for that:

Find the Ideal Recipe

If you want to make baguettes that are both tasty and easy to make, you need a french baguette recipe that works.

There are tons to go for. But the simplest ones (and something you can use as a test) is the unflavored flour, salt, yeast, and water recipe. There’s more to it, and it will make your baguette-making a lot easier.

Use Proper Equipment

Mixing the dough with your hands seems like the way to go in most cases. But sometimes, you may also need other tools. And if you’re preparing baguette for the first time, we recommend these tools without a doubt.

Some of them include a couche or smooth paper. It will help you place the dough over the countertop without getting stuck.

A lame also works wonders. It helps you score or mark the baguettes’ top to make them look like the original thing.

Mix the Dough Perfectly

Even if you use the highest-quality ingredients and nearly-flawless baguette pan, you need to prepare the dough the right way. And for that, it needs to be mixed correctly. Here are a few things to consider:

• Mix everything in a bowl for a few minutes until they’ve blended together and let them sit.
• Stretch and fold the dough after it has sat for at least 10 minutes.
• Keep stretching and folding every 30 minutes for at least 1 hour.
• Do this until the dough starts to develop blisters and a sour-dough smell.

This should prepare the dough correctly, no matter the ingredients you use.

Let the Dough Grow

Once you’re done with the mixing, it is time to let it grow in the cold. Here, we recommend putting the dough on the fridge for at least 12 hours. Here, you should see how it has doubled in size. That means it is ready for some baking.

Using a Baguette Pan in 5 Steps

Have a better idea of how to make french bread? Then it’s time to get that baguette pan working. Here are 5 steps to follow:

1. Preheat the Oven

For the baguette pan to do the job, you need to preheat the oven first. We usually recommend a temperature of at least 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

Here, you can place the baguette pan for a few minutes for it to heat up. This will prepare it for the job afterward.

Then it’s recommended to get the pan out and spray some water over it. This should smooth out the surface and prevent the dough from sticking.

2. Shape the Baguettes

If you want the baguettes to come out perfectly after baking, it’s recommended to give them an ideal shape.

Start by spreading some flour on a flat surface. This should prevent the dough from sticking.

Then separate the dough into equal parts (depending on how many trays the baguette pan has). Then start forming rectangles with each. Stretch those rectangles as much as you can. Follow the size of the pan for better measurements.

Once you have the extended rectangles, start folding each one separately until you start making a cylinder shape.

After having each cylinder, you need to get rid of the seams, so they cook perfectly from the exterior to the insides.

3. Proof the Dough

Before placing the baguettes in the pan, you need to proof them with flour. So cover them entirely with some flour first. You need to use much just enough, so the dough doesn’t stick to other surfaces.

You can use the couche here. It will help you prevent any sticking while ensuring maximum absorption of the flour in the dough.

This proofing will prevent the dough from sticking while increasing cooking perfection. Test that the proofing is right by touching the dough. If it springs back slowly, then it is ready for the pan.

4. Place the Dough on the Pan

If you want to learn how to use a baking pan, there’s no better advice than placing the dough on it the right way.

With the dough on the couche, you should grab it softly and patiently put it on the pan’s right tray. We usually recommend spraying a bit of dough on the part beforehand, so it works as an extra layer of proofing.

Be sure to follow the tray shape to prevent any issue while baking. Also, don’t let any part of the baguette come out of the sides. This may eventually damage how the baguette looks.

5. Score & Bake Them

With the baguettes on the pans ad ready for some cooking, it is time to score them up. This means using a brush to brush any excess of flour while marking the top with a lame. The baguette will be ready for some coking then.

Try not to make the score cuts too deep, though. You only want a finger-deep or less of a cut on the dough for the score to work.

Then you put the pans on the preheated oven, set the timer as needed, and that’s it.

Conclusion

As you see, learning how to use a baguette pan doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, it is actually a piece of cake.

If you were having trouble doing this before, or just not finding the perfect way to bake those baguettes, then you’ll indeed find this guide helpful.

Take our advice and start baking those baguettes like an expert!