Pain à l’ancienne Baguettes
The dark blistered crust pockmarked with fissures gives pain à l’ancienne a look some might call rustic, a polite way of describing misshapen food. Crudely shaped through stretching, these baguettes have thicker ends and seem unrefined at first glance.
What pain à l’ancienne lacks in looks, it more than makes up for in taste. If you consider only “lean” doughs, those made with the bare essentials of flour, water, salt and yeast, then this is as good as homemade bread gets.
The dough is developed using a long autolyse (pronounced auto-lees, as in, “You ought to lease an apartment instead because the economy sucks.”). Flour and water are mixed a day in advance without salt and yeast. This technique does a few things to the dough:
- The flour thoroughly absorbs the water, strengthening the gluten and improving gas retention. More water will be added with the salt and yeast on baking day. If all of the water is added at once, the dough will be weaker and more difficult to handle.
- During the long resting time, the water breaks the flour down into simple sugars, giving the bread a sweeter taste. My go-to Neapolitan-style pizza dough recipe uses a very similar method.
The result is a sweet and nutty bread with a deeply caramelized reddish-brown crust courtesy of the natural sugars unlocked from the flour. This recipe makes the most complex-tasting baguettes I’ve ever baked.
recipe adapted from The Fresh Loaf
Yeastspotting at Wild Yeast Blog
Pain à l’ancienne Baguettes
makes four 12- to 16-inch baguettes
Ingredients Volume Ounces Grams unbleached all-purpose flour 4 cups 17.6 500 water, ice cold 1 cup + 6 tbsp 11.5 325 water 3 tbsp + 1 tsp 1.8 50 salt 1 1/2 tsp .3 9 instant yeast 1 1/2 tsp .2 5
Notes:
- I used King Arthur all-purpose flour.
- Peter Reinhart’s pain à l’ancienne in The Bread Baker’s Apprentice is based on a method very similar to this recipe. In Reinhart’s version, the salt and yeast are added before refrigeration.
Directions:
Mix Mix together the flour and the ice-cold water until
a shaggy ball of dough is formed.
Knead 4 to 6 minutes, until the flour is thoroughly hydrated
and a smooth ball of dough is formed.
Autolyse Cover with plastic wrap or store in an airtight
container. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to
2 days. The bread will be sweeter the longer the dough
rests.
Knead Add the additional water, salt, and instant yeast to
the cold dough. Knead until the water is completely
absorbed, about 6 to 10 minutes. The dough will be
very sticky.
The dough will initially have the consistency of
chewing gum and will not readily absorb the additional
water.
Ferment #1 90 minutes at room temperature
Stretch and Fold
Ferment #2 90 minutes at room temperature
Stretch and Fold
Ferment #3 2 to 3 hours at room temperature, or until almost doubled
in size
Preheat Oven 460ºF / 240ºC
Divide 4 equal pieces using a lightly moistened bench scraper
Preshape On a lightly floured surface, gently shape each piece
into loose ovals by tucking the sides underneath the
pieces of dough. Handle as gently as possible to avoid
degassing.
Rest 10 minutes
Shape Stretch gently into strips, about 12 to 16 inches long.
Steam 1 cup of boiling water poured in a heavy steam pan
(preferably cast iron)
Bake Bake for 8 to 9 minutes at 460ºF / 240ºC. Rotate the
loaves and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the
crust is deeply browned. The thickest part of the
baguette will register 205ºF / 91ºC when done.
Cool At least 30 minutes
Pain à l’ancienne baguette crust.
Pain à l’ancienne baguette crumb.
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February 16th, 2009 at 2:27 am
My gawd it sounds wonderful. I am always amazed at the power of yeast and the complex flavors they can promote…just as in wine.
February 16th, 2009 at 2:37 am
Nice beautiful and Rustic! This looks amazing!!! I really need to buy some multi-grain flour = )
February 16th, 2009 at 3:40 am
It never ceases to amaze me how amazing you are in the kitchen! I’m in love with your first photo.
February 16th, 2009 at 4:03 am
Gorgeous!! Love the color! I simply have to make this! I might have bookmarked every single bread of yours. I even have a little subdivided bookmark folder just for you!
February 16th, 2009 at 4:48 am
What perfect crusts and insides! these loaves look fantastic!
Cheers,
Rosa
February 16th, 2009 at 6:02 am
Wow! This bread looks and sounds amazing. I will try it this week and let you know how it turns out.
February 16th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Absolutely beautiful. I love using that technique on bread – I just get a much better flavor when I use the autolyse technique. And it gives me flashbacks to biology classes, which may or may not be a good thing. Details.
February 16th, 2009 at 7:08 am
I love the air holes….I really have to try making bread one day.
