Hazelnut Free Classic French Baguettes
There is something almost magical about pulling a batch of golden, crackling baguettes out of your own oven, and this recipe delivers that bakery-level result from scratch. The process starts with a poolish — a simple overnight pre-ferment made from just yeast, water, and bread flour — that builds the deep, complex flavor you'd expect from a proper French loaf. From there, a series of stretch-and-fold techniques develops the gluten without any heavy kneading, giving you that open, chewy crumb and blistered crust that makes a baguette worth eating. A blast of steam in the first ten minutes of baking is the secret to that signature shatter when you break the crust. The entire ingredient list is beautifully stripped back — yeast, water, bread flour, and sea salt — so there is absolutely nothing hidden to worry about, no nut-derived oils, no ambiguous additives, just pure bread. If you've been cautious about packaged breads due to shared production lines or unclear labeling, baking your own this way puts you completely in control. Slice into one after that 20-minute rest and you'll wonder why you ever bought a loaf at all.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the poolish
- ¼ tsp active dry yeast
- ½ cup cool water (about 70°f / 21°c)
- ½ cup bread flour
For the dough
- 1 ½ tsp active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water (about 95°f / 35°c)
- 3 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 ½ tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
- 1
Make the poolish: In a large mixing bowl, stir together 1/4 tsp yeast, 1/2 cup cool water, and 1/2 cup bread flour until no dry flour remains. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 8–12 hours (overnight), until the poolish is bubbly, domed, and smells pleasantly yeasty.
- 2
Make the dough: Add 1 1/2 tsp yeast and 1 cup warm water to the poolish and stir to combine. Add 3 cups bread flour and 1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt, then mix with a stiff spatula or your hand until a shaggy dough forms with no dry patches. Cover and rest for 20 minutes.
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