French bread without kneading step by step - Baguette (VIDEO)

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Have you ever considered making homemade baguettes? There is nothing better than a loaf of bread fresh from the oven, be it a Sunday morning or any day of the week. With a delicious golden crispy crust and a soft and chewy inside. Serve it with some butter or serve it with a main dish to dip it into a sauce. Following this step-by-step recipe, you will make three delicious baguettes, but you can easily double the recipe to make 6.

The first time I ventured into making bread, it was making these baguettes. I was surprised how easy it is to make homemade bread without the need for food processors or a lot of experience. That day, I decided to not consume any store bought bread anymore. Since that, til today, we only eat homemade bread in my home. I make different types of breads from scratch, from baguettes to hamburger buns.

A traditional French loaf of bread (baguette) is made with just flour, water, yeast, and salt. It continues to fascinate me that so few ingredients can make such delicious bread.

When you are in a hurry, you can make this recipe with warm water and let the dough rise at room temperature. The dough will rise quickly and you will have a good result. But, better prepare this recipe in time to slow down the fermentation process, leaving the dough for 16 to 24 hours in the fridge, and even up to 48 hours. As a result, you will get a much better flavor and texture.

There are several tricks that you can follow to obtain optimal results. Everything is explained step by step right here. It's easier than it might seem!

Ingredients you need you make baguettes

To make baguettes, you only need few ingredients:

• Flour: When my bread baking adventure started, I read on so many blogs that it was essential to use bread flour to have success making bread. Honestly, I use all-purpose flour, and it works well for me.
• Water: preferably filtered or bottled water
• Baking powder: you need baker's yeast, you can get this in any supermarket
• Sugar: you need sugar to help the yeast activate
• Salt: after a lot of trying, I figured out the exact amount of salt so that the baguettes will not bland nor too salty

Kitchen tools you need to bake to our bread

Many times when you find bread recipes, you need a kitchen robot or a bread maker machine. It's not the case for this recipe. Here is everything you need to make these delicious baguettes:

• Oven: obviously you need to have an oven to make your own bread
• Bowla large bowl to mix all the ingredients
• Oven tray: on a conventional oven tray, you'll be able to fit the 3 baguettes
• Silicone spatula or a large wooden spoon: to mix all the ingredients. There is no kneading involved in this recipe.
• Kitchen scale: tendrás que pesar todos los ingredientes
• An oven-safe bowl or tray: se necesita para poner agua en la parte de abajo del horno para crear vapor
• Kitchen towel: to cover the bowl to let the dough rise
• Sharp knife or bread lame: before putting the baguettes in the oven, some cuts are made in the dough. If you don't have a bread lame, you can do it with a sharp knife without any problem.
• Cling film: you need cling film to cover the dough to let the dough rise overnight in the fridge

How to make french baguettes step by step

Day 1

The first step is to mix the water (room temperature), sugar, and yeast in a large bowl. Then add the flour (sifted if it´s very lumpy) and the salt. Mix the dough with a silicone spatula or a large wooden spoon. The dough is sticky, this is how it should be. Cover it with a damp kitchen cloth and leave it for half an hour at room temperature.

The next step is "stretch and fold". It consists of taking dough from one side, stretching it upwards and passing it to the other side, do this with all four sides. Once each side is stretched and folded, cover it again with the kitchen towel. Repeat this process 3 more times every half hour. In total, the process of stretching and folding is done 4 times every half hour. The dough is very sticky, to prevent it from sticking too much to your hands, do this process with wet hands.

Put the bowl (covered with cling film) after the last stretch and fold in the fridge until the next day. Ideally, the dough should be in the fridge for 16 to 24 hours.

Day 2

The next day, when you are going to make the baguettes, take out the dough an hour before to let it get to room temperature. Flour the kitchen counter because the next step is to divide the dough into 3. You can do this by diving the dough in 3, or by weighing the dough (weigh the dough and divide by three) for more even loaves.

