It’s surprisingly easy to make crusty baguettes in your own kitchen. This foolproof recipe produces 3 baguettes in only a few hours. Even if you’ve never made bread before, this can be your entry into making all types of breads, from tender sandwich loaves to quick pita breads.
Simply mix the yeast, water, and whole wheat flour, and then gradually the bread flour until you have a slightly sticky dough. Scrape the dough onto a floured surface, sprinkle a bit of additional flour over the dough’s surface, and begin to knead the dough until it holds together. Let it rise in an oiled bowl, covered, for about 2 hours or until doubled in size. Scrape the dough out onto a floured surface.
Lightly dust the dough with flour and shape it into a long rectangle.
Using a dough cutter, cut the dough into 3 equal pieces.
Gently shape each piece into a long baguette shape and place in a baguette pan. It’s okay if they’re not perfect! You’ll get better at this step after you’ve made them a few times. Here’s a great lesson in shaping baguettes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlN5CgQcvAg and here’s the video that shows how to score the baguettes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRJ7b0sVXUc
(I’m still working on this step myself as you can see!)
Cover with a cloth while the oven heats. Just before baking, make 3 long slightly overlapping slashes at an angle almost parallel with the top surface of the loaves with the razor blade. Bake the baguettes for 20 minutes at the temperatures listed in the recipe.
Try these other delicious bread recipes:
Crusty Baguettes
Prep
Cook
Inactive
Total
Yield 3 Baguettes
You don't have to live near a great bakery to enjoy crusty baguettes. This easy-to-follow recipe produces 3 fragrant loaves perfect for enjoying on their own or used for sandwiches.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
- 2 1/2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 3-3 1/2 cups bread flour plus ¼ cup more for dusting the dough and kneading surface
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil (for oiling the rising bowl)
- Baguette pan for 3 baguettes*
- Dough scraper
- Dough/Pastry cutter or large chef’s knife
- Water spray mister set to the fine mist setting
Instructions
Put the yeast in a large mixing bowl and pour the water over it carefully. Add 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour. Stir until completely combined. Let the mixture rest for 5 minutes or up to 2 hours (this allows the flour to hydrate). Add 1 cup of the bread flour and stir well. Sprinkle the salt over the dough and stir again. Add another cup of bread flour and stir well until no dry flour is visible. If the dough is very loose and not holding together, add another ½ cup of bread flour. The dough will be still be sticky. (Work slowly here; the longer you take to mix and knead the dough, the more time it will have to hydrate which will keep you from adding too much flour.)
Lightly flour a counter or board that you’ll use for kneading the dough. Use a dough scraper to scrape the dough in a single ball onto the floured surface and lightly dust the top surface of the dough with flour. Scrape all the bits of flour from the bowl onto the dough ball. Lightly flour your palms and begin to knead the bread, incorporating the bits of dough as you knead. Knead the bread for 4-6 minutes, adding flour by the teaspoonfuls as the dough becomes sticky. Don’t add more than 3/4 cup total of flour. When the dough ball holds together well with a smooth surface and springs back when prodded with a finger, put it in a large, lightly oiled large bowl to rise. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for approximately 2 hours or until doubled in size.
When the dough has doubled in size, use the dough scraper to gently scrape the dough out of the bowl onto the floured surface (you may need to re-flour the surface) while keeping the dough in one piece. Lightly dust the dough with flour and gently shape it into a long rectangle, about 14” by 4.” Use a dough cutter to cut the dough into 3 equal pieces. Separate the pieces gently, and gently pull each piece by its opposite corners into a long baguette shape. Lift each baguette into the baguette pan. Cover the baguettes with a lightweight cloth and let them rise for about 1-1 ½ hours or until almost doubled in size.
Heat the oven to 480 degrees F. Lightly mist the baguettes with 2 or 3 sprays from your mister. With a very sharp knife or razor blade held almost parallel to the bread's surface, make a 3-4 slightly overlapping angled slashes quickly across the surface of the baguettes. Bake the baguettes for 12 minutes. Lower the oven to 390 degrees F and bake for another 8 minutes. Remove them from the oven and let them cool on a rack before slicing.
*If you don’t have a baguette pan, you can bake the baguettes on a pizza stone, but it’s a bit tricky to transfer them from the kneading surface to the preheated stone in the oven. You can also bake them on a regular baking sheet, but they won’t keep the nice rounded baguette shape. They’ll still be delicious, though.
Courses Bread
Thanks; it’s a great recipe. So glad you found yeast! If you want to borrow my baguette pan, just come on over.
This recipe is perfect!