Delicious and authentic French baguette for a great meal out

We love our food – who doesn’t? We are always trying to bring with us some mouth-watering treats such as delicious and authentic French baguette. As a good Frenchman, I have my recipe to make those savoury baguettes regularly either for a breakfast or when going for a walk, and the best is that they are easy to prepare! Check below!

Later, you might also want to try our irresistible bread rolls recipe.

Ingredients you’ll need

For 4 French baguettes:

• Plain flour: 630g. No need for a fancy type of flour. The simpler the better. I am using plain flour.
• Water: 330g (330ml), at room temperature.
• Salt: 10g
• Yeast: 7g of dehydrated yeast.

How to – the authentic French baguette recipe

Mixing the ingredients together

1. In a salad bowl, pour the water and dilute the yeast. Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.

2. Add the flour, and finish by adding the salt

3. Mix slowly the ingredients together. Baguettes require slow kneading so if you use a kitchen aid, set it on the lowest speed. Personally, I am using a wooden spoon but you can also mix by hand.

Knead the dough

4. Lightly flour your working surface and your hands and take out the mix from the bowl to place it on your working surface. Try to roll the dough gently to get it coated with flour to prevent it to stick everywhere.

5. It is time to knead the dough. Check here to see how to knead the dough. For those delicious French baguettes, your dough should have a smooth aspect and not be brittle anymore. You should be able to pull on a bit on your dough enough to get it so thin that you can see light across before it breaks. If you managed to get this, the (first) torture of the dough is over.

6. Once kneaded, make a nice ball with your dough, place it back in the bowl and cover with a wet cloth (humid, not soaking wet!). Leave the dough to rise for about 40 to 45 minutes.

Prepare the baguettes and bake them

7. After 45 minutes, your dough will have rise nicely and should have doubled in volume. Lightly flour again your work surface and your hands, and take out the dough from the bowl for the last time.

8. Divide your dough into 4. Flatten each part to remove the gas that has formed during the first rise and knead the dough again. This time, that will be quicker and more gentle, as the kneading will mainly consist of folding the dough on itself about 5 times.

9. Once the second kneading is complete you can form your baguettes, by rolling the 4 pieces of dough on the working surface (you might have to lightly flour again) and giving them the desired shape. Just keep in mind they need to fit into the oven 😉

10. Place the dough on a tray with baking paper, and let the baguettes rest for 20 to 25 minutes at room temperature.

11. Preheat your oven to 230°C for fan oven (or 250°C for traditional oven). Place a cup of water in the oven. The vapour will help the bread to develop and will give it a shinier aspect. The finishing touch before placing the baguettes in the oven: spread a bit of flour on top of each baguette and do some cuts using a sharp knife or a razor blade. Bake the baguettes for 15 minutes.

12. At the end of the 15 minutes, take the baguettes out of the oven, put them on a grill and let them gently cool down. It will be difficult to resist and wait with this nice smell of freshly baked bread floating around, but finally, they will be ready to be eaten!

Et voilà!

I could have those succulent French baguettes at any time of the day, but they are especially great to take with you for a tasty meal on a day outside!

Let me know in the comments what you think about this authentic French baguette recipe!

Bon appétit!