Demi baguette (sourdough)

Take your starter out of the fridge the night before you plan to bake. If it hasn't been fed recently, do so by stirring equal parts flour and water into it to double its weight.

Weigh the flour into a large bowl. Add the salt and mix lightly. Mix some warm and cold water in a jug until it feels a bit warmer than lukewarm, about 25°C. Weigh out 280g and add it to the bowl along with the starter. Stir the dough together with a wooden spoon, a dough whisk or with your hands until you have a clumpy, uneven mass.

Let the dough rest – autolyse – for about 30 minutes. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel or a baking tray so the dough doesn't dry out.

Knead the dough for 5-8 minutes, or until it starts to become soft and smooth; see kneading guide in the book on pages 47-51. Baguettes are traditionally made with quite a dry dough, so they easily gain good strength. You don't need to knead as much as you would with a wet dough - if the gluten structure develops too much, you'll get a heavy baguette that doesn't rise well.

Let the dough stand covered for 4-5 hours until it has plenty of bubbles. The time required will depend on the temperature.

Use a dough scraper and scrape the dough onto a clean work surface. Cut the dough into four equal pieces with the scraper – you can weigh them if you're very meticulous about having uniform baguettes. To get them to rise well in the oven, it's best to pre-shape the baguettes (see page 60 in our book).

Let them rest for 30 minutes afterward.

Shape the baguettes. Start by dusting a couche or a tea towel with flour and placing it on a baking tray. Then follow the shaping instructions on pages 66-67 of our book and form tight, long rolls of dough. Place the baguettes on the couche as you form them, making a fold in the cloth between them so they don't touch.

Let the dough rise for 30 minutes at room temperature, then place the tray in the fridge. Preferably cover the baguettes – you can sprinkle a little flour over them and then lay a piece of plastic wrap on top. Let them rise in the fridge for 8-14 hours or until you're ready to bake them.

Baking baguettes is best done on a baking stone. If you have one, preheat your oven at least 40 minutes before you plan to bake.

Preheat the oven to 250°/230°C fan. It doesn't matter much whether you have a special baguette tray or use a regular baking tray – the result will be good either way. Dust a baking tray or a peel with semolina flour.

Flip the baguettes one by one out of the floured couche and onto the baking tray or peel. They should now be lying with the opposite side up from when they were rising. Slash them lengthwise with one, two or three cuts. The cuts should overlap at least one-third, and they should all be almost parallel to the sides of the dough – they need to be very straight. Be careful to just cut through the surface and not too deep.

Slide the baguettes onto the hot baking stone and steam them – either by pouring water into a cast iron pan and placing it at the bottom of the oven or by spraying the baguettes and stone with water. Turn the oven down to 230°/210°C fan. If you have a convection oven and can turn off the fan, do so.

Bake the baguettes for 15 minutes, then open the oven door to let the remaining steam escape (remove the cast iron pan if there's still water in it). Bake for another 20-25 minutes or until the baguettes have a deep chestnut brown color. Let them cool completely on a wire rack before eating.