At the beginning of quarantine I learned to bake bread with Le Chef. I am almost embarrassed to say that this is the first time that we ever baked bread together, but I suppose it is one of the upsides of 2020.
I made my first attempt using the recipe that my friend Julie-Anne (@eat.love.montreal ) sent me from Montreal. Julie-Anne is a much more experienced home baker than I am and I quickly realized that baking has its own language. I spent an hour googling terms and watching you tube videos about "proofing" and "rolling out baguettes" before I could begin baking. It was obvious to me I was out of my cooking comfort zone.
For a first attempt it was really good, the baguette was tasty with a nice crust but according to Le Chef, it was lacking a little “maîtrise”... I needed to improve my skills and learn how to bake baguettes for beginners. I happily became his apprentice as he showed me the tricks of his trade.
With a little addition to the recipe, (olive oil, a Provençal preference of course) and a few technical tips, there was a marked difference between my first attempt and my second.
I am happy to share with you the recipe and the lessons I learned from making these baguettes almost every weekend since the beginning of quarantine. I hope that it will help you in your bread making adventures!
Life is too short to eat bad bread 🙂
Tools needed for baking baguettes for beginners:
- A pastry scale ( definitely worth the $26 if you plan on baking a lot, but is not necessary for this recipe). This is the one we have.
- a spatula ( I love this Marseille Blue set from Le Creuset)
- a big mixing bowl
- measuring cups
- a baking sheet that supports high temperatures (460 degrees)
Baguette Recipe:
- Total Prep time: 20 minutes.
- Total cooking and rising time: about 2 hours
- 8 grams traditional yeast ( or 2 teaspoons)
- 1 tablespoon honey (natural honey worked better than the squeezable one)
- One tablespoon fleur de sel ( if you are using table salt, use only a teaspoon!)
- 1 ¼ cups warm water (not too hot - you don’t want to cook the yeast, just wake it up)
- 2 ½ cups bread flour (I used all purpose flour which also worked fine)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Baking Baguettes for Beginners Technique:
Proof the yeast with the honey and warm water. For bread making novices, this means putting the warm water in your big mixing bowl and adding the yeast and honey. Give it a little stir and then let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes. You will see the grains of yeast wake up and rise to the surface and expand. This is a cool process to share with kids!
Once proofed, add salt and slowly add the flour and olive oil until a shaggy dough is formed. I started using a spatula and then dug in with my hands to work in all the flour. Form a round ball in the bowl but be careful not to work the dough too much. No need to use the Kitchen Aid for this recipe!
I started making the dough, then Le Chef took over... 😉
Dust the top of your dough ball with little bit of flour then cover with a towel. My Nanny’s trick was to wet a thin tea towel with hot water to cover the dough with and then place the bowl on top of the fridge. The motor gives off a little extra heat. I don’t have room on top of my fridge but placing the bowl on top of my dryer worked wonders. Let the dough rise until it doubles in size (about an hour). Split dough in 2 and roll out your baguettes.
Rolling out a Baguette
This is where it gets a little technical and where I struggled in my first attempt. Rolling out dough takes some skill. See video below for how Le Chef rolled out our baguettes and then cut (or scored) them beautifully to create tearable pieces to the baguette.
How Le Chef rolled out the dough into baguettes... and scored them in a cool way.
Place the baguettes on a cookie sheet sprinkled with flour and then sprinkle a little more flour on top. Sprinkle a little fleur de sel. Let baguettes rise for another 30 minutes (uncovered) while oven preheats.
Baking Baguettes for Beginners
Heat oven to 460 degrees. Once the oven is hot, fill a 9 inch pan halfway with water. Place on the bottom rack of the oven. This creates steam and and is the key factor to that crackly crust we love .
Bake for 25 minutes**. Remove the pan of water (very carefully!) and bake another 5 minutes or so. The baguettes should be beautifully golden brown and sound hollow when tapped.
** Le Chef's Wife tip: Oven temperatures can vary drastically! If this is the first time you are making these baguettes keep a very close eye on them, especially after 18 minutes or so. You want the crust to be a deep, rich golden brown but not too dark. If the top gets too dark too quickly, bring the rack down a notch and take out a few minutes earlier. Resist the temptation to bring the heat down too much - it is the hot heat that creates the delicious crust!
Soup Recipes that pair perfectly with fresh baked baguette
Enjoy immediately. I served with a bowl of soup and a wheel of camembert for a simple, comforting weekend lunch. I suggest you try any of my following soup recipes:
- Soupe au Pistou
- Creamy Asparagus Soup
- Minestrone Soup
- French Onion Soup
- French Lentil Soup
- Honeynut and Pumpkin Soup with Rosemary
How to store and reheat the baguettes
If you don't manage to eat both baguettes in a day, here is an easy way to save them. Wrap the remaining baguette pieces in a kitchen towel and leave on your counter.
Le Chef's Tip: To make stale baguette taste first day fresh, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then pop the random pieces of leftover baguettes directly on the oven rack for 5 minutes. Very important that you let your oven get fully hot before putting in the baguettes. The outside will be crusty and the insides soft and warm. Bon appétit!
