Baguette in the Solardom oven

I bought a baguette pan from Temu to make baguettes at home.

The first one in the normal oven was ok and today I tried it out in our LG Solardom Convection/Microwave oven.

It turned out nicely. Quite a bit of work but very well worth it.

I used my standard no knead 70% hydration recipe that I use for a pizza and just adjusted the quantities.

Ingredients.

200g Stone Ground Flour

175ml filtered water @ 40⁰C

I teaspoon Instant yeast 

1 teaspoon Olive oil 

1 teaspoon salt. A bit less if you prefer.

Method

Mix the dry ingredients together well in a large bowl.

Add the Olive oil and warm water.

Combine together using a wooden spoon or spatula.

Cover with clingfilm.

Rest for a few hours and then remove the clingfilm and using either your wet hands or a dough cutter and scraper, turn the dough over a few times in the bowl.

Repeat this step at least twice more, a few hours apart.

This stretch and fold procedure gives the dough the correct structure for a baguette and if you don't do this you will end up with just normal bread in a baguette shape.

Around an hour or two before you want to bake, take the dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface, knock it into a rectangle and roll it into the right shape. Tranfer it to the baguette pan and stretch it out. Cover with a dish towel until you are ready to bake.

Place a small oven proof container with some water in it into the oven. The resulting steam makes the crust crisp. Then preheat the oven to 230⁰C and when it is ready, place the baguette pan in it.

Bake for 20 minutes and take it out. If the bottom of the baguette is not crisp, turn it over and put it back into the oven for 3 to 4 minutes.

Take it out of the oven and let it cool for around 15 minutes before tucking in.

The best baguettes that I ever had, come from Rosemead bakery in Yzerfontein and in my opinion, this one comes close.