BHA & BHT Free Classic French Baguettes

Few baked goods are as satisfying as a proper baguette — that shattering crust, the open, chewy crumb, the faint tang that only comes from a long ferment. Many store-bought loaves rely on preservatives like BHA and BHT to extend shelf life, which means reading labels can quickly become a headache. This recipe sidesteps all of that with just five clean ingredients: bread flour, active dry yeast, fine sea salt, and water — nothing hidden, nothing synthetic. The overnight poolish is the real secret here, building deep flavor and a complex aroma that no additive-laden loaf can replicate. Stretch-and-fold technique develops the gluten gently, and a blast of steam in a screaming-hot oven gives you that bakery-quality crust at home. Scoring the dough at a confident angle lets the baguettes bloom beautifully in the oven, producing those dramatic ridges that make the finished loaf look as impressive as it tastes. Once you pull these off the rack and hear that hollow knock on the bottom, you'll have a hard time going back to anything wrapped in plastic.

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