These homemade French baguettes have a soft, hole-filled interior and a crisp, golden crust. While it’s a challenge to make “real” French baguettes at home, this version is probably the closest to an artisanal bakery version you can find.

The ingredients of baguettes are few and simple: flour, water, salt and yeast. It’s the baker’s technique that transforms an average baguette into an excellent baguette. Don’t expect perfection on the first try, but the more you practice baguette preparation and cooking techniques, the better your homemade baguette will be.

INGREDIENTS FOR 3 BAGUETTES

• 550 g of 0 flour
• 8 grams of brewer’s yeast or 4 grams of powdered yeast
• 12 g of salt
• 400 ml of water at room temperature

WHAT ARE FRENCH BAGUETTES MADE OF?

The traditional French baguette is made of flour, water, yeast and salt. It’s fascinating how these four simple ingredients produce a beautiful, flavorful, crunchy baguette. Even more fascinating is the fact that different bakers, using the same ingredients, can make baguettes that sometimes differ substantially from each other.

Until about a century ago, making sourdough bread was the norm for French bakers. Later we opted for a mixture of natural yeast and brewer’s yeast, which made the crumb lighter and more open. Lately, many bakeries are looking for efficiency and switching to using brewer’s yeast, as using natural yeasts requires more work.

OTHER FACTORS THAT DEFINE THE APPEARANCE AND TASTE OF A BAGUETTE

As already mentioned, many French baguettes, although using the same ingredients, differ in appearance and taste. This is largely due to the process used. You can proof the dough very quickly using hot water and lukewarm room temperature, but it will lack flavor. By slowing down the fermentation process, known as cold retardation, you get a complex flavor and better taste.

So, the way you ferment the dough, the length of the delay, the leavening, the shape, the cutting and the baking are all factors that contribute to the appearance and flavor of the final product.

BAGUETTE PREPARATION PROCESS

This recipe for making baguette at home requires brewer’s yeast with a hydration of 75% (i.e. the ratio between water and flour), very little yeast, just kneaded, folded four times in an hour and then placed in the refrigerator for 21 hours. He also added that the baguettes are not fully risen when they are baked, it is the wet dough and the very, very hot oven (480F) that cause the baguettes to bulk up.

THE EQUIPMENT

Another tool you will need is the bread knife. It is essential for scoring baguettes. We use a serrated bread knife to make nice marks, but a blade will be much easier for novice bakers.

MIXING THE DOUGH, STRETCHING AND FOLDING

The first step involves mixing all the ingredients in a bowl and letting them rest for about 10 minutes, followed by 3 stretches and folds over an hour and a half, approximately every 30-45 minutes. In each iteration of stretching and folding, pull one side of the dough and fold it over itself. At the end of each iteration, I take the ball of dough and flip it over.

Do this in a warm room to start the yeast’s activity, otherwise the dough will struggle to rise in the refrigerator. Examine the surface of the dough before placing it in the refrigerator and look for small bubbles and a slight smell of sour milk. If both are observed, the dough is ready to be placed in the refrigerator. If not, I let it sit at room temperature for another half hour to an hour.

HOW TO GIVE SHAPE TO BAGUETTES

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 3 equal pieces, form rectangles and leave to rest for 45-60 minutes.

Roll out into rectangles and roll each rectangle as shown below. Starting from the longest side, fold it inside the rectangle and seal the seam with your thumb. Be careful not to degrease the dough. Repeat two more times until a cylinder is formed.

Seal the seams with the palm of your hand and stretch the cylinder to the desired length by rolling it gently with your hands.

BAKING

Once the baguettes are in the oven, reduce the temperature to 200. Bake for about 15 minutes, remove the baking sheet, rotate, and bake another 15 minutes at 450F, until deeply browned.

If the Cucina Geek baguette recipe turned out well for you, also try the no-knead bread, wholemeal bread and homemade pizza

What type of flour to use to make baguette?

We use 0 flour

How do you make a baguette?

Making baguettes is not too complicated but you need to make the famous FOLDS and a fairly long leavening.

What is the secret of the French baguette?

Even in France everyone uses the same ingredients, but the secret lies in the folds and the waiting.