Next, make each ball of dough into a rectangle. This process is done with your hands, it is not convenient to do it with a roller because the dough at this point is still sticky. Make sure you put a good amount of flour on your counter so that it does not stick.

Once we have this shape, fold the long part to the middle.

And fold it in half again. Close the bread by joining the two sides of the dough and squeezing it well. This part will be down. Stretch the dough to the desired length, by rolling it gently with your hands.

Place the loaves of bread on a baking paper on a baking tray (a conventional baking tray will fit 3 loaves of bread), sprinkle with flour and cover it with cling film. Cling film sticks to the dough less than a kitchen towel. Let it rest for about 45 minutes.

Place a heatproof bowl or tray with water on the bottom of the oven. This step is important because the steam will create a crispy crust. Turn on the oven at 250º.

Make 3 cuts in the dough in a smooth but firm motion. Doing this will help them open up and rise in the oven.

Put the loaves of bread in the oven, be careful when opening it because it will be very hot and steam will come out, be careful not to burn your face! Bake them for about 10 minutes at 250º. After 10 minutes, open the oven to let the steam out and lower the temperature to 230º, leave for about 5 minutes. Finally, let the baguettes bake with the oven open a little bit so that the crispy crust forms well. Once the bread is well browned, take it out and put it to cool on a wire rack baking tray.

It is not difficult or a lot of work to make these baguettes, you'll just need to plan ahead of time.

It is a luxury to have these loaves of bread in your home, enjoy them!

Below I answer some frequently asked questions, if you do not find the answer, you can leave a comment below.

Video Recipe Baguettes

To make this recipe a little more visual and easy to follow, I have made a video on how to make Baguettes step by step. I hope you find it useful.

Frequently asked questions

Is it normal for the dough to be sticky?

Yes, the dough of baguettes needs a high hydration. To handle the dough, use plenty of flour on the counter and on your hands.

What do I do if I don't like the crust of the bread?

If you want a baguette without a crispy crust, skip the last step of opening a little bit the oven. Keep the oven closed until the loaf is golden. When taking them out, wrap the loaves of bread in kitchen towels.

Instead of making 3 baguettes, can I make more loaves using the same recipe?

You can divide the dough into 4, 5 or 6 and make smaller loaves.

Can I freeze the baguettes?

Of course. Once the baguettes cool down, you can freeze them and take them out whenever you like to. If you freeze them whole, you can defrost them at room temperature. If you cut them into pieces before freezing them, you can easily defrost them in the microwave. To make like freshly made, put them in the oven for a few minutes before eating them.

Is it really necessary to make 3 cuts into the dough?

The cuts are not only made to decorate, but they have a purpose. They are made to help the dough rise in the oven. You can play a little with the cuts, you can make two bigger ones or for example one along the loaf of bread.

¿Puedo hacer esta receta sin dejar la masa reposar en la nevera?

Yes, you can, and you'll get some nice loaves of bread. Once the "stretch and fold" process is finished, divide the dough in 3 and follow the recipe to make the shape and bake them. The fermentation process in the fridge gives a very good flavor, but it is not essential to do this step if you are in a hurry.

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What can I eat these baguettes with

The possibilities are endless. You can eat them for breakfast with butter and homemade jam, you can prepare some sandwiches to take to the park or the beach and even put it in a lunch box for your kids for school. Or accompany it with some food to dip the bread in the sauce.

If you like this recipe, you will love the following recipes

If you like this French Bread recipe, you may also like the following recipes:

• These crunchy bread rolls crispy on the outside and soft in the inside.
• You will love this recipe for Special Aromatized Brioche, has a delicious syrup on top and is ideal to serve as a special breakfast or brunch.
• Do you think a pizza with tomato and black olives is boring? I understand you perfectly, but every person who tries this pizza is surprised and loves it! You have to prepare this Pizza Carrée, it has a delicious pizza base which you probably have never tried.

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