The baguette is a bread with an airy crumb and a crispy crust that’s very popular in France. And let me tell you right now, what they usually sell us in this country as a baguette doesn’t have much in common with a real baguette.
Any French person would make a face and say: “pain de merde” (shit). I say it too, but in Spanish. So let’s get on with this homemade baguette recipe so you can see what’s what.
A good baguette isn’t easy to make. It needs a perfect distribution of holes in the crumb—not too big, not too small—a wildly crisp crust, and a score line (or cuts where the bread opens) that forms a perfect lip on one side. In short, if you don’t already have some experience with bread, I wouldn’t recommend you try. They’re not for the faint of heart.
But I don’t want to scare you with all this; a good baguette, like many other things, takes a lot of practice, and with this article, we’re going to start practicing. We’ll be making baguettes using the direct method, without any pre‑fermentation like we use in other recipes. In this recipe, we’ve used a hydration level of 65%, which is typical for baguettes.
Homemade baguette recipe
Ingredients
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Bread flour | 370 g |
| Water | 240 g |
| Freeze‑dried baker’s yeast (or 15 g fresh yeast) | 5 g |
| Salt | 10 g |
Elaboration
- Mix the bread flour, water, baker’s yeast, and salt. Knead by hand or with a stand mixer in 1‑2 minute intervals with 10‑15 minute rests in between, repeating as many times as necessary until the dough passes the windowpane test. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let it rise until doubled in volume.
- Once the dough has risen, transfer it to a well‑floured work surface, as it is a soft and sticky dough. Divide it with a dough scraper into as many portions as you want baguettes. The number depends on the size of your oven; for a standard 60cm domestic oven, the baguettes need to be small, unless you bake them one at a time, placing them diagonally. I divided this amount of dough into four baguettes, which turned out rather small, like ficelles —very thin.
- We flatten each portion of dough with our fingers, degassing it into a rectangle, and roll it up as shown in the photos. We let them rest for half an hour, covering them with a cloth or plastic wrap.
- Once the dough has rested, take a portion and place it in front of you with the seam of the roll facing upwards. Gently flatten it with your fingers into a rectangle. Fold the bottom half over itself, bringing the bottom edge towards the center of the dough. Press lightly to seal.
- We do the same with the top half; we take the top edge with our fingers and bring it to the center of the dough; we seal it again.
- Next, we take each of the four corners of the rectangle and fold them inwards as seen in the previous right‑hand photo, to form something that already looks more like a bar.
- Now fold the top half over the bottom half, using your thumb as shown in the top left photo. Working from one end of the dough to the other, seal the seam over the bottom half by pressing down with the base of your palm. Repeat this process once more, folding the loaf lengthwise and sealing the seam. This creates tension on the surface of the loaf, allowing it to rise properly in the oven.
- Once the dough has been formed, we need to stretch it. To do this, place both hands in the center of the dough, one on top of the other, and begin rolling it back and forth while simultaneously separating your hands and stretching the dough. The work surface shouldn’t be too floured at this stage, as the dough will slip. Try to keep the thickness of the dough uniform along its entire length.
- We stretch it to the length that we can fit in our oven and make the ends pointed.
- Generously flour a large cloth or linen bread mat (couche) and place the loaves on it as shown in the photo, with the seam facing upwards. Once all the loaves are in place, cover them with plastic wrap to allow them to rise.
- When they’ve risen to one and a half times their original size (they don’t need to double in size), carefully transfer them to a baking tray, seam‑side down, and score them with a knife. As you can see from the result, I’m still terrible at scoring. I have to make another 627 baguettes before I master it.
- We bake the baguettes in the oven at 250°C (without fan) for 10 minutes. Then we lower the temperature to 205°C (with fan) and bake for another 15 minutes. We remove them to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
Try this baguette recipe; made with love, care, and good flour, they’ll have a wonderful aroma and taste heavenly. Down with gas station bread!
Nutritional Facts for Easy & Quick French Baguette Recipe
| Nutrient | Amount per Serving | % Daily Value* |
|---|---|---|
| Serving Size | 1 Slice (55g) | — |
| Calories | 145 | 7% |
| Carbohydrates | 29g | 11% |
| Protein | 5g | 10% |
| Total Fat | 1g | 1% |
| Saturated Fat | 0g | 0% |
| Cholesterol | 0mg | 0% |
| Sodium | 290mg | 13% |
| Potassium | 55mg | 1% |
| Fiber | 1g | 4% |
| Sugars | 1g | — |
| Vitamin A | 0 IU | 0% |
| Vitamin C | 0mg | 0% |
| Calcium | 12mg | 1% |
| Iron | 1.9mg | 10% |
Note: Nutritional values are approximate and may vary depending on flour type, yeast quantity, baking method, and slice thickness used in the recipe.
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000-calorie diet.