Baton (Батон) is a modern recipe for the most popular type of white wheat bread in Eastern Europe — an elongated loaf with diagonal slashes on the surface, a golden crust, and a soft, fine-pored white crumb. The baton is to post-Soviet countries what the baguette is to France — the everyday staple bread.
Recipe (modern formulation)
- Top-grade wheat flour — 100.0 kg
- Compressed yeast — 2.0 kg
- Granulated sugar — 4.0 kg
- Margarine or vegetable oil — 3.5 kg
- Salt — 1.5 kg
- Water — approximately 38–42 kg
Technological notes
The dough is prepared by either the straight (bezoparniy) or sponge (oparniy) method. Dough temperature: 28–30 °C. After mixing to full gluten development, the dough is fermented for 1.5–2.5 hours with one or two punch-downs. It is then divided, rounded, rested for 5–10 minutes, and shaped into elongated loaves (typically 350–400 g). Diagonal slashes (3–5 cuts) are made on the surface before baking.
Baking: 220–240 °C for 22–28 minutes with steam injection in the first 3–5 minutes to develop a glossy, crisp crust. The finished loaf should have a golden-brown crust, a fine and uniform crumb structure, and a clean wheat aroma. Final moisture: 41–43%.
This is a modern formulation — the classic GOST version used slightly different proportions but the same basic approach.