Crusty French Baguettes in 4 hours is a recipe all bread lovers should have in their file. No starter is necessary! You can make your bread and eat it all in the same day. The loaf’s aroma is heavenly and the crusty baguette’s taste and crumb are equal to the baguette with the two-day process.
Crusty French Baguettes a quick start
We make lots of bread. We whip up easy recipes like the 3-Hour Roll and sometimes more complicated recipes like Cheese studded muffin loaf.
The minute I saw the recipe for a 4-hour baguette I said, “We’re making French baguettes.”
“We don’t have time to make a starter and bake bread,” said Honey. “We’re going to be out of town tomorrow, or have you forgotten?”
“No, I haven’t forgotten and we do have the time. This Crusty French Baguettes recipe doesn’t require a starter We can get it done today,” I said. I got up and went to the cabinet to grab the all-purpose flour.
Honey followed me and said, “If that’s the case, the bread dough will need all day to rise.”
Crusty French Baguettes – 4-hour intermittent attention
“Nope,” I said. “The total amount of time to make the loaves is four hours. It says here that Dan Leader, the chef who developed the recipe, wanted home cooks to have the time and equipment to make a baguette like the professional bakeries.”
Honey reached into the cabinet above the refrigerator and pulled out the digital scale. “Okay, let’s time this and see how long it takes. How much flour do we need?”
“We need 16 3/4 ounces of flour. But the recipe starts off with measuring 12 ounces of warm water and whisking in 1 teaspoon of active dry yeast. We let that sit until foamy. He says about 10 minutes.”
Dan Leader was right. The recipe flowed together smoothly and most of the time we spent waiting for the dough to rise.
Crusty French Baguettes forming and baking
Soon it was time to form the bread and heat the oven. The directions were very similar to most of the artisan bread recipes we’d made:
- Place a cast-iron skillet or heavy pan on the bottom rack of the oven.
- Place a rack above the lower one and place a baking stone or rimless pan on it.
- Heat oven to 475°F.
- Cut dough into 3-equal pieces and shape the dough.
- Place dough on parchment paper, lifting paper in-between the loaves to keep them from sticking.
- Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let double in size.
- Slash the top of the loaves with lame, scissors, or razor.
- Slide loaves onto baking stone or pan.
- Place ice cubes in skillet or pan.
Bake the loaves until darkly browned and crisp, 20 to 30 minutes.
Crusty French Baguettes a keeper recipe
The aroma was heavenly. We took the loaves out of the oven and they looked just like the loaves you’d find in a French bakery. The crust was toffee-colored and when we finally cut into a loaf the inside was honeycombed.
The best part? The taste!!!!!!! It was wonderful. This recipe is one that we now make on a regular basis. Whenever the desire for a delicious baguette overcomes us, we have a recipe that we can make in no time at all. We also made sandwich rolls out of this recipe.
Give the Crusty French Baguettes recipe a try — it’s not difficult and it’s so rewarding to treat yourself to homemade baguettes.
We have more soup recipes coming up and homemade baguettes would be perfect with those bowls of comfort.
Tutti a tavola è pronto!
Un caro saluto e alla prossima.
Crusty French Baguettes 4 Hour Recipe – No Starter Necessary
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups 12 oz. spring water or distilled water, heated to 115 F.
- 1 teaspoon 1/8 oz. active dry yeast (we use instant yeast but follow the same procedure)
- 3 1/4 cups 16 3/4oz. all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon 3/8 oz. kosher salt
- Vegetable spray for greasing bowl
- 1/2 cup ice cubes
- ****Check the notes
Instructions
- Whisk together water and yeast in the bowl of a stand up mixer; let sit until yeast is foamy, about 10 minutes. Add flour, salt, and stir with a fork until dough forms and all flour is absorbed; let dough sit to allow flour to hydrate, about 20 minutes. Attach the dough hook to your mixer begin to mix the dough. Continue to knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
- Spray a large bowl with the vegetable spray and transfer the dough ball to it. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (we use a shower cap -- the kind you get in the hotels, they work perfectly) and place bowl in a cold oven.