Have you tried my baking baguettes for beginners recipe? What tricks have you picked up along the way?
Au plaisir,
Le Chefs Wife
Print
Baking Baguettes for Beginners
- Prep Time: 2.25 hours
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 2 baguettes 1x
Description
Deliciously simple yet crusty and crackly, homemade French Baguettes. Follow this recipe for easy French Baguettes even first time bakers can make.
Ingredients
- 8 grams traditional yeast ( or 2 teaspoons)
- 1 tablespoon honey (natural honey worked better than the squeezable one)
- 1 ¼ cups warm water (not too hot - you don’t want to cook the yeast, just wake it up)
- 1 tablespoon fleur de sel ( if you are using table salt, use only a teaspoon)
- 2 ½ cups bread flour (I used all purpose flour which also worked fine)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
Proof the yeast with the honey and warm water. For bread making novices this means putting the warm water in your big mixing bowl and adding the yeast and honey. Give it a little stir and then let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes. You will see the grains of yeast wake up and rise to the surface and expand (this is a cool process to share with kids!).
Once proofed, add salt and slowly add the flour and olive oil until a shaggy dough is formed. I started using a spatula and then dug in with my hands to work in all the flour. Form a round ball in the bowl but be careful not to work the dough too much. No need to use the Kitchen Aid for this recipe!
Dust the top of your dough ball with little bit of flour then cover with a towel. My Nanny’s trick was to wet a thin tea towel with hot water to cover the dough with and then place the bowl on top of the fridge for a little extra heat from the motor. I don’t have room on top of my fridge but placing the bowl on top of my dryer worked wonders. Let the dough rise until it doubles in size (about an hour) then split dough in 2 and roll out your baguettes.
This is where it gets a little technical and where I struggled in my first attempt. Rolling out dough takes some skill. See video in blog post below for how Le Chef rolled out our baguettes and then cut (or scored) them beautifully to create tearable pieces to the baguette.
Place the baguettes on a cookie sheet sprinkled with flour and then sprinkle a little more flour on top. Sprinkle a little fleur de sel. Let baguettes rise for another 30 minutes (uncovered) while oven preheats.
Heat oven to 460 degrees. Once the oven is hot, fill a 9 inch pan halfway with water and place on the bottom rack of the oven. This creates steam and and is the key factor to that crackly crust we love .
Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the pan of water (very carefully!) and bake another 5 minutes or so. The baguettes should be beautifully golden brown and sound hollow when tapped.
Au plaisir,
Le Chef's Wife
Notes
** Le Chef's Wife tip: Oven temperatures can vary drastically! If this is the first time you are making these baguettes keep a very close eye on them, especially after 18 minutes or so. You want the crust to be a deep, rich golden brown but not too dark. If the top gets too dark too quickly, bring the rack down a notch and take out a few minutes earlier. Resist the temptation to bring the heat down too much - it is the hot heat that creates the delicious crust!
Nura Mendez says
I’ve made this recipe a handful of times now as it’s become my sole baguette go to! I still can’t believe I made them each time. No more store bought baguettes for us. Of all the bread dough recipes I’ve tried none have this heavenly feel when your mixing the dough. It’s a glimpse into the magical creations you end up with.
★★★★★
Gerri Rustan says
Can I freeze these? One is more than enough for a couple of meals.
lechefswife says
Hello Gerri, Thank you for your comment!
You can freeze a fully cooked baguette for sure. Wrap it tightly in saran wrap to freeze.
When you are ready to use it, let defrost on the counter for 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and wait until it is fully hot before putting the baguette in for 5 minutes.
It should be soft and warm on the inside and crusty on the outside. Enjoy!
SaraE says
So I tried this recipe for the first time and the resulta were pretty good. However, I feel i had to add a bit more flour to the recipe to be able to get the ball of dough. Also please advise if the baguettes should go into the top rack or close to the water. I put mines in the middle rack above the water and then to the top rack, It took approx. 25-30 mins to get done. All in all, great recipe and great results. Merci beaucoup!!
lechefswife says
Bonjour thank you for your comment! I am so glad you enjoy the recipe. There are so many things that can vary when making bread. I also find that I need to add a little more flour when the weather is really humid sometimes - I am not sure if that was the case for you. I put the water on the bottom rack and the bread on the middle rack. Oven temperatures vary drastically as well. I had to shave 5 minutes off the recipe when I changed oven too! Test it a little for your surroundings and don't be afraid to modify the recipe so that it works for you. Enjoy!
Catherine says
Good evening,
I’m eager to try this recipe but I do have a question. In the video on Instagram you knead the dough before shaping but no kneading in the video on the blog. The question is do I need to knead?
Thank you so much and I look forward to making this recipe.
Catherine
lechefswife says
Hello Catherine, I actually like to knead so I probably have started doing it more. You really only need to knead it a couple times to get the round smooth shape that we are looking for. Let me know how your baguettes turn out!
Jamie Enns says
I've been using this recipe for the last several months. We absolutely love these baguettes. Thank you!