February 16th, 2009 at 8:19 am
Great looking baguettes, and the insides looks fantastic! Waiting for them to cool must have been challenging.
February 16th, 2009 at 9:35 am
I love this recipe too. I still can’t believe simple lean dough bread can taste like butter.
February 16th, 2009 at 10:29 am
There is nothing better than a good baguette! These must have smelled amazing when they were cooking.
February 16th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Gorgeous!
I’ve used Peter Reinhart’s recipe with good results, now I’ll have to give this one a try. You provide inspiration and a challenge, as always!
February 16th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Jude that is stunning! Gorgeous crust. Lean doughs are a joy expecially with a long autolyse.
February 16th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
What great-looking crumb!
February 16th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Butter! Where’s the butter anyone? Looks delish.
February 16th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
What glorious looking crust and crumb! I hope I get motivated one day to make Baguette at home.
February 16th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I haven’t experimented much w/ bread baking yet (but I intend to). These look completely perfect! Even the insides! Great job with it all
February 16th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Wow, what a great-looking crust and crumb! I have to get back into baking my own bread…
February 16th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Beautiful! Okay, I’m going to have to stop avoiding baguettes and make these. For some reason I find these classic loaves very intimidating.
February 16th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
I love the dark crust and the open crumb! I struggle with shaping proper baguettes and I love the shape of these.
February 16th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
This is some sexy bread, mister…
February 16th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
I am really going to do this! I’m starting tonight. How do you always predict my bready needs (kneads)?!
February 16th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Wow, these are beautiful. I’m getting really into making my own breads
February 17th, 2009 at 5:44 am
I adore rustic looking breads..They look nice and crusty.
February 17th, 2009 at 6:00 am
Your loaves are wonderful !!!
February 17th, 2009 at 7:14 am
At the risk of sounding like a teen, you have mad bread skillz!
No really, this look gorgeous rustic 
February 17th, 2009 at 7:52 am
I think I’m in love with your bread (sigh).
February 17th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Maybe its rustic but it s sure good looking
This bread looks fantastic. You re my favourite bakes. Such amazing loaves !
February 17th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Just my kind of bread!
February 17th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Wow, beautiful! You’ve inspired me to tackle baguette-making. Your crust and crumb both look incredible.
February 18th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Fantastic. I’m not usually a fan of no-fat and no-sugar breads (heh), but that looks perfect, well done
February 18th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
You’re such a wonderful bread baker! This bread looks wonderfullly rustic and delicious!
February 19th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
There is no bread more beautiful than that which is homemade and fresh from the oven. Simply gorgeous.
February 20th, 2009 at 2:22 am
[...] Pain à l’ancienne Baguettes [...]
February 20th, 2009 at 2:26 am
Incredible baguettes! I love your definition of “rustic” even though I don’t necessarily agree with it.
February 20th, 2009 at 6:36 am
Such great crumb and crust! I want to just smell them and chew on them just as they are. Mmmmm… bread…
February 20th, 2009 at 9:14 am
A perfect rustic look I’d say. If I wanted to look my white bread look rustic, I’d envision an image similar to the one you’ve posted. I can’t get that recipe to work with German 550 flour though. Maybe it’s too soft. But my interest in it is rekindled. Thanks.
February 20th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
I tried this repice, and happy the end. Thank you for sharing…
February 21st, 2009 at 2:35 pm
That looks gorgeous! I never heard of mixing the flour and water ahead like that…
February 21st, 2009 at 10:34 pm
This is my first time on your blog. I’m so glad I visited! The crumb on that bread is spectacular.
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:00 am
wow! jude, you inspire me to try all these wonderful bread! then I thought, heck, i’ll just visit your site often and drool over your creations.
simply awesome!!
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:41 pm
I love your photos. Simply stunning.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:19 am
my kind of bread.. when eating baguettes, i especially like the end (heel) part.. yum! looks like you can beat someone with that loaf too! kidding aside, you really encourage me to bake.. the yeast scares me sometimes (i’m scared that it might not rise as it should), but i’m willing to try
)
February 24th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Amazing! I cannot wait to try these. I’m going to mix the flour early and make them this weekend when I have time to hang out and let the dough rest. Thank you!
February 24th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Awesome job. The crumb looks perfect – heck, the whole thing looks perfect. I just got my new oven and this post is just making me itch to do some bread baking!
February 24th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Is there any reason to put the flour and water dough in the refrigerator? The hydrolytic (autolysis) reactions, which break the four do into simpe sugars, should be about 3-times faster at room temperature than they are in the refrigerator.
February 25th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
I admire your breadmaking skills! I’ve been so interested in rustic artisan breads, but I’ve only been making bread with my sourdough starter so far. I can’t wait to try some of your easier recipes for now. I also appreciate the pronunciation tutorial. Wish I can say those French words correctly! Thanks for all your tips
February 25th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Dino, I haven’t tried this method with a room temperature autolyse but you’re right, this can definitely work without refrigeration. So it’s about three times faster at room temperature? I wasn’t sure how long to let the dough rest.