- Let dough rest until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
- Transer dough to a lightly floured work surface, and shape into an 8" x 6" rectangle. Fold the 8" sides toward the middle, then fold the shorter sides toward the center, like a T-shirt. Return the dough, seam side down, to the greased bowl. Cover with plastic again, and return to oven. Let sit until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Remove the bowl with dough from oven, and place a cast-iron skillet or heavy pan on the bottom rack of your oven; position another rack above the skillet/pan, and place a baking stone or upside down rimless sheet pan on it.
- Heat oven to 475 F. Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface, and cut into three equal pieces; shape each piece into a 14-inch-rope. Flour a sheet of parchment paper on a rimless baking sheet; place ropes, evenly spaced, on paper. Lift paper between ropes to form pleats; place two tightly rolled kitchen towels under long edges of paper, creating supports for the loaves. Cover loosely with plastic wrap; let sit until they double in size, about 50 minutes.
- Uncover; remove towels, and flatten paper to space out loaves. Using a sharp razor, knife, bread lame, or scissors, slash the top of each baguette at a 30-degree angle in four spots; each slash should be about 4 inches long. Pull out the oven rack with the stone or baking sheet on it and, using the corner of the parchment paper as a guide, slide the loaves, still on the parchment paper, onto the baking stone or pan.
- Place ice cubes in the skillet or pan (this produces steam that lets the loaves rise fully before a crust forms.)
- Bake the baguettes until darkly browned and crisp, 20 to 30 minutes; cool before serving.
Notes
**** We have bread forms that we use when we let the dough rise but we've also made it with the pleated parchment paper and towel rolls.
**** Save the shower caps you get in the hotels for bowl covers. They work great as bowl covers and you can save on plastic wrap.
Nutrition
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This bread was sooooo good. I’ve been looking for a same day baguette recipe and this was perfect. I just used a whole packet of regular yeast, put a couple of pinches of sugar in the proof and followed the rest. My slices didn’t work so well, and I cut it into quarters instead of thirds, I’m saving this, I may put a bit more salt in next time. but still great as is.. Thanks so much
Hi, Jane! I’m so happy you liked the recipe. It’s great you can make it to your liking too. We just love homemade bread. There is nothing like the aroma of bread baking!! Have a wonderful day and thank you for commenting.
Um….those are the most professional looking home made baguettes EVER. I can’t believe it can be so easy. Not only would I love to eat that right away, I’m super excited for my house to smell like freshly baked bread. Definitely trying this over the weekend.
Oh how absolutely lovely!! Would it be bad if I just ate french baguettes for dinner?? Then again, that sandwich you show also looks seriously mouth-watering. I definitely want to try these!!
What a beautiful baguette. There’s nothing like a crusty baguette and having an easy recipe like that is wonderful. The sandwich you made with it is gorgeous. It looks so delicious.
Great tasting bread but I had a big problem with hydration. I used Caputo 00 Chef’s Flour, which I always sub for all purpose with excellent results. This time the dough was so twet I couldn’t handle it at all. I worked in at least one cup additional flour a little at a time before rising and proofing and was finally able to pick up the unbaked baguettes and transfer them to my baguette pans. They really looked ugly and the slashes made with scissors didn’t help the cosmetics at all. The dough behaved like super glue, instantly sticking to everything. But in the end, the breads looked sort if like baguettes and as previously stated, tasted very good.
Next time I will either reduce the water or increase the flour to achieve a workable dough. Your suggestions would be appreciated.
Herman
Hello, Herman! I’m glad the bread tasted good but I’m sorry you did have difficulty with the baguettes. We do use the Caputo 00 flour although not the Chef’s Flour. We use the Caputo 00 flour for our pizza dough and pasta dough, also their semolina flour. The only other kind of flour we use is the King Arthur brand — All-Purpose, Bread, Sir Lancelot, depending on what type of bread we’re making. Do you weigh the dough? We always do. We find that’s the only way we can be accurate. You did the right thing – adding additional flour to make it workable. Next time we’d keep out 1/4 cup of the water and see how it works out. We really appreciate you letting us know your experience. By the way, if you have a chance — try out the King Arthur All-Purpose flour for your bread and see how you like it. We have to order Caputo flour when we need it — so we use is sparing. Happy Baking.
