Hi friends,

The figs in my newest baguettes came from my own Brown Turkey tree. I dried them myself and stopped a little short of leathery, so they stay soft and jammy in the crumb. Paired with pumpkin purée, they made the sweetest loaves in my fall baguette collection, and the most loaded.

The pumpkin turns the crumb golden and keeps it moist, and the figs go in at nearly a quarter of the flour weight. You can start the dough the night before with a pinch of instant yeast or with your sourdough starter. The final dough is the same either way.

Makes two baguettes for 15-inch baskets.

On the first bake, I started at 475°F and turned the oven down to 450°F partway through. The figs on the crust burned, and the loaves barely rose. It turns out my oven fires the top element when you lower the temperature, which made it worse.

The second bake spread flat before it went in. I left the scored loaves on parchment while the oven finished heating, and without the basket holding them, they slumped.

For the third bake, I let the loaves proof (in the proofing baskets) in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, I turned them out of the baskets onto parchment, scored them, and loaded them onto the baking steel right away, at a steady 450°F. That is what worked, and it is the recipe on the blog, along with the full story and notes on choosing and soaking figs.

Happy baking,
Cathy, Bread Experience

P.S. If you bake these with store-bought figs, give one a squeeze first. Firm, leathery figs want a 10-minute soak in warm water; soft ones can go straight into the dough. Mine were soft enough to skip it, which is one of the small pleasures of drying your own.