I refrigerate for the autolyse mainly for timing issues and to keep the yeast-free dough from fermenting like a starter. I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of wayward yeast floating around my kitchen.
Aysem, so happy to hear that it worked out well for you.
As always, thanks for visiting everyone!
March 7th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Jude, I am completely in love with all the breads that you make! You give each and every one the perfect look!
March 10th, 2009 at 10:49 am
These baguettes look fabulous! I’ve only made baguettes ala “no knead” bread dough, but I am going to try these. Beautiful crust and crumb.
May 12th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
What does it mean “rotate loaves while baking?” Does that mean turning them over so the top and bottom side get exposed? And do you bake these on a baking sheet if you’re a home cook with a regular oven?
May 12th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
I baked these today for the first time and the turned out amazing. I haven’t baked a bread with yeast in over ten years (I was 15 or 16 at the time).
The flour and water dough remained in my fridge for about 24 hours before I added the remaining ingredients to begin fermentation.
I baked only two of the baguette on a special aerated baguette mold made for two batones.
On the lowest rack I placed a cast iron skillet for the preheating process and then right after placed the baguettes, I poured a cup of boiling water into the skillet.
After the first 8 minutes, I removed the cast iron pan and turned the baguette mold 180 degrees. I let the bread cook an additional 10 minutes.
N.B. I used a rather old, one might say vintage, electric oven that heats very hot (above temperature on the dial). I make adjustments, but I always think it’s still too hot. It doesn’t ave to be perfect, just keep an eye on everything. This is a very easy recipe.
May 19th, 2009 at 12:36 am
Clueless, it means to rotate the loaves 180 degrees from front to back, NOT flip it over from bottom to top. It’s for even baking since the front of home ovens tend to be cooler than the back end.
These can be baked on a baking sheet. I’d recommend stacking 2 baking sheets to keep the bottoms from burning.
Erin, glad to here it turned out well for you
July 9th, 2009 at 12:40 am
I am currently baking it as I’m writing and WOW. This took quite a bit of time, and I’m new to baking bread entirely but it was worth the wait. I’m actually surprised that I was able to make it, it looked a bit beyond my experience but no everything turned out fine. (Which is miraculous because I have the worlds worst oven!) I’m definitely going to keep making this and giving away some to my friends and family. You really have to try this!
July 15th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Baked it this afternoon, results here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiddly-pom/3726015252/
Wonderful! This was a little stickier than my last recipe, which was very similar but all done in 3 hours. Hopefully the long autolyse does indeed make them sweeter…
July 20th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Brittney, this is one of the more difficult bread recipes to handle because of the wet dough. Glad to hear it turned out okay for you!
Julian, looks great! I like how deeply reddish-brown the crust turned out on yours.
July 29th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Hi Jude – the results were indeed fantastic. A couple of friends have also made them successfully. Might have started something!
This is a fantastic site btw, we eat quite a lot of adobo in this house already and some of your recipes look mouth-watering.
October 1st, 2009 at 4:46 am
It’s one year that I’m trying to make a French Baguette à l’ancienne ou Tradition, but with some rye flour mixed in it:I discovered this Baguette in Montpellier last year. I born French and I know what is a good bread. I learned throught the Internet and books in english and French. But I never reached what I wanted.I got the crust ok but inside is always too much like a loaf and not like an airy baguette.The falvour is good and everybody like it with olive oil on it French cheese or butter. I have a sourdough in my fridge since last December, I refresh it every 4/5 days when I make a new attempt. This sourdough is based on 50% Rye 50% water. It’s pretty liquid but smell good and make bubbles, seem to be ok.
After I read your recipe I prepared the “pate”of all purpose flour with the water and it’s in the fridge for already 24 hours. I would like to mix it with my sourdough and make a sourdough rye baguette.The question is how many grams of sourdough to mix to the “pate” should I still add 50gr of water and 5grs of instant yeast ?
I read about a sourdough baguette on the Fresh Loaf forum and got completely confuse with the recipe using 2 starters…
I now live downunder in Sydney and will be very grateful if you can help me to finally achieve my dream.
October 1st, 2009 at 6:11 pm
sorry! my name is Beatrice`and not as I mistakingly typed it!
I hope that the author of the recipe (is it Jude?), or someone else who is making this kind of sourdough rye baguettes, will give me the answer to this question that I’m tracking already 12 months without success. To make a loaf or a “batard” is no problem, the baguette is.
