Chestnut Free Crusty French Baguette
Few things in the kitchen feel as satisfying as pulling a deeply golden, crackling baguette from your own oven. This recipe relies on just four ingredients — bread flour, sea salt, instant yeast, and water — so there's nothing hidden, nothing processed, and absolutely no risk of unexpected additions that could cause a problem for anyone avoiding chestnuts or other tree-based ingredients. The magic here is time: a long, cold overnight ferment builds the kind of complex, slightly tangy flavor that most bakery loaves spend years perfecting. A series of simple stretch-and-fold techniques replaces the need for heavy kneading, making this approachable even if you've never shaped a baguette before. The steam-baking method — pouring hot water into a lower pan at the start — creates that signature shatteringly crisp crust with a soft, open crumb inside. Scoring the dough with confident diagonal slashes right before it hits the hot stone is genuinely one of the most rewarding moments in home baking. Once you hear that hollow tap on the bottom and smell the caramelized crust cooling on the rack, you'll understand why this is the kind of recipe people make on repeat.
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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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