Thank for the quick reply, Marisa. Before the reply arrived, I had made another dough reducing the water to 11 oz. This time, the dough was much more workable even with the Chef’s Flour, which I do weigh carefully along with the other ingredients. The difference even one ounce of water makes is significant, and the crumb texture improvement with a 70% to 80% hydration, for me, is not worth the hassle of trying to shape a bottle of Elmer’s Glue! I think my next experiment, if the current one is still too sticky, will have a hydration of 60% to 65%. I don’t give up easily. I’ll let you know how tonight’s version worked out.
Herman
Hi Herman! Thank you for the update. I am really anxious to learn how the change in water is making to your dough. I remember having problems with the ciabatta dough. My gosh, that was a stubborn cuss. But eventually, I got it. I’d love to be making bread right along with you. Right now we are in-between kitchens. We sold our house, moved to be closer to our kids and grandkids, we’re now in an apartment (horrible oven), and waiting to see if the house we’re interested in goes through. All of our kitchen equipment is in storage. But hopefully, we’ll be cranking out bread loaves in no time. I love baking bread and I sense that you do too. Let us know how it goes. Happy Baking!!
Your baguettes look amazing! I love that your recipes doesn’t use a starter since I’m bad at keeping those active haha. I can’t wait to make them, just in time for soup season!!
Oh wow—look how perfect and gorgeous these are! I can’t wait to try this. I’ve been wanting to stray from my usual foolproof no-knead Dutch oven bread to make something like this, but it always seemed so complicated. But this seems easy enough! Can’t wait to make these over the holidays.
4 hours?! YES. I love love love a crusty french baguette. I could live without chocolate but I could NOT live without a crusty bread like this. I can’t wait to make sandwich rolls from it!
Fresh bread is my weakness. It’s a toss-up between bread and chocolate. I am thrilled I can make crusty baguette right at home! Making some small and some larger too 🙂
OK…so sitting here with my morning coffee, all I can think about is THIS bread slathered in butter. I love fresh bread, and don’t even get me started on the aroma as it bakes. It is early morning here, and I know the local bakeries are busy baking….now all I want is bread.
I’ve never seen pans for molding French loaves like that! How cool- I didn’t know those existed. And I can just imagine how delicious these smell- I want one!
can i make this dough and refrigerate overnite?
Hi, Beth! You can. Once you make the dough refrigerate it. The following day let it warm up a little so you can handle it. They just follow the rest of the directions. Shouldn’t be a problem at all. Let us know how it does.
Hi, Beth. You can retard the rise. Be sure to let the dough get warm enough to work with before trying to form into baguettes. I usually do this in just one day, I have other recipes that take two days. Please, let me know how it turns out.
Needed a crispy crust baguette for a charcuterie grazing board and landed on this recipe. This was phenomenal. We had some vegans at our party and I was so happy that I could serve this along with roasted red pepper and marinated artichoke hearts.
This recipe is a keeper! Thanks.
Hi, Lorraine Ann! Thank you so much for the comment and the rating. I’m glad you like the bread — it’s one of our favorite recipes. I wish I could have seen your charcuterie board. I bet it was amazing!! Happy Valentine’s Day!!
Hello Marisa,
I regret I did not get a picture of our charcuterie grazing board. It was a big hit. I wanted you to know I made your baguettes again for a Favorite Things Party. This time I did not give myself 4 hours and really had to push things along. I didn’t want to attempt another recipe so I crossed my fingers and said a prayer to the bread goddess. Even worse my oven was being extremely fiesty and didn’t want to hit 475. The bread was still delicious. A little more dense but still had nice air pockets and a crispy chewy crust. Thanks again.
Hi, Lorraine Ann!! I’m glad the bread turned out for you!! I wish I could have seen a picture of your charcuterie board — I bet it was fantastic. And I totally understand being under pressure to get things and then not getting a photo!! 😂 And your oven was being temperamental!! But you got over the obstacles! YAY!!!! Happy Sunday!
Hi. Yay us!! I just confirmed you to follow me. Yes I love bread baking but if you want to see passion please follow my daughter foodnerdextreme on Instagram. She is a red seal chef. She is a self taught pastry chef. She is into fermentation and milling her own grains for flour. She is amazing. If we get to know each other better I’ll tell you more about her.
