Best and Authentic French Baguette Recipe - Cook with Kushi (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret of the 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.

Like I said, a real baguette contains nothing more than flour, water, yeast, and salt. Here's what goes into my formula, and why: High-protein all-purpose flour: Most French baguettes are made with a medium-protein flour (11 to 12%) for the proper crisp, yet tender texture.

The French bread law

The law states that traditional baguettes have to be made on the premises they're sold and can only be made with four ingredients: wheat flour, water, salt and yeast. They can't be frozen at any stage or contain additives or preservatives, which also means they go stale within 24 hours.

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.

The ordinary or standard baguette is longer, softer, puffier, and cheaper. The traditional baguette has a more pronounced flavor, is crustier and requires more work to make.

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.

Set the baguette wrapped in aluminum foil on the counter and try to use it within 1 day. Avoid refrigerating the baguette since the refrigerator will introduce moisture and cause the bread to harden faster. Freeze a wrapped baguette for up to 3 months.

Bread & cheese

For soft rind-washed cheeses, such as Camembert, Brie, or Chaource, a French baguette is the best. It provides a tasty contrast of creamy cheese and crispy baguette. Bleu du Vercors, Fourme d'Ambert, and other blue cheeses go well with rye bread.

T45 : This is a white flour generally used for pastries, cakes, etc., but also for pizza dough. T55 : This is a white flour used for "white" or "ordinary" bread, pastry doughs and pizzas. T65 : This is also a white flour used to make farmhouse bread, special breads (traditional) and pizza dough.

Paris Baguette is under fire after a 23-year-old employee died during a graveyard shift at a food company factory on Oct. 14. While operating a machine that mixes sauce, the employee was pulled into the machine.

What is the end of a baguette called? ›

It's called 'le croûton' or 'le quignon'.

The baguette is one of France's most-loved loaves and is eaten throughout the day. Baguettes can be eaten as early as breakfast time—often toasted, buttered, and dunked in coffee. It's a source of carbohydrates and the fiber necessary to start the day off right! Fruit jam can also be added for an extra treat.

What's the secret to a proper crusty baguette? The long fermentation helps develop the dough and produce a nice crispy, crusty crust. Adding steam to the oven by adding water or ice to a preheated baking tray or pan will help develop that crust.

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.

Standard baguettes, baguettes ordinaires, are made with baker's yeast, and artisan-style loaves are usually made with a pre-ferment (poolish) to increase flavor complexity and other characteristics. They may include whole-wheat flour or other grains such as rye.

The baguette is recognisable by its long, narrow shape, a golden, crispy, shiny crust and its distinctive scoring, the baker's signature. The crumb can vary according to the production method used.

A baguette is a long, thin loaf of french bread that is commonly made from basic lean dough. It's hard to resist a real French Baguette with its crisp golden brown crust and its soft and chewy interior. Soft and flaky on the inside, crisp and crusty on the outside.

A baguette is a long, thin type of bread that is commonly made from basic lean dough (the dough, though not the shape, is defined by French law). It is distinguishable by its length, crisp crust on the outside and soft inner core.

Adding steam to the oven by adding water or ice to a preheated baking tray or pan will help develop that crust. Make sure that your oven temperature is nice and high, we want to cook these quickly to help with that crust, but avoid an over baked crumb.