Rice Free Crusty French Baguette
Few things in the kitchen feel as satisfying as pulling a genuinely crusty, golden baguette out of your own oven. This recipe relies on just four ingredients — bread flour, sea salt, instant yeast, and water — making it a naturally straightforward choice for anyone avoiding rice or rice-derived additives that sneak into so many store-bought breads. The magic here is a long, cold ferment that builds deep, complex flavor without any shortcuts, followed by a steam-assisted bake that delivers that signature crackly crust and open, chewy crumb. Stretch-and-fold technique replaces the need for heavy kneading, so the process is more meditative than laborious. Scoring the dough with confident diagonal slashes right before it hits the blazing hot oven is genuinely one of the most satisfying moments in home baking. The result is a baguette that sounds hollow when you tap it, reads 205–210°F at the center, and practically demands to be torn apart while still warm. Once you taste the difference between this and anything wrapped in plastic at the grocery store, there's really no going back.
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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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