Last night I refreshed my levain sourdough with only flour without water and put a tsp of honey, one hour later my sourdough had rised to the top of the container and spilt over ! I never see something like that. Can somebody tell me why ? this is not mentionned in the recipes of Kaiser levain liquid or other recipes to make sourdough. The more I go on with my experiences the more I learn new facts and I found that the making of the bread is amazing and I’m almost obsessed with this subject.
January 7th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Hey there,
Thanks for the great recipe idea. The first round was hard enough to pave a village with, but I’m trying again as I write this, and I’m hopeful. Next time you bake this, would you mind adding some photos of what the dough should look like during the second kneading (ie, just after you add the yeasty water)?
And just as a friendly aside, neither autolyse nor autolyze are pronounced auto-lees. Rather, it’s ˈȯ-tō-ˌlīz, as in auto-lies (as in, he lies about his bread successes all the time).
January 15th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
First, I should say that this particular baguette recipe yields fantastic bread. The crumb was excellent, the inside airy, moist, with just enough gummyness.
David C., even though my bread came out fantastic it may very well have ended up in disaster if I didn’t trust my instincts. That cold mass of dough and water that spent 12 hours at 40* F remains exceptionally cold after adding water, yeast, and kneading. This factor combined with the slightly lower temperature from it being so cold outside resulted in yeast that was very reluctant to yield fermentation and thus resulted in a very slow rise. The rise was so slow in fact that after folding and allowing to rest at room temp for several hours I decided to put it back in the refrigerator overnight. The dough continued to rise very slowly but enough so to pick up on ferment step 2 and 3 to finish the bread. The final product was acceptable. On my second attempt I allowed the cold dough to come close to room temp before adding the yeast and water. By doing this the rising process is much closer to that in the instructions. It should be noted that because this dough has so much moisture in it that after preshaping it tends to flatten out, it requires a lot of attention during the final rise before baking to yield an attractive baguette. I must say that this baguette has been the closest thing to what one would call a baguette in France.
Oh by the way, when he says the dough will be “like gum” when adding the water and yeast he isn’t kidding. You seriously have to keep working it until all of the water is absorbed and a nice smooth dough is formed. Yes it will be sticky but its contents will be distributed in a homogeneous manner. By the way if you need photos i’ll take them this time when I make the bread.
Hope this helped a little. Good Luck! Matt
January 18th, 2010 at 11:04 am
[...] technique and why it is just so revolutionary in the world of baking, so go see the post done by Apple Pie, Patis and Pate if you are interested in all the gory [...]
February 28th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
I made these and they looked beautiful! but they were really tough – any ideas on what went wrong? I followed your directions but is that too much kneading? I do it by hand not a machine. Thanks!
February 28th, 2010 at 8:40 pm
Unto this bread I perpetuated the following crimes: failure to measure water, flour, salt, or yeast accurately; shorting the autolyse to a mere 8 hours; pounding the gluten ball into submission while my toddler flung rye flour willy-nilly both in and at the bowl; leaving it to a final rise for 2 hours and then shoving it in the fridge for 4; shaping it higgledy-piggledy; and neglecting to add in a bake pan full of water. The result? A gorgeous, soft dough (albeit without your admirable crumb) transformed into tender loaves unrivaled even by the bakery up the street. This. Is. The. Best. Bread. I. Have. Ever. Made. Imagine if I actually followed your excellent instructions properly! THANK YOU.
June 14th, 2010 at 3:34 am
I have just made this bread (first time ever breadmaking attempt!) and SUCCESS! I have to say I did not have high hopes, thinking for some reason that my first attempt at breadmaking was going to be a sad, sad disappointment. But just took them out of the oven and sampled and oh my gosh, they are excellent!! Honestly, just as good as fancy bakery bread, if not better (if I do say so myself!) Can’t believe it turned out so well!! The inside is all chewy and just dense enough, with lots of air holes.. perfect texture! Husband is impressed and amazed, as I don’t think he had very high hopes either, haha. Will definitely be trying more of your bread recipes soon! THANK YOU!!
June 19th, 2010 at 6:05 am
Thanks so much for posting this recipe… turns out awesome. After using the original recipe a few times, I have started using 100g of whole wheat flour; also, I’ve added some grains (actually, some spent malt from brewing). Turns out great.
Thanks so much!
July 25th, 2010 at 11:35 am
Hey there! Nice recipe btw :3 I fell in love with your breads
I want to ask (just started few minutes ago), in the autolyse stage, is the flour+water=stiff?
I did not expect it to be so stiff that I can’t even make it into a smooth ball, though I knead it enough to form into a decent (semi-rough looking) ball..
I followed the recipe divided by two (2 cups of flour + 1/2 cup 3 tbsp water) and it seems the cold water is not enough for the flour (I even added few spoons of water to make it workable).. Is it normal? Or is it that my measuring cups fail me? Thanks!