Best 8 French Baguettes Recipes

FRENCH BAGUETTES

Steps:

• Place 1 cup water, bread flour, sugar, salt and yeast into bread machine pan in the order recommended by manufacturer. Select Dough cycle, and press Start.
• When the cycle has completed, place dough in a greased bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover, and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes, or until doubled in bulk. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.
• Punch down dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll into a 16x12 inch rectangle. Cut dough in half, creating two 8x12 inch rectangles. Roll up each half of dough tightly, beginning at 12 inch side, pounding out any air bubbles as you go. Roll gently back and forth to taper end. Place 3 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Make deep diagonal slashes across loaves every 2 inches, or make one lengthwise slash on each loaf. Cover, and let rise in a warm place for 30 to 40 minutes, or until doubled in bulk.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Mix egg yolk with 1 tablespoon water; brush over tops of loaves.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

HOW TO MAKE FRENCH BAGUETTES

Steps:

• Place yeast into the bottom of a large mixing bowl and stir with water; mix in salt. Beat flour into yeast mixture with a wooden spoon until dough is thick and sticky and pulls flour from the side of the bowl, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let stand in a turned-off oven until doubled in size, 12 to 14 hours. Dough will be bubbly and very sticky.
• Place a silicone baking mat onto a baking sheet and dust generously with cornmeal.
• Use a floured spatula to scrape dough out onto a well-floured work surface and dust dough with flour. With well-floured hands, pat dough into a rectangle and cut into 4 equal-size pieces.
• Dust a piece of dough with flour and use your floured fingers to gently roll and stretch it out into a log about 10 inches long and 1 1/2 inches around. Gently transfer to prepared baking sheet. If desired, wipe off excess cornmeal with a damp paper towel. Repeat with another piece of dough. (Reserve remaining dough to bake later or prepare 2 baking sheets to bake all 4 at once). Dust loaves lightly with flour. Dust a large piece of plastic wrap with flour and drape plastic lightly over the baking sheet with floured side down.
• Let loaves rise, covered, until doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hour.
• Move oven racks to the bottom and middle positions. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C) or as high as your oven will go. Place an oven-safe baking dish full of water into bottom rack of the oven.
• Use a sharp kitchen shears to cut 4 or 5 angled slashes into the top of each loaf. Poke down the little sharp tips of dough left by the scissors. Spray loaves with water, using a spray bottle.
• Bake in the preheated oven until baguettes are browned, about 15 minutes, spraying loaves with water after 5 minutes and 10 minutes. Turn the pan around on the second spraying.
• Transfer baguettes to a cooling rack and let cool to room temperature before slicing with a serrated knife.

HOMEMADE FRENCH BAGUETTES

Steps:

• Combine the honey, yeast and 1/2 cup warm water. Stir to combine and let the mixture stand until the yeast is activated and begins to foam, 5 minutes.
• Mix the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl with a dough hook and slowly add in the yeast mixture. Gradually add 1 cup warm water and mix until the dough comes together into a ball that is not too wet (you may not need all of the water). If the dough is sticky, add a little bit more flour. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, 2 to 6 minutes. You can do the thumbprint test: press in the dough with your thumb and it should bounce back when it's ready.
• Form the dough into a ball, place it in a lightly-oiled bowl and cover with a dishcloth, so it doesn't dry out. Let rest in a warm environment until doubled in size, 25 to 30 minutes.
• Punch down the dough and divide it in half. Shape into 2 baguettes by making a flat rectangle out of your dough, then folding the top and bottom towards the middle, like an envelope, and sealing the seam with your fingers. Keep repeating the folding and sealing, stretching the rectangle lengthwise as you go, until it's about 12 to 14 inches long and 2 inches wide. Fold and seal either end to round. Flip seam-side down and place on a sheet pan or baguette pan that has been dusted with cornmeal. Score the tops of the loaves, making deep diagonal slits 1/2-inch deep, cover with a dishcloth and let rise in a warm environment until they have doubled in size, 25 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and position your oven racks with one on the bottom and the other in the middle. Place an oven-safe (non-glass) bowl or pan on the bottom rack.
• When your bread has doubled for the second time, remove the towel and quickly and simultaneously, slide the sheet tray with the baguettes onto the middle rack while carefully throwing the ice cubes into the bowl on the bottom rack. The ice will create a burst of steam that will give you a nice crispy crust. Quickly shut the oven door so no steam escapes. Bake the baguettes until golden brown, 15 minutes.
• Cook's Note: If you have a glass window on your oven, place a towel over it when throwing the ice in, hot glass can shatter if ice touches it.
• Serving suggestions: ricotta cheese and acacia honey.

FRENCH BAGUETTES

Steps:

• Working with 1 portion of dough at a time, keeping remaining dough covered, fold dough in half lengthwise to form a tight, narrow log. Gently press edges with lightly floured fingertips to seal.
• Using your palms, roll the dough on a lightly floured work surface until it's about 16 inches long, rolling more firmly at the ends to create a tapered effect.
• Place loaves, seam side down, on a generously floured linen towel or a parchment-lined baking sheet. Fold towel between the loaves to prevent sticking. Cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap, and let rise at cool room temperature until loaves have almost doubled and a floured finger pressed into side leaves a slight indentation, 40 to 50 minutes.
• Place a skillet on oven rack adjusted to lowest position and a baking stone on middle oven rack. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. If using a linen towel, gently turn baguettes onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Before baking, use a lame or razor blade to make 3 slashes on top of each baguette. Pour 1/2 cup hot water into skillet in oven. Slide bread and parchment onto baking stone.
• Immediately reduce oven to 450 degrees. Bake until baguettes are deep golden brown, sound hollow when bottoms are thumped, and interiors register 205 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool on wire racks. Baguettes are best the day you make them, but they can be wrapped in parchment and then foil, and stored at room temperature overnight (or frozen for up to 1 month; thaw at room temperature before serving.)

