Homemade French Baguette

A freshly baked baguette is lovely. Add a little herb butter, and the meal is perfect for me. For a long time, I have shied away from baking baguette myself. And yes, it takes forever to bake, but the result is worth it. I really haven't had bread as good as this from my own oven in a long time. That's why I just have to share this baguette recipe with you guys.

Taste and Occasion

Take a little time, get in the kitchen, prepare the pre-dough and main dough, set the kitchen alarm clock for what feels like fifty times, give the yeast dough the hours it needs, and look forward to a wonderful homemade French baguette that you can be proud of! The preparation doesn't even take that long; however, due to all the resting, rising, and different steps, it will take 2 to 3 days or 2 nights. So if you want to eat homemade baguette on Wednesday, you must prepare the pre-dough already on Monday evening. But since you are usually happy to prepare something for barbecues or summer parties anyway, this is only half as bad. Like the puff pastry buns with cheese, I also leave the baguette for parties a little too short in the oven, freeze the sticks fresh, and then bake them again shortly before.

Ingredients

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For the easy baguette recipe, I used the baguette baking sheet from Birkmann, a gift from Jan. Still, similar baguette baking molds are also available from other manufacturers such as Städter. They cost very roughly 10-15 euros. The basic recipe has its origins in the booklet that came with the baguette tray. I have – as always – adapted it by using other flours etc. You can bake the baguette with dry yeast, with fresh yeast, or completely without yeast. The latter I have not yet tried.

How to make the French Baguette

On the first day, mix 170 grams of flour and 50 grams of rye meal for the pre-dough with 1 teaspoon of dry yeast, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 150 ml of water. Knead to a smooth dough with a food processor and continue to knead with a machine or by hand for at least 5 minutes. Now, form yeast dough into a ball, spray or brush with a bit of oil and let rise covered in a warm place for 1.5 hours. Then knead the pre-dough again very briefly, cover again, and refrigerate overnight.

On the second day, continue by mixing the remaining 400 grams of flour, 50 grams of rye meal, 2 teaspoons of yeast, 300 ml of water, and the cane sugar for the main dough the next day. Attention: The salt is added later! Knead the main dough with a food processor to a smooth dough, just like the pre-dough, and continue to knead with a machine or by hand for at least 5 minutes. Then, form yeast dough into a ball, spray or brush with a bit of oil and let rise for half an hour covered in a warm place.

Knead the pre-dough with the main dough and the remaining 2 teaspoon (for onion baguette, add the roasted onions now), spray with oil, and let rise covered for half an hour. Then knead briefly to release the gas from the dough and let rise again for 90 minutes. After this, divide the dough into thirds and form a baguette from each third (about 400 grams). Place the strands of dough in the baguette pan and let rise for 15 minutes. Then cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.

On the third day – the actual baking day – take the baguettes out of the refrigerator and let them "warm up", still covered, for about half an hour. Preheat the oven to 520°F/250°C, and place a cup of water on the bottom. Make several cuts in baguettes and brush with water. Bake for 2 minutes at 520°F/250°C, then remove from oven. In the end, turn oven temperature down to 500°F/230°C, brush baguettes with water again, and let bake for 25-30 minutes. Meanwhile, turn over and brush with water at least once. Leave the finished baguettes in the turned-off oven for at least 5 minutes, and only then remove them.

Top Tip

Roughly, the baguette recipe consists of 5 steps:

1. Make the starter dough and let it rise overnight.
2. Prepare the main dough.
3. Knead the pre-dough and main dough together and let everything rise again overnight.
4. Form three baguettes and knead in roasted onions or herbs as desired.
5. Bake.

In between, let yeast dough rest, rise, and flourish again and again 😉 .

Recipe Card

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French Baguette

It is a wonderfully crispy French baguette that takes some time to prepare but is worth it! The basic recipe can be used to make alternatives with fried onions, olives, whole wheat flour, or sun-dried tomatoes, for example.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Baking Time30 minutes mins

Waiting2 days d

Servings: 3 bars

Calories: 93kcal

Ingredients

1x2x3x

• 570 grams (4 ⅔ cups) all purpose flour
• 100 grams (⅖ cup) rye meal, or rye flour
• 2 teaspoons dry yeast
• 3 teaspoons salt
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 450 mililiters cold water
• 50 grams (1 cup) fried onions, per stick of onion baguette, optional
• oil, for spreading

Instructions

On the 1st day

• Mix 170 grams of flour and 50 grams of rye meal for the pre-dough with 1 teaspoon of dry yeast, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 150 ml of water. Knead to a smooth dough with a food processor and continue to knead with a machine or by hand for at least 5 minutes. Form yeast dough into a ball, spray or brush with a bit of oil and let rise covered in a warm place for 1.5 hours. Then knead the pre-dough again very briefly, cover again, and refrigerate overnight.

On the 2nd day

• Mix the remaining 400 grams of flour, 50 grams of rye meal, 2 teaspoons of yeast, 300 ml of water, and the cane sugar for the main dough the next day. Attention: The salt is added later! Knead the main dough with a food processor to a smooth dough, just like the pre-dough, and continue to knead with a machine or by hand for at least 5 minutes. Form yeast dough into a ball, spray or brush with a bit of oil and let rise for half an hour covered in a warm place.
• Knead the pre-dough with the main dough and the remaining 2 teaspoon (for onion baguette, add the roasted onions now), spray with oil, and let rise covered for half an hour. Then knead briefly to release the gas from the dough and let rise again for 90 minutes.
• Divide the dough into thirds and form a baguette from each third (about 400 grams). Place the strands of dough in the baguette pan and let rise for 15 minutes. Then cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.

On the 3rd day

• On the actual baking day, take the baguettes out of the refrigerator and let them "warm up", still covered, for about half an hour. Preheat the oven to 520°F/250°C, and place a cup of water on the bottom. Make several cuts in baguettes and brush with water. Bake for 2 minutes at 520°F/250°C, then remove from oven.
• Turn oven temperature down to 500°F/230°C. Brush baguettes with water again and let bake for 25-30 minutes. Meanwhile, turn over and brush with water at least once. Leave the finished baguettes in the turned-off oven for at least 5 minutes, and only then remove them.

Ingredient substitutions

Do you want to replace some ingredients? Here you find tips for baking ingredient substitutions!

Variations

My baguettes are a bit heartier than bread made with only white flour because of the rye meal in the dough. The unique baking sheet results in the bars being nicely baked all around and even the typical hole texture on the bottom. After making the baguette recipe for the first time, I was a bit wiped out. Still, the test bite with herb butter immediately reconciled me! If you want to bake more delicious bread, visit our bread category. There you can find, for example, the Italian ciabatta or the Indian naan.