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    Home » Budget Recipes

    Homemade Baguettes – One of the Finer Things in Life

    Published: Apr 17, 2009 · Modified: May 21, 2020 by Jessica Fisher

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    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For more details, please see our disclosure policy.
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    two girls walking down a French street
    During my junior year in college, I lived and studied in Bordeaux, France. As a French Literature major, it was really necessary to know what I was talking about – literally. It was an experience of a lifetime.

    I rented a small studio apartment, cooked all my own meals, shopped daily in quaint little shops, and enjoyed all the good food that France had to offer. Once of those very fine things was the baguette. It is integral to the French way of life – a beautiful loaf of truly French bread, crisp and crunchy on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside.

    Over the past two years as I’ve weaned myself from expensive bakery purchases, I’ve started to do more baking. And learning to make a baguette has proved to be a wonderful thing. The only problem is that it doesn’t last long!

    Look! Doesn’t that look beautiful?

    holding torn piece of baguette

    The recipe I’ve used is one from What’s Cooking?–A Cookbook for Kids (based on the fantastic film Ratatouille). I’ve adapted the recipe to go into my bread machine since I’m all thumbs when it comes to making dough any other way.

    Classic Baguette

    1 ½ cups water
    4 cups flour
    1 ½ teaspoons salt
    2 ¼ teaspoons yeast

    Place ingredients in bread pan in the order directed by your machine’s manufacturer. Set bread machine for dough cycle.

    ingredients for baguettes in bread machine

    Butter a baguette pan. These are perforated bread pans that are specially shaped to give the baguette its characteristic shape.

    open cookbook next to baguette pan

    Don’t let the dough rise too long or it will stick to the top of your machine. Ask me how I know.

    baguette dough rising in bread machine pan

    Remove dough to a floured surface. Preheat oven to 425F. Divide dough into two equal pieces and shape each piece into a long, snake-like loaf.

    shaping baguettes on floured surface

    Place each snake on half of the baguette pan.

    shaped baguettes on baguette pan

    Cover with a clean towel and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about one hour.

    baguettes rising under towel

    With a sharp knife, cut three slashes diagonally across the top of the loaves.

    baguette dough risen and slashed on baguette pan

    I saw on Food Network that putting a stone in your oven would regulate heat. I did that this time as well as added a pan of hot water as directed in the recipe. This worked out great in that the crust was superb.

    (However, the stone cracked right down the middle and broke in two pieces. I’m not quite sure why that was. So, my recommendation is to not set the pan of hot water on top of your stone. Side by side is good, methinks. I’ve had a report of another stone cracking with the steam pan in the same oven. So, let’s not put the steam pan in an oven with a baking stone. Not sure why this is. Anyone?)

    baguettes in oven with pan of water

    Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

    baked baguettes cooling on tray

    This is best enjoyed the day it is baked. Bon appetit!

     

    Baguette and croissants on table with jam
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    5 from 1 vote

    Classic Baguettes from the Bread Machine

    Enjoy the classic French bread at home. With a bread machine and a baguette pan, you can do it yourself.
    Prep Time1 hr
    Cook Time20 mins
    Course: Bread
    Cuisine: American, French
    Servings: 2 baguettes
    Calories: 954kcal
    Author: Jessica Fisher

    Ingredients

    • 1 ½ cup water
    • 4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
    • 1 ½ teaspoon salt
    • 2 ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
    US Customary - Metric

    Instructions

    • Place ingredients in bread pan in the order directed by your machine’s manufacturer. Set bread machine for dough cycle.
    • Butter a baguette pan. These are perforated bread pans that are specially shaped to give the baguette its characteristic shape.
    • Don’t let the dough rise too long or it will stick to the top of your machine. Remove dough to a floured surface. Preheat oven to 425F. Divide dough into two equal pieces and shape each piece into a long, snake-like loaf.
    • Place each snake on half of the baguette pan. Cover with a clean towel and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about one hour.
    • With a sharp knife, cut three slashes diagonally across the top of the loaves.
    • Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

    Notes

    This is best enjoyed the day it is baked. Bon appetit!

    Nutrition

    Calories: 954kcal | Carbohydrates: 196g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 1765mg | Potassium: 396mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 1g | Calcium: 43mg | Iron: 12mg
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    Comments

    1. Megan

      January 14, 2020 at 3:00 pm

      These baguettes have turned out great for me – made this recipe twice now. Much easier than the recipe in the bread, machine cookbook. Just curious – do you pat each half of dough into a rectangle and then roll into the long baguette shape? Or just shape a chunk of dough into the long snake right after dividing it in two? Am I making sense?