FRENCH BAGUETTES

Steps:

• In a small bowl dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water.
• Stir with a fork.
• Set aside for 10 minutes.
• Combine the flour and salt.
• Add the yeast mixture, and stir in the remaining 1 1/2 cups water.
• Mix the dough until it is sticky enough to knead.
• On a lightly floured board, knead for 6 to 10 minutes; the dough should be sticky and smooth.
• Put the dough in a bowl, cover with a damp tea towel, and let rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
• Punch down the dough and divide into 4 pieces.
• Roll each into a ball and shape into a baguette.
• Transfer the loaves to a lightly greased baking sheet or baguette pan and let rise until nearly doubled.
• (I use 2 baking sheets, with 3 smaller loaves per sheet).
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
• Brush the baguettes with the egg-water mixture.
• Score the loaves diagonally across the top with a sharp knife.
• Pour 2 cups of hot water into a pan and place in the preheated oven next to the baguettes to provide moisture.
• Bake the baguettes for 15 minutes, and then lower the temperature to 400 degrees and bake for 5 to 10 minutes more, until golden brown.
• Remove from the oven and cool on a rack before slicing.
• Occasionally I burn the bottom of the bread, in which case I scrape it off with a sharp serrated knife and it remains my secret!

CRISPY FRENCH BAGUETTES (LEVAIN BAKERY)

Steps:

• In bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together yeast and warm water until creamy. Using dough hook, add the flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the cool water. Mix until a smooth, elastic dough forms, 5 to 8 minutes. Remove the dough hook, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in the refrigerator for 8 to 24 hours.
• Grease a double baguette pan and lightly sprinkle with cornmeal. Divide the dough into two 12-by-6-inch rectangles. Form the dough into baguettes. Transfer baguettes to the prepared pan, laying each seam-side down. Cover with plastic wrap and let proof overnight in the refrigerator.
• When the dough has proofed completely (see Chef Tip: The Poke Test), preheat the oven to 375°F Lightly flour the top of each baguette. With a razor blade or very sharp paring knife, score the top of each baguette lengthwise 3 to 4 times. Place the pan in the center of the oven and bake until crusty and golden, about 30 minutes.
• Chef's Tip for Mixing Dough: When first combining water and flour, it is essential to create dough with the right consistency. If dough is too wet and sticky, add a bit more flour. If dough is too dry and hard, add a bit more cool water.
• Chef's Tip for The Poke Test: Poke the refrigerated dough with a finger. If the indentation holds, you're ready to bake. If dough bounces back, let it sit in a warm spot until it passes the test.
• Chef's Tip for Forming Baguettes: Divide the dough into two rectangles. Fold the long edge of one rectangle over to meet the other edge and pinch the seam to seal. Roll up into a log, flatten, fold, and pinch again. Continue 2 or 3 times more until you have a baguette long enough to fit your pan. Repeat with the remaining dough.

FRENCH BAGUETTES WITH WHOLE WHEAT

Steps:

• 1. The day before: Mix the starter ingredients till smooth. Cover and let rest at room temperature overnight. Be sure to use a non-reactive bowl, such as glass or ceramic, and not plastic.
• 2. The next day, mix the starter with the remaining ingredients, leaving out 1/2 cup of the bread flour. Mix with a dough hook or by hand until dough is nice and springy, but not totally smooth. Add in the remaining half cup of flour if necessary to achieve the desired consistency. There is not a lot of kneading required for this bread.
• 3. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise for 3 hours, gently punching it down and turning it over after 1 hour and again after 2 hours. I set my bowl over a dish pan of hot tap water to get a good rising temperature.
• 4. At the end of 3 hours, punch dough down again and divide it into thirds. On an oiled surface, roll each piece into a long, thin rope.
• 5. At this point, I greased my baguette pan and sprinkled it with cornmeal. If you don't have a baguette pan, you can grease a cookie sheet and sprinkle it with cornmeal. Place the ropes of dough on the pan, about 2" apart, and cover with a clean, lint-free cloth. Let rise at room temperature until not quite doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.
• 6. About 15 minutes before end of rising time, preheat oven to 425°F. With a sharp knife or razor blade, make diagonal slashes across the loaves to let the steam escape. Spray the loaves heavily with hot water.
• 7. Bake the loaves for 22 to 28 minutes, until golden brown (mine was perfect at 25 minutes). Turn oven off, then remove loaves from pan and place them directly on oven rack. Leaving door open about two inches, allow loaves to cool completely in the oven.
• 8. The crust on these loaves turned out great - it tastes just like a real French baguette!

FRENCH BAGUETTES

Steps:

• 1. Put 1 cup water, flour, sugar, salt and yeast into bread machine. Select dough cycle and press start
• 2. When cycle has completed place dough in a greased bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover, let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes or until doubled. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.
• 3. Punch down dough. On lightly floured board, roll into a 16 x 12 rectangle. Cut doughh in half creating two 8 X 12 inch rectangles. Roll up each half of dough tightly, beginning at 12 inch side, pounding out any air bubbles as you go. Roll gently back and forth to taper ends. Place 3 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Make deep diagonal slashes across loaves every 2 or 3 inches or make one lengthwise slash on each loaf. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 to 40 minutes or until doubled in bulk.
• 4. Preheat oven to 375F. Mix egg yolk with 1 tablespoon water, brush over tops of loaves. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven or until brown.