Today I made the best baguettes ever, using a slightly modified version of the "Mixed-starter Bread" in Baking with Julia. I started Friday night, with a chef, a piece of fully risen dough retained from a previous bread (it was part whole wheat and part white, if that makes any difference); I mixed it with 1/4 cup of 110� water (temperature tested with an instant-read thermometer) and 2/3 cup of unbleached white flour. I left out this "sponge" for about 3 hours in the kitchen, then put it in the refrigerator overnite, peeking at it occasionally and afraid that it wasn't going to work.
Then Saturday morning, I took it out, let it warm up, mixed in 2 tablespoons of 110� water, and about 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour and 2-3 tablespoons unbleached flour, stirred it madly with a wooden spoon for, say, 100 strokes. I left it out for most of the day, then put it in the refrigerator overnite.
This morning, I took it out at about 7 am, and it still didn't look as if it had fermented much--not many of those little holes. But I poured 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons cool water (maybe that's just 2/3 of a cup) into a bowl, sprinkled 1/4 teaspoon of non-rapid-rise yeast on it, mixed in the sponge, and about 1 3/4 cups of unbleached flour. As usual, I forgot to let it rest for 10 minutes, but this time was stickier than usual. I kneaded it in the bowl, picking it up and bashing it down a few times, adding flour when it got too sticky. Then I covered it and left it to rise for 1 1/2 hours.
Next I was supposed to fold it down on itself a few times, but it was pretty hard because it was so sticky, so it seemed more like I was just pushing it around. Then I let it rise for another 45 minutes, then I shaped it by dividing it in 2, pressing each piece down till they were flat, folding down about 1/3 of the dough, pressing it into the middle of the dough with my fingertips, then folding everything down to the bottom and pressing everything together.
Then I picked up the sausage shape by one end and gently squeezed it along its length (wow, getting pretty steamy, eh?) until it was about 12" long, and put it in the baguette mold, and covered it with plastic wrap, and let it rise for 1 hour, when I found the plastic wrap had stuck. While I preheated the oven, which had unglazed quarry tiles on the rack, I gingerly peeled off the wrap. When the oven was ready, I tried to slash the baguettes, but the surface was too dry. I sprayed some water on them, and baked them for 20 minutes, checking to see that the internal temp was 200� (with my trusty instant-read thermometer). One looked a little too browned, but when they cooled off, they had the best texture I've ever baked in a baguette. Supposedly, long fermentation time boosts the flavor of the bread and adds texture by bringing out the gluten.


If I could figure out what this guy's talking about, maybe I could try the Squeeze and flip method. And maybe I'll try his Rye Bread.


Update
Check this post out. And this one.