I will begin by saying I have limited experience in making baguettes. So far, I have only made them twice. It might seem I odd that I am recommending items already but changes made between the first and second time improved the result. I am addressing the items in order of their use in the baguette making process.
A couche does a couple of things. First it keeps the formed baguette from spreading out during final proofing. It is used by bring up folds between each baguette and the covering the baguettes with the remainder of the couche to prevent the dough from drying. I also believe it slightly absorbs some of the moisture from the taught outer surface a helps prevent sticking. The one I am using was purchased, but a large linen towel could be used as well. Mine is fairly stiff so it does a good job of supporting each baguette, keeps it from spreading out and resulting in a nice round baguette cross-section. I have had no issues with the dough sticking to the couche. The first time I floured it with a combination of rye and AP flours which resulted in unsightly baguettes after baking. The second I used the same flour as in the dough and it worked fine.
A baguette flipping board is used to transfer risen baguettes from the couche to a peel or pan and to reorient the seam, if necessary. It is critical not to deflate the dough during the transfer. The risen baguettes are so soft and “floppy” for lack of a better description, that transferring by hand would be virtually impossible. I am sure there are bakers that make baguettes all the time that can make hand transfers but I certainly could not. There are many YouTube videos showing how to use a baguette flipping board. I purchased mine but you could make one yourself. I is just a thin piece of wood with a double bevel on each long edge and a hole to hang it up.
The first time I baked baguettes I baked them on a baking stone with a cast iron skillet on a rack below it. After the loaves were placed on the stone boiling water was poured in the cast iron skillet to add steam and the oven door quickly shut. I was not at all happy with crust I achieved. It just seemed like the steam wasn’t getting to the loaves. Baking was done at 475F using a conventional bake setting for the oven. My feeling was that by the time the steam got around the stone it was above the baking bread.
So I decided to look for a perforated baguette pan made of blackened steel. They used to be common years ago. Now everything seems to have some form of non-stick coating which I really did not want. First off, the coatings non-stick properties never seem to last all that long. Secondly, most non-stick coatings are limited to a maximum temperature of 450F or less. Since that was all I could find I selected a black non-stick coated pan from a supplier whose products I have been satisfied with in the past. I will say up front, I am not completely satisfied with this pan. It came straight out of the packaging with non-stick coating missing in numerous spots. Luckily, the spots are all near the top edge of the pan. I guessed they were in areas that the bread would not touch. On its first use, that was the case.
My hope was that the steam rising from the boiling water in the cast iron skillet would go though the perforations in the pan and surround the loaves of bread. The results seemed to indicate it worked just like I hoped. The pan I bought is limited to a max temperature of 450F. I used 445F to stay below that limit. To make up for the drop in temperature I used a convection bake setting on the oven. I hoped the fan would help circulate the steam around the loaves. This first attempt with the pan was an unqualified success.
I am still not sure if I am going to keep this pan or exchange it for a replacement. My concern is the replacement could have missing coating in an area that the bread does touch. I’ve read a lot of reviews for a lot of non-stick baguette pans and a universal complaint of many reviewers are coating issues. Either what I experienced with it missing from new or the coating flaking off during use a sticking to the bread. Oh for the days before non-stick coatings.
The purpose of slashing dough just before it goes into the oven is to control where the expansion occurs during oven spring and where the crust will crack.
Over the years I have used several sharp implements to slash loaves. One was a lame (pronounced “lahm”) without interchangeable blades, bad idea which I will cover later. Others include filet knives and single edge razor blades. Then I purchased the lame pictured above. It uses interchangeable double edge razor blades and holds them in a curve. Others are available that hold the blade flat. Regardless of how the blade is held, you only use one corner of the blade at a time depending on whether you are right or left handed. For me it is the upper left corner. There is the problem with non removable blades. Even though there are 4 corners only 1 is usable. And I found the cost of a lame with non removable blades to be about 80% of one with removable blades.
There three keys to successfully using a lame. First is to moisten the blade with water just before slashing the loaf. Second is to quickly slash with conviction. A slow slash will drag and wrinkle and pull the dough. Finally is to reposition the blade on the handle as soon as it begins to drag. I find I can only slash 4 or 5 loaves before a corner has lost enough sharpness to start dragging. A package of 5 blades came with my lame. I noticed that the blades had numbers on the corners but it did not dawn on me in the beginning to start out with corner #1 in my slashing position. If I had, I could have worked my way through the 4 corners and known which corners were used. What I do now is work my way thru the 4 corners in order so I know exactly which corners have been used and when it is time to change the blade.
It takes practice to slash a loaf and some loaves are more difficult than others. Loaves with whole grains are more difficult and ruin edges more quickly.
The reason I like the lame shown above is that I feel I have better control of exactly where I am slashing. The handle is large enough to get a good grip without having to apply a lot of pressure. And control is the reason I believe a lame is important for baguettes. When using a baguette pan, the loaves are slashed after being placed in the pan. A baguette is slashed with 5 closely spaced overlapping slashes. They shouldn’t touch or cross. I just can’t imagine trying this with a 6” blade filet knife.
I hope this provides some insight into why I believe the above tools are important to successful baguette making. Could you make do with other items? Of course, it is all about what works for you.