      Reply
      • Jessica Fisher

        January 15, 2020 at 3:24 pm

        I do the former, but I am pretty sure the latter method will work, too. Glad you’ve enjoyed the recipe!

        Reply
    2. jen

      September 21, 2013 at 5:18 am

      I have a baking stone in my oven. it lives on the very very bottom, on the wire right above the heating element. it’s been there for a couple of years. it really helps out, my oven holds a much more consistent temperature and our baked goods turn out better! I don’t set anything on it though, and I have a regular electric oven, not a convection.

      Reply
    3. amy

      August 14, 2012 at 2:32 pm

      Oh yay!!! I found your baguette recipe!!!! I finally got one of those special baguette pans (it was a gift!) and I immediately came to your site to see if you still had your recipe on here. Bread dough is workin’ in the bread machine now…..can’t wait to try this tonight!

      Reply
      • Jessica Fisher

        August 23, 2012 at 7:01 pm

        How did it turn out?

        Reply
    4. Jane

      January 09, 2010 at 7:11 pm

      I'm spending some time reading your blogs as they have some great info. I just did a post on my cooking blog about the Eat from you pantry challenge.
      I am in France and so naturally read your posts about France. I just wanted to say, great blogs and for that stone in the oven, well, you're supposed to bake the bread directly on it, not place it at the bottom of the oven. The direct heat on the bottom of the bread gives great oven rise. Place the pan of water neared the bottom, or better yet, for baguettes, heat the pan in the oven and then just before you slide the baguettes in, pour some very hot water in to the pan (about half a small glass). Your baguettes will be beautiful! (Yes, I'm a baguette geek)
      http://www.aulevain.fr

      Reply
    5. Nancy

      January 06, 2010 at 6:46 pm

      Would love to try this but I don't own a baguette pan. I'd like to try it before I purchase a special pan; would it work to form the loaves and then bake on a cookie sheet? Your thoughts?

      Reply
    6. JM - The Princess

      August 17, 2009 at 2:10 am

      Ok…as I am sitting here fighting back the late night munchie cravings now this baguette!!! Yum, I could just picture that right out of the oven with a little pat of butter or tomato and fresh basil.

      Reply
    7. Megan

      April 18, 2009 at 5:08 am

      I really enjoyed all the great baking posts you had this week. Just wanted to say thanks!

      Reply
    8. Sherry

      April 18, 2009 at 1:24 am

      Those looks scrumptious! 😀

      Reply
    9. newlyweds

      April 17, 2009 at 5:56 pm

      Oh I love baguettes, this recipe looks really good and easy. Love that.

      Reply
    10. Jendi

      April 17, 2009 at 4:03 pm

      My husband loves bread like that – crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. My children and I like plain brown American bread so there’s more chewy stuff for him!

      Congrats on baking your own!

      Reply
    11. Amy @ Finer Things

      April 17, 2009 at 2:04 pm

      Yum! Have never made baguettes. Recipe looks simple enough, but those pans? I’m thinking I would need to become a regular baguette baker before making that investment. 😉

      Going to try to make some cheese-stuffed breadsticks today…

      Reply
    12. Jennifer Sikora

      April 17, 2009 at 12:36 pm

      That just looks delish! I will be making these soon! Thanks for the recipe!

      Reply
    13. FishMama

      April 17, 2009 at 7:01 am

      15 years ago, the French were not into do-it-yourself. It may have changed since then, but they have such a great respect for the craft of baking, pastries, etc. that very few people do it themselves. You go to the boulangerie (bakery) for your bread to the patisserie for your pastries, etc.

      That said, the bakeries had some wonderful whole wheat breads.

      Reply
    14. betterislittle

      April 17, 2009 at 5:59 am

      looks scrumptuous! I’m jealous of your time in France! Wow! I wonder how this recipe would work using whole wheat flour? Were the French “into” grinding their own wheat and baking with whole grains?

      Reply
    15. ~Sara

      April 17, 2009 at 3:51 am

      These look wonderful. My family loves bread. I will be trying these out. Thank you so much for the recipe and the great pictures.

      Reply

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