The awesome aroma of freshly baked bread by itself will inspire you make this Crusty French Bread time and time again. However, once you taste it, you’ll definitely be hooked. It only has five ingredients, and the bread machine does most of the work!
Generally, Saturdays at my house are focused, in part, on making bread. Susan asked if I would make some sandwich size French bread for Jambon et Fromage. I said absolutely! I’m making lasagna for dinner. Therefore, the timing was perfect. I used this versatile dough for not only the smaller loaves of bread for Susan, but also a larger loaf for dinner!
Making the Dough for the Crusty French Bread:
I used the following five ingredients: Filtered water, Kosher salt, granulated sugar, bread flour, and instant yeast. I’ve learned through the years that the way to ensure perfect bread every time is to weigh the ingredients.
I added the five ingredients in the order listed to the pan of my bread machine, and set the bread machine on the dough cycle. After the dough cycle finished, I removed the dough to a floured piece of wax paper. The dough weighed a little over 24 ounces. I cut it into four equal sized pieces that were roughly 4 ounces each for the smaller baguettes. I was left with an 8 ounce piece for the larger baguette.
Forming the Dough into Baguette Shapes:
Working with one piece at a time, I patted the dough into a rough rectangle on a well floured piece of wax paper. Then I folded the long end toward me, and pinched the two sides together. I patted the dough again into a rough rectangle, and repeated the folding and pinching. Next, I rolled the dough back and forth on the floured surface to ensure that all edges were sealed. I repeated this with the remaining dough.
Then, I placed the four pieces that were 8-inches long for the sandwich size baguettes into the wells of my baguette pan. I placed the 12-inch piece onto parchment lined perforated French bread pan.
Finishing Steps for Crusty French Bread:
I consistently follow Julia Child’s advice for the perfect environment for the bread to rise. Specifically, I turn on my electric oven for exactly 1 minute and 45 seconds. After I turned the oven off, I placed the dough into the oven for about one hour to allow it to rise. Before baking the baguettes, I misted them with water and slashed each one three times with a sharp knife to allow further rise in the oven.
Update: There have been some comments that when the bread is slashed, it deflates. This will occur if you’re not ultra fast with the slashing. Laterally, what I do is to slash the dough once the baguettes are formed. It pretty much serves the same purpose and no deflating!
I popped the Crusty French Bread into a preheated 400° F oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, the bread was golden brown and perfectly cooked. I placed the bread on a wire rack to allow it to cool completely.
I don’t think that there has been a time when I made the French Bread that I didn’t marvel at the result. This was no exception! I ended up with four baguettes that were the perfect size for Susan’s Jambon et Fromage, and one larger one for dinner. Yum!
Crusty French Bread (Bread Machine)
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 3 1/2 Tablespoons 9.75 ounces, 276 grams filtered water
- 1/2 Tablespoon Kosher salt
- 1/2 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 3 cups (15 ounces, 425 grams) bread flour
- 1/2 Tablespoon instant yeast
Instructions
- Add ingredients to bread machine pan in the order listed. Select Dough cycle, and press start.
- When the Dough cycle has completed, place dough on floured surface. Pat down, and cut dough into pieces. The weight depends on what you're making. For this recipe, cut into four 4-ounce pieces, and one 8-ounce piece. With each piece, pat dough onto a rectangle. Roll the long side, forming a cylinder. Press edges together, and continue to shape into loaf with tapered ends. Place on baguette pan. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough.
- Heat electric oven for exactly 1 minute, 45 seconds. Place baguettes into oven for 1 hour, or until double in size. Mist with water and make 2 to 3 make deep diagonal slashes across loaves with a sharp knife of razor blade. (See Tip 1)
- Preheat oven to 400° F. When oven has reached temperature, place in oven; bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool completely.
- Yield: 4 individual baguettes, and 1 large baguette.
Chula's Expert Tips
- To avoid the deflating that often occurs when the bread is slashed right before putting it in the oven, I often go ahead and slash it once the baguettes have been formed. This way - no deflating!
Turned out perfect!!
Outstanding! I make this bread several times a month. It’s always amazing.
I made this bread it did not come out the way I would have liked because the instructions are a little confusing. When it suggest to turn on the oven for 1 min and 45 mins but does not say at what temp???? This is before the raising.
(Heat electric oven for exactly 1 minute, 45 seconds. Place baguettes into oven for 1 hour, or until double in size. Mist with water and make 2 to 3 make deep diagonal slashes across loaves with a sharp knife of razor blade.)
Could you pls specify? Thank you!!!
Jeju, when you turn on a cold electric oven, the minute and 45 seconds just serves to warm the interior, not reach a specific temperature. Therefore, it doesn’t matter what temperature you set the oven on because you are not wanting to reach that temperature. If you want to set a temperature, then set the oven at 350°F, but again, all you are doing is to warm the oven. For my specific oven, the starting temperature when I turn it on is 100°F. After 1 minute and 45 seconds, the temperature just starts to rise above 100°F. That’s when I turn the oven off. Hope this helps.
Yes it makes sense thank you for clarifying 🙂
I have been making them again every week! My family love them, especially my husband (he is French) he says this is the closest to French Baguette Thank you!
WOW – I thought that it was close to what I remembered from visiting Paris. Thanks for letting me know your husband’s view on this.
Chula
Hello! What bread maker do you use? My Spanish mom has been on the hunt for a bread maker specifically for baguettes for a long time. All the ones we seem to find are for the larger French bread types of loafs and we are trying to make the crispier baguettes that are more traditional, Based on the pics and previous reviews, we are very interested in trying your recipe and bread maker.
Thanks!
Lisa and Maricarmen
Hi Lisa,
My bread machine is the Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso Breadmaker. I use the dough cycle on the bread machine to mix and knead the dough, and allow for the first rise. At the end of the dough cycle (1 hour and 40 minutes), I remove the dough from the bread machine and form it into the baguettes. I’ve been using the simple recipe in the post for a long time, and always weigh the water and the flour – it always turns out perfectly. I use the same dough to make rolls.
Let me know if you have any more questions.
Chula
My dough was fine until I made the cuts before baking and it went flat. What am I doing wrong? The bread was good just flat. Thanks
Hi Mark,
This often happens to me as well when I make the cuts right before baking the bread unless I’m super careful. Over time, I’ve changed my strategy and make the cuts after I form the rolls. This way, there is no deflating of the dough and the cuts perform the same way.
Sorry about that. I should probably update the post to reflect this new strategy.
Chula
Love the taste of this bread but I am confused about when you take out of oven and put slices across the top my dough flattens and does not rise when you bake it. Can you tell me what I am doing wrong.
Thank you
Hi Carol,
If you’re not ultra quick with the slashing, the dough will deflate. After being frustrated with this, I’ve resorted to slashing the bread once the dough is formed into the baguettes. It pretty much serves the same purpose and no flattening of the dough.
Chula
Can I make one large loaf using this recipe? If so, how long should I bake it? Thanks!
Mary,
To be honest, I’ve never made just one large loaf, however, I suspect that you could do that. In terms of baking time however, since I’ve not done that, I really don’t know. Sorry.
Chula