1 Dough 3 Baguettes - Easiest to Pro-Level

JUST SOME FYI....You can use this recipe/method with half of the ingredients. Makes 2 perfect sized loaves.

Few things are better in life than freshly baked bread.

Hey really love your recipes but this was an epic fail for me. 😢 I wanted to try your croissant recipe but now I'm a little scared. Also would it be possible for you to specify what type of butter salted or unsalted when you use it.

So does the poolish weigh 300g for the purpose of the "best" recipe?

Question: for the Poolish from the 3rd recipe, how much yeast should I use? Not sure how much a pinch is when it comes to Yeast, thanks!

I tried making the #3 recipe baguette and no go, for some reason it did not give me a final rise on the couche. Going to try again this weekend, thanks!

QUESTION: To double this recipe (best), do I double ALL ingredients?

I feel very confident that I will be able to compleatly destroy bread #2 adequately. Okay, I have a 50/50 chance to make that recipe and have it come out well. Many years ago (pulls out her cane) I used to make decent loaf bread. It took me a few times and I made the usual newb mistakes and corrected them, until I was able to make a bangin' whole wheat loaf everyone loved.

Heading back to the kitchen in recent days, and dusting off my 8" and 9" bread pans, I thought I'd try my hand at once again baking bread. Funny thing is, I made the same newb mistakes (did I say this was MANY years ago?) In fact, I caught one newb mistake and didn't correct it because the "in depth" recipe said to dump them out of the loaf pan on to a cooling rack immediately upon taking them out of the oven. I recall doing this many, MANY years ago (pulls out her walker) which resulted in a very hard crust where my bread pan was touching. As soon as I dumped them out of the pan I recognized a huge puff of steam fog my bifocals and said under my breath "OH CRAP!". It's funny what you remember.

Now I'm going back into the kitchen to once again try to make french bread, a baguette even. Wish me luck.

Dude your vids make awesome bread! I cant take any of the credit but they have all been delicious!
I cant believe you forgot loaf 4?????? The one where you tell me what to put in a bowl and by the next day it self kneads and rises perfectly?? Ready ?

You make this look easy so I’m going for “best”! I can’t have gluten, but I’m making this for the Hubster and I know he’s going to LOVE IT!

Thanks Brian for great recipes. What baking program do you use in the oven?

Wow! The results are awesome and easily duplicated from your instructions; you are an excellent teacher. I should know because I am a teacher... learning to bake this beautiful bread. So impressed with the “best” baguette! Going back to your library to see what else you have to say about the subject, especially sourdough! I am stumped on the starter part so will have to study that next. Thanks again for videos :):)

am I wrong or does the 3rd version incorporate less water than the 2nd one? (150g + 240g) / (150g + 400g) ≈ 70% hyration compared to (225g + 30g) / 350g ≈ 72% hydration...

Great info for a total beginner mate. Is there a reason why you didn't score the first batch prior to baking?

how much is a pinch

What if I don't have malt?

@BrianLagerstrom Hey B man or anyone else who may be able to help: I'm having a hard time with the #1 or good baguette. I could use a little help. Ive tried to make it a few times and have not gotten close to the rise of Brian's in the video. Ive divided the recipe in half to make one instead of two as I practice.
I'm using 3.5g instant yeast, 100g h20, 150g 12.7% bread flour, 4g salt. Ive been using some ghetto baking implements tho. A metal burner cover in place of sheet tray and a roasting pan in place of aluminum foil cover.

I failed twice before the two serious attempts, one was old opened yeast which was dead so I bought a bunch of new packets, and another i added salt to yeast water combo to dissolve first before flour probably killing the yeast.

The first attempt was as shown in the video 90f water and all ingredients in the bowl at once. Followed all steps, almost no rise in the hour rest, no change in the oven.

Attempt 2 I added all dry ingredients first and mixed then added 130f water to dry following the yeast packet instructions. Then followed video, some rise but eyeballing the video I'd say maybe 50% of the B man's at most. Still a sad little dense boy. =(

Im running out of ideas, about all I can think of is its been -10f and lower everyday in Chicago for a while and my kitchen is like 58-60f along with all the ingredients and the baking trays. Could that be the issue?

Any advice would be appreciated! And if this gets to the B man, keep up the great work. Love your content, sir.