★★★★★
lechefswife says
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing this Jamie! This makes me so happy to read. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
Pamela says
I feel like I am doing the yeast wrong or it is not rising well. I put the years in a bowl with warm water and the honey. I whisk and let sit for 10 mins. Added the items as instructed and wait an hour. I feel like mine came out much smaller and more dense. I let rise a second time and still did not look as plump. Might you know of ways to confirm I am doing it correctly. I stored with a warm tea towel covering in an open above oven microwave in a 70 degree room.
lechefswife says
Happy New Year Pamela! Thank you for your comment. Is your yeast foaming after the 10 minutes? If the yeast is not foaming it could be that your yeast is old or no longer active. I would suggest trying with new yeast - yeast can be tricky! I use Bob's Red Mill active dry yeast. Good luck!
Joan Lattanzio says
Incredibly easy and delicious. thank you so much!
★★★★★
lechefswife says
I am so glad you enjoyed them and thank you for rating the recipe - it really helps! Merci beaucoup
Lina Abdul Halim says
Hello. Thank you for your recipe. I just want to ask about the oven settings. I have a gas oven. Do I turn on both top and bottom heat or only from the bottom ?
Thank you in advance
lechefswife says
Hello! I have an electric oven so I am not sure to be honest. If you are unsure, start with heating just the bottom - you don't want to broil the bread if that is the effect of heating from the top too. Good luck!
Villa mama carmen says
This is the absolute best and easiest recipe I’ve ever baked and I’m not a baker! I literally mess up tube refrigerator cookies. The crust on the bread is crunchy and the inside is soft. We have it 2x in the same week, it’s divine and the videos are an added bonus! Thank you so much for making me the star of our dinner table with your recipe.
★★★★★
lechefswife says
Thank you so much for your kind comment! It makes me so happy that this recipe brings so much joy to your family! It is for stories like this that I write this blog. THANK YOU!
Adriane says
So easy and satisfying! The first bread recipe I have ever made that consistently works.
★★★★★
lechefswife says
Chère Adriane, Thank you so much for taking the time to share your kind words! I am so glad you enjoy the recipe!
Madhura says
This recipe is perfection! We have made countless batches and shared with family and friends. The response is always overwhelming! Baking does not come naturally to me so never did I think a homemade baguette possible. Thank you for sharing
★★★★★
lechefswife says
Chère Madhura, Thank you so much for your kind support! It means the world to me. I am so glad this recipe has brought your family, and your community so much joy!! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Kitty Fowler says
I am excited to use this recipe as I have never been able to find a baguette as good as those I eat in Paris (and eat a lot of them while there!)
My questions are:
can I add a sourdough starter and if so how and when?
Can I make this with whole wheat flour and if so do I have to do anything differently?
Thanks so much and I enjoy yr recipes.
Raphael Garcia says
more to support comments as I have questons. What Le Chef did is called "Épis", as it looks (or supposed to) like un épis de blé (ears of wheat), by far I prefer the French term, more poetic.
The recipe provencal adding olive oil is very closed to the pizza or fugasse one, ...my question coming
I am just surprised/concerned that he added salt to the watery yeast and oil to the flower. Wasn't it the opposite? Oil with water as it will spread all over and salt with flour so that yeast does not touch the salt directly? I failed so far to make a proper baguette and proper croissants, but I had decent pizzas, fougasse and calzone, I put the salt after the flour or premixed with flour(?)
Kitty Fowler says
I've asked before but have not seen the answer posted yet. Can I use whole wheat flour for this recipe? Can I add sourdough starter and, if so, how and when?
Thanks so much!
lechefswife says
Bonsoir Kitty, I apologize for the late reply. Thank you for your comment. You can use whole wheat flour however the baguette is more dense than with All purpose or bread flour. If you are using sourdough starter add it at the first prove with the water and flour. Also it may require more time to rise depending on how active your sourdough starter is. I hope this helps! Have a good evening, Anina Belle
Lyndsey says
Bonjour! This was fun to make and the first successful bread recipe I’ve tried! I’ve always had trouble in the past baking bread and had nearly given up before I tried this. Great instructions & the rolling video helped. I had to add quite a bit more flour due to the high humidity in my house as expected. Maybe it was a matter of my rolling technique or yeast, but It turned out just a tiny bit denser than I would have liked. Do you have any tips on how I could make it more airy next time? Merci beaucoup! 🙂
★★★★★
lechefswife says
Hello Lyndsey, I am so glad you liked the recipe!! thank you for taking the time to comment. mI would suspect that the density came from the additional flour you added. Even a very humid dough can come together nicely when after you shape the baguettes. Try adding less flour next time and let me know! Bon Appétit!
Sam says
Thank you soo much for the recipe. I’ve made baguettes so many times following your recipe. It’s like magic and every time it comes out fresh and nice. I’ve added fresh rosemary to it this time.
Question- can I make the dough ahead and leave it for few hours before baking it?
I want to serve the bread hot off the oven.
Thank you soo much 🙏🏼