Spice Free Crusty French Baguette
Few things in the kitchen feel as satisfying as pulling a deeply golden, crackling baguette out of your own oven. This recipe keeps things beautifully simple — just bread flour, sea salt, instant yeast, and water — which makes it a natural fit for anyone avoiding spices, seasonings, or flavor additives of any kind. There's nothing hidden here, no herb blends or mystery powders, just four honest ingredients doing exactly what they're supposed to do. The magic comes from time and technique: a long, cold overnight fermentation builds real depth of flavor without relying on anything extra, and a series of stretch-and-fold steps develops the gluten into that open, chewy crumb you'd expect from a proper boulangerie loaf. Scoring the dough at a shallow angle before it hits the blazing hot oven lets the crust bloom and blister into those gorgeous diagonal ridges, while a burst of steam in the first ten minutes locks in that signature crackle. The result is a baguette with a shattering crust, a tender interior, and a clean, wheaty flavor that needs absolutely nothing added to make it extraordinary. Let it cool on a wire rack just long enough to resist tearing into it — then enjoy it exactly as it is.
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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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