I made the good version, and it came out great. Perfect for a quick baguette to have with homemade soup. Thank you!

am i the only one who thinks the first loaf looks nice 😂

The third recipe is the winner

Love this recipe

Just tried it out, newbie baker. Tried following the steps for the best bread but due to restrictions it ended up somewhere between better and best. Super tasty, kind of easy still to make, great instructions. Now; a sourdough bread instruction video and a sourdough with cranberries would be awsome!

This was soo good, easy and fast . I made the second recipe , while the shape was not as good as yours it was delicious! I can’t wait to make it again .
Love your videos and recipes. Thanks for sharing !

I keep scoring my bread too deep lol I just love my knife too much haha

I made the "best" version with a few substitutions. I used 11.7% AP flour (king Arthur) instead of bread flour. I also used a lodge combo cooker instead of the challenger bread pan as it is one tenth the price. The bread was really good but there are a few things I would do differently; some of which tried while making 4 baguettes. The first thing I I found that helped was to, with a spray bottle of water, wet the dough with a single sprits and spray the lid of the pan 4-6 times to add water/steam. I also also moved each baguette to a different warmed cast iron pan after the covered time so that I could start the next piece (the lodge combo cooker was only big enough for one at a time). This greatly reduced the time it took to make all 4. Next time I think I will divide the dough into 5-6 pieces so that they fit my equipment better.

Can you clarify the quantities for the 3rd recipe. Around the 10min mark transcript says 3g of yeast and 4g of flour.. 3g of yeast may be correct?
But 4g of flour i dont think could he correct, should it be 400g?

This is my first time trying to make bread and it was a success. Thanks!

Oh and hey Bri, another question: At what stage, if any, can I through the dough into the freezer for later cooking? Because your recipes usually make 2, or in this case 4 loafs!

Hey Bri! I've always wondered... Instant Yeast vrs. Active Dry Yeast. What's the diff? Can you swap out one for another 1:1?

Thank you, i will try it at my place. Can you show us the levain votre too ne done and maintained it life

would love some gluten free bread recipes on the channel. Theres gotta be some good ones you know of!

ok, ok, ok.. So I finally made the best version. @BrianLagerstrom - Is there any reason to NOT put 10g of diastatic malt powder in all breads? That shizxzz was delicious! I just added some to my sourdough prep for today. I can't wait to see what happens.

just curious i see you put salt and yeast in at same time. I always heard to do that at different steps so the yeast will not react with the salt.

Hi Brian - I bit the bullet and got the Challenger, and... WOW. My wife has forbidden me from ever buying bread again! I just tried it on your Easiest Actually Good Bread (best) recipe and am very happy with the results. Is there any way you can either (a) recommend some of your other bread recipes that would benefit from using it or (b) make some videos leveraging it? Thanks!!!!!

OMG! I wanted to say biig THANK YOU!!!!! I have been trying to make bread for years and always felt like something was off. After trying your recipe (better) , I said yes, that's it. No more buying bread anymore. Thank you so much again!!!

You don't preheat the pan?

The dough is very flavorful, especially with the poolish. The recipe and techniques are very informative. I've learned so much in trying yeast breads the past couple of weeks with this video as my guide. Thank you!

To be honest I love the first one you made. I can easily see myself doing that often to burn off some steam in the evening and to quickly add some baguettes to my wife’s dinner.

The second one I can see myself make as a fun weekend project along with the whole wheat bread loaves I make for the week.

I don’t really see myself trying the pro level as I don’t have the equipment for it, but it does look delicious!!

OMG, today i made the bread in the third version. Of course, I started last night with the sponge. I did not have the challenger oven but i used my preheated pizza stone, and i covered it with the tin like in method two. IT WAS DEVINE. My intention was to have it for lunch. Since i also made some homemade apple butter, the two of us inhaled 1.5 loaf, i never ate so much bread in one session in my entire life. Hopefully the remaining bread will be enough for dinner when the rest of my family will be over. Thank you for sharing.

I’d like just to thank you I’ve been using your recipes for making bread I’m trying to improve my bread making so thank you again

Brian or other bakers - why only use the couche for the one rise, and not for the 15 minutes where the pre shape is covered by a tea towel?

Has anyone tried to midpoint version 2.0 and 3.0? Like using a poolish, but not having the Challenger or diastatic malt powder?

If it were isn’t possible to get malt instant yeast what could I substitute it for?

No water squirt on the third baguette?

I went straight to level 3. Even bought a Challenger. No regrets, great bread! Poolish is now a permanent addition to my bread repertoire.

I just can’t do it bro plz help why is it always so sticky and wet

Second version seems the best result for effort. It looks frickin delicious 😋 😋

Why not score the first one?