Baguette Recipe: My Long-Fermentation French Bread

A good baguette looks simple because the ingredient list is short. In practice, that simplicity makes every decision visible: fermentation, dough strength, shaping, scoring, steam and the depth of the bake. I prefer a long-fermentation approach because it gives the dough more flavour and better extensibility without adding unnecessary ingredients.

For three medium baguettes, approximately 860 g total dough:

This gives 70% hydration and 2% salt. I use a small poolish because it extends fermentation and improves aroma and extensibility while keeping the final dough easy enough to shape cleanly. The exact yeast quantity only makes sense together with the fermentation schedule, so I do not increase it simply to make the dough move faster.

For a white-flour baguette, 70% hydration gives me a useful balance between openness and control. It is high enough to support a light irregular crumb, but still manageable for shaping if the flour has adequate strength.

Hydration is not a badge of quality. If your flour cannot hold 70%, reduce the water slightly. A well-fermented 67–68% dough is better than a 75% dough that spreads because its structure cannot support itself.

A poolish is a liquid preferment made with equal weights of flour and water and a very small amount of yeast. It gives yeast and enzymes time to work before the final dough is mixed.

What I want from it is not sourness. I want aroma, extensibility and a dough that shapes without fighting back. The poolish should be ripe and lively, not collapsed and sharply alcoholic.

I do not wait for baguette dough to double in bulk. I look for a modest increase in volume, smoother surface, stronger gas retention and a dough that feels more elastic after folding.

If bulk fermentation goes too far, shaping becomes difficult and the baguettes may spread. If it is too short, the crumb stays tight and the final proof has to do too much work.

Shaping has two jobs that seem contradictory: preserve enough gas for an open crumb while creating enough surface tension for the loaf to hold its form. I press only as much as necessary to organise the dough.

After the bench rest, I fold and seal the dough progressively, then roll from the centre outward. If the dough keeps shrinking back, I stop and let it relax rather than forcing extra length into it.

The cuts should run almost along the length of the baguette, not straight across it. I hold the blade at a shallow angle and overlap the cuts so they open into a continuous ear during the bake.

Cuts that are too vertical, too far apart or too deep can make the loaf open sideways. Poor scoring can also be a symptom rather than the root problem: an over-proofed or dried-out baguette will not open cleanly even with perfect blade technique.

Steam delays the setting of the outer skin during the first stage of baking. That gives the baguette time to expand and allows the scored cuts to open before the crust becomes rigid.

After the expansion phase, I want the opposite: a dry oven so the crust can become crisp. Too much retained steam late in the bake leaves the crust pale and soft.

A gummy crumb usually means the baguette was underbaked or cut before it finished cooling. A deeply coloured crust is not only cosmetic; baguettes need enough time in the oven to drive moisture from the centre and set the crumb properly.

Yes, but refrigeration changes the fermentation schedule. A very cold home refrigerator around 4°C / 39°F slows yeast far more than a professional cool retarder around 10°C / 50°F, so the same yeast percentage and timing cannot simply be copied between the two.

For this recipe I prefer the poolish to carry most of the long fermentation because it is easier to reproduce at home. If you cold-retard the final dough, reduce yeast and extend fermentation according to dough activity rather than copying a fixed number of hours.

Baguettes are best on the day they are baked. For the next day, keep them in paper rather than airtight plastic if you want to preserve some crust character.

For longer storage, freeze the completely cooled baguette well wrapped. Thaw, then reheat briefly at about 180–200°C / 356–392°F until the crust becomes crisp again.

I want a deeply golden, thin crisp crust, a loaf that feels light for its size, clean lengthwise opening along the scores and an irregular but coherent crumb. The interior should be moist but not gummy, and the flavour should taste of fermented wheat rather than simply of yeast.

A baguette does not need enormous holes to be successful. Good fermentation, clean shaping, proper steam and a complete bake matter more than a dramatic cross-section photograph.