Flour, water, salt and yeast. There is nothing else in a baguette, which is why every part of the method matters more than it would in a richer dough.
Strong flour, not plain
The recipe calls for harina de fuerza, which is strong flour or bread flour: higher in protein, and therefore in gluten.
In a dough with no fat, no sugar and no milk, gluten is doing all the structural work. Plain flour will make bread, but it will be flatter and denser and the crumb will be tighter.
Three rests, and none is optional
- 30 minutes after the first mixing, before the yeast goes in. This lets the flour hydrate fully, which makes the dough easier to work.
- 15 minutes for the yeast in warm water with sugar, which happens alongside the first rest rather than after it.
- 25 minutes after shaping, which is what gives the loaves their lift in the oven.
Rushing the last one is the most common cause of a heavy baguette.
The slashes are structural
Bread expands in the oven and it will split somewhere. Cutting the top yourself decides where, and stops the loaf from tearing along its side.
Use a blade or a very sharp thin knife held at a shallow angle, almost parallel to the surface. A serrated knife drags and deflates the dough. Three or four cuts along the length is standard.
Steam, if you want the crust
Bakery ovens inject steam, and you can approximate it: put a metal tray in the bottom of the oven while it heats, and pour a cup of hot water into it as the bread goes in.
The steam keeps the surface of the loaf soft for the first few minutes, so it can expand fully before the crust sets. Without it you get a thicker, paler crust and less rise.
More bread
- Homemade bread — the everyday loaf.
- Pan de leche — soft rolls, enriched with milk and butter.
- Cheese bread — with cheese kneaded through.
- Bread cake — what to do with it when it goes stale.
Baguette FAQ
You can, but the loaf will be flatter and denser. With no fat or sugar in the dough, gluten does all the structural work, and strong flour has considerably more protein. It is the one ingredient here worth being fussy about.
So the flour can hydrate fully. A rested dough is easier to knead and develops better structure. The yeast is activated separately in warm water with sugar during the same half hour.
Because the loaf will split as it expands, and cutting it yourself decides where. Use a blade or a very sharp thin knife at a shallow angle; a serrated knife drags and knocks the air out.
Steam. Put a metal tray in the bottom of the oven while it heats and pour a cup of hot water into it as the bread goes in. The steam delays the crust setting, so the loaf expands more and the crust ends up thinner and crisper.
Yes. Two teaspoons of fresh yeast is roughly 7 g of dry yeast. Dry yeast can go straight into the flour, though activating it in the warm water as written works too and tells you it is alive.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 500 g strong bread flour (harina de fuerza: high protein, not plain flour)
- 300 g water (240 ml for the dough, 60 ml for the yeast)
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar (feeds the yeast rather than sweetening the bread)
- 2 teaspoons fresh yeast (about 7 g of dry yeast if that is what you have)
Notas
Instructions
- Sift the flour through a sieve.
- Mix it with 240 ml of the water and the salt. Knead well until the dough is smooth and even.
- Put the dough in a bowl, cover it with a cloth and leave it for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- Meanwhile, stir the fresh yeast and the sugar into the remaining 60 ml of water and leave it for 15 minutes to activate.
- Work the yeast mixture into the rested dough, then divide it into two equal balls on a floured surface.
- Roll each one out into a rectangle about 25 cm long by 20 cm wide.
- Roll it up along the long side, pressing the seam to seal it, so it forms a bar. Do the same with the other.
- Slash the top of each baguette and leave them to rest again for about 25 minutes somewhere dry.
- Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F), line a tray with baking paper, and bake for about 20 minutes until golden.
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