My family's been making easy, 4-ingredient baguettes for years, and I think everyone should know the recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret of best baguette? ›

One of the secrets of a great baguette is to start with a sponge (a mix of flour, water, and yeast), which gives the yeast time to mature and combine with the other ingredients, creating the mildly sour and nutty flavors and chewy texture.

It should be long and skinny (55 to 60cm would be traditional but is uncommon in these days of shorter baguettes) with a crisp crust, nice brown exterior color, and a moist, cream-colored crumb with an irregular structure. It's best eaten within a few hours once it's out of the oven.

Based on various laws on making bread over the last century, the 1993 le Décret Pain French decree states that traditional French bread must be made only from four main ingredients - good quality water, salt, a rising agent and wheat flour containing no more than 2.8% (in total weight) of bean, soya or malted wheat ...

You can eat a baguette every day and be healthy, but the key is portion size and what you're eating with your baguette. It's important to note that baguettes are particularly high in carbohydrates and sodium, so you should choose your portion size based on your diet and overall health goals.

Overall, the ideal flour for baguettes should have a moderate protein content, a fine texture, and should be of high quality. While traditional French type 55 flour is the ideal choice, a combination of all-purpose and bread flour can also work well in its place.

Here are key differences: 1. **Ingredients**: Both are made with similar basic ingredients, but French regulations stipulate that traditional baguettes — labeled as "baguette de tradition française" — must be made without any additives or preservatives, while other French breads might include additional ingredients. 2.

French Baguettes are so good

First and foremost, the flour used in France is of very high quality. But the major difference between French and an American baguette is the fermentation process. Most French bakers use a poolish process, which consists of a mix of yeast and water that's allowed to ferment overnight.

These crunchy baguettes feature a chewy interior riddled with holes, and a crisp, deep-golden crust. While it's a challenge to make "real" baguettes at home, this version is probably as close to an artisan bakery version as you're going to find.

Look like a local and eat the end of the baguette on the way home from the bakery, it's called le quignon, the heel.

This law dictates that homemade bread must be made at the place of sale and further clarifies what ingredients are permitted in traditional French bread, specifically banning the use of pre-made dough for baguettes sold under the names of Baguette tradition, Baguette à l'ancienne, or Baguette de campagne.

What is the French law on baguettes? ›

In France, most good bakeries put their energy toward the most artisanal baguette: the baguette “tradition”. By a law enacted in 1993, a baguette “tradition” can only contain four ingredients: flour, leavening, water, and salt. There are usually hand-formed and baked on the premises, and have sourdough starter in them.

Of all the food in the country, the French baguette is perhaps the one that most unites France and its culture. Okay, so perhaps that's overstating it a tiny bit. But the French — every man, woman and child of them — do manage to eat an entire baguette every day. To many French a meal without a baguette is not a meal.

95% of French people eat bread every day. This is the number of baguettes sold in France every year. That means more than 300 baguettes sold every second, and more than 27 million per day.

32 million: that's how many baguettes are consumed every day in France! Its crispy crust and soft, honeycombed crumb make this long loaf of bread with simple ingredients an essential part of French people's lives. It's very typical that they love to start eating it as they leave the bakery.

Carefully pour the boiling water into the cast iron pan, and quickly shut the oven door. The billowing steam created by the boiling water will help the baguettes rise, and give them a lovely, shiny crust. Bake the baguettes — on the pan, or on a stone — for 24 to 28 minutes, or until they're a very deep golden brown.

Au Levain des Pyrénées boulangerie and baker Tharshan Selvarajah, 37, took first place in the 30th annual “Grand Prix de la Baguette de Traditional Francaise de la Ville De Paris,” the most revered baguette competition.

Secret three: Preheat the oven for baking with a pan of boiling water. Then once ready to bake, spray the oven with water for extra steam. THIS is what will give you the crunchy crust. An absolute necessity for a classic French Baguette!

If your crust is becoming soft too quickly and not staying crispy you simply need to bake the bread longer. The best way to do this is to lower the temperature of your oven slightly and bake a few more minutes to achieve the same color you would have at the higher temperature.