High Fructose Corn Syrup Free Crusty French Baguette
Few things beat the crackle of a properly baked baguette fresh from the oven, and this recipe delivers that bakery-quality crust and open, chewy crumb right at home. The ingredient list is beautifully minimal — bread flour, sea salt, instant yeast, and water — so there's zero chance of sneaking in any unwanted sweeteners or additives that show up in so many store-bought loaves. That simplicity is actually the whole point: real French bread has always been made without shortcuts, and this recipe honors that tradition completely. The long, cold overnight fermentation does the heavy lifting, building deep flavor that you just can't rush. Stretch-and-fold technique replaces the need for heavy kneading, and the steam-injection method in the oven is what gives you that signature shatteringly crisp crust. Once you pull these golden, hollow-sounding loaves off the rack, the hardest part is waiting the full 20 minutes before you tear in.
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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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