How to make french baguettes
There is nothing like a freshly baked French baguette. Crusty and beautifully coloured on the outside, buttery soft and chewy on the inside, these are delicious served warm from the oven and smothered in butter.
What are French baguettes made of?
A traditional French baguette is made of flour, water, yeast and salt. Just four simple ingredients can produce a beautiful, flavourful, crusty baguette.
If you enjoyed this recipe, give our pain au chocolat recipe a try!
Method
Step 1:
In a large bowl mix the yeast with the water and sugar. Sift the flour and salt together in a separate bowl, add half to the yeast mixture, stir and cover. Leave until the dough has doubled in size.
Step 2:
Add the remaining flour and mix to a light dough. Knead for 10 minutes by hand or for 5 minutes if using a food mixer fitted with a dough hook.
Step 3:
Divide the dough into 3 pieces and shape into an oblong. Fold the 2 ends into the middle and seal, repeat this process 3 or 4 more times.
Step 4:
Roll each piece of dough into a 33-34 cm (13-14”) long loaf.
Step 5:
Place onto a greased baking tray and leave until double in size, then slash the tops. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200°C (fan 180°C, gas mark 7).
Step 6:
Bake for 20 minutes carefully spraying the inside of the oven with water during the first 5 minutes of baking.
Ingredients
- 1 Easy bake yeast sachet
- 270ml Warm water (lukewarm)
- 1 tsp Unrefined golden granulated sugar
- 450g Allinson's Strong white bread flour
- 2 tsp Salt
- 1 Easy bake yeast sachet
Nutritional Information
per 74g- 181cal Energy
- 0.6g Fat
- 0.2g of which Saturates
- 36g Carbohydrates
- 0.7g of which Sugars
- 6.6g Protein
- 1.1g Salt
Recipe Reviews
Great recipe for a beginner baker starting off with basic ingredients like yeast sachets. Came out very well but takes a bit of practice and maybe a bit of video tutorials to get it spot on
it is cool
Just about to take them out of the oven, they look perfect. Well done on a simple , quick and easy to follow recipe.
Well, that's 3 times, and 3 times, the baguettes come out Stoggy & Uncooked. I've Tried reducing the Water, the Flour, and lowering yo 170, but No.. As Heavy as Bricks. Rubbish.Maybe in an Industrial oven, but in a Normal electric one, Rubbish. Disgusted with the Results......
Hi,
It turned out tasty but heavier/denser than I had anticipated.
Any thoughts on where I went wrong??
There are various reasons why this loaf may have come out heavy or dense. Without knowing exactly the steps you followed we wouldn't be able to work out on this exact occassion however can provide some tips to try and avoid this next time. It is important not to under or over knead your dough, typically for bread you will want to knead for 10 minutes by hand or 5 minutes if you are using a dough hook.
When it comes to proving makes sure that you leave it to double in size, the timing on this can vary depending on how humid the room is, typically it is no less than an hour. Try not to let it overprove (more than double) as this can cause the dough to collapse when baked, giving a denser texture.
It is important as well when weighing our your ingredients to keep the salt, sugar and yeast seperate from each other until you are ready to mix. The salt is in there to kill off the yeast and slow the proving down, but if they are mixed together too early it make kill off the yeast and make it inactive and giving your dough a poor rise.
I hope that helps.
A simple and effective recipe. I proofed for 20mins in the first and second phase and baked for slightly longer for a proper crust but this was a great recipe to get me started as a total novice. The baguettes came out perfect after a couple of practice runs. It’ll be my go-to for a basic baguette from now on.
Ingredients
- 1 Easy bake yeast sachet
- 270ml Warm water (lukewarm)
- 1 tsp Unrefined golden granulated sugar
- 450g Allinson's Strong white bread flour
- 2 tsp Salt
- 1 Easy bake yeast sachet
Nutritional Information
per 74g- 181cal Energy
- 0.6g Fat
- 0.2g of which Saturates
- 36g Carbohydrates
- 0.7g of which Sugars
- 6.6g Protein
- 1.1g Salt