Artificial Food Coloring Free Crusty French Baguette
There is something deeply satisfying about pulling a crackling, golden baguette out of your own oven, and this recipe delivers exactly that. With just four ingredients — bread flour, sea salt, instant yeast, and water — you know precisely what is going into every bite, with zero synthetic dyes or mystery additives to worry about. That simplicity is actually the secret weapon here: a long, cold ferment in the refrigerator builds incredible depth of flavor that no artificial shortcut could replicate. The stretch-and-fold technique gradually develops the gluten structure, giving you that open, chewy crumb and the signature shatteringly crisp crust. Scoring the dough at a shallow angle right before it hits the blazing hot oven lets each baguette bloom beautifully, creating those dramatic ridges that look like they came straight from a Parisian boulangerie. Pouring hot water into the lower pan generates a burst of steam that keeps the crust pliable just long enough to get maximum oven spring before it sets into something truly spectacular. Once you taste bread this clean and this good, it is very hard to go back to anything wrapped in plastic.
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Learn more →Ingredients
8 servings
- 3 cups (360g) bread flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- ½ tsp instant yeast
- 1 ¼ cups (295ml) cool water (about 65°f/18°c)
Instructions
- 1
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the bread flour, salt, and instant yeast. Pour in the cool water and stir with a wooden spoon or your hand until no dry flour remains and a shaggy dough forms. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- 2
With damp hands, perform a series of stretch-and-folds: grab one side of the dough, stretch it upward until it resists, then fold it over the center. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat three more times for a total of 4 folds. Cover and repeat this process two more times at 30-minute intervals (3 sets total). After the final fold, the dough should feel noticeably smoother and hold its shape briefly when released.
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