Hi. I made the baguettes today. Perfect. I did cheat. Used bread machine. But did spin to a dough without kneading. Turned machine off. Got busy with other cooking. Then about an hour later let the machine knead. Then I did the stretch and fold because I really do study bread techniques. Stretch and fold really gave me a very easy to divide dough. Then I shaped. I do have the baguette pan which I love. So, I am zeeegal on instagram. Home cook. Posted today. Thank you for giving me more insight to baguette baking. I did use a pan of water in oven and sprayed water into oven when I put the bread in for extra steam. Got the crispy tiny bubble Birdseye crust and a very good flavour. Similar to dough I have let slow rise in fridge. Great great outcome for short time. Total 5 hours. Retired so just another Monday for me cooking , baking. Putting wood in the wood stove. Thanks. Love this recipe.
Hi, Barb!! Just found you on Instagram and I sent a request to follow. After all, a friend has to make sure you have enough wood for the stove.😉 I see you love to bake bread — you’ve got to make the bread sticks (grissini) and my goodness the soft pretzels are amazing and the English muffins are fun. As you can see I’m quite passionate about bread baking too. I so glad the baguettes turned out for you. No more waiting two days if you have the sudden urge to make them. I don’t have a bread machine so I’m glad it worked out. If someone now asks I can say yes. Sounds like we have quite a bit in common. I hope to get to know you better! 🤗 Thank you for commenting.
fabulous recipe – I have made these loaves about 5 times now! They were a hit with my family at Thanksgiving and I have taken to making them on Sundays to enjoy at the beginning of the week.
They turn out great every time, but my only comment is regarding the foaming of the yeast. I haven’t had any foaminess occur when I let the water and yeast sit together and I think its because the yeast and water ratio is too high. I have made breads that require water and yeast to sit together to allow the yeast to bloom and foam, but I typically only use 1tsp yeast to 1/2 cup of water, then add the rest later. Is there any reason why this bread differs?
Anyway, fantastic bread! Love it!
Hi, Kelly! It is a great recipe, isn’t it?? We make it all the time. The recipe is from Genius recipe, Dan Leader. I the original he uses active dry yeast. That’s probably the reason he lets it bloom. We always use instant yeast. The instant doesn’t need to bloom but we add it to the water anyway. What kind of yeast do you use? We buy a huge block from KA. I know that their yeast will be fresh. Sometimes I wonder at the big block stores how fresh it is — I know the package is dated but we’ve been skunked with yeast that hasn’t performed like it should. Happy bread baking!! Have a Merry Christmas! Oh, do try the the Italian Cheese Herb Bread — it is soooo good!!
Those look absolutely delicious! Your photographs are beautiful! Thank you for sharing at #BloggingGrandmothersLinkParty
Thank you, Lori!! I do like sharing at Blogging Grandmothers. Hope you have a wonderful day!!
I can just smell these luscious looking baquettes baking in my kitchen! And maybe slicing a piece off and lathering it with butter. Mmmm! I’ve printed this recipe and will be making it! Thank you for sharing at the #BloggingGrandmothersLinkParty. Pinned and shared.
Thank you for sharing, Teresa! That recipe is great!! I can’t believe you can make it in one day and butter melting on a warm slice — YUM! xoxo
Thank you, Teresa, for the nice compliment and the sharing. We grandmothers have to stick together. 😉
Mmmm! I remember the days that I used to make bread every weekend. I adored the way it perfumed my kitchen and my coworkers were always so jealous of my gourmet sammies. We watch our carbs these days so my bread making days have dwindled. . .but I love this easy breezy recipe for those special occasions that we do decide to treat ourself to a little carb-y heaven.
I know what you mean, Lynn. Honey and I love to make bread and we may slice off a piece to give it the quality control test. 😉 And then we hurry and wrap it so we can take it to our kids and grandkids. If it’s in the freezer it’s out of sight and out of mind. Today we are heading to visit our kids and bringing each family a focaccia we made yesterday.😋
Hi, Lynn! I know what you mean about the carbs. See, when Honey and I make bread, we may take a small sliver off of an end. Quality control you know. 😉 Then we wrap it and freeze it. We wait until we go visit our kids and grandkids and then take it to them. They are the recipients of our baking. but I have to be totally honest — we may keep a loaf or two.
Have ANY of these posters actually tried this recipe?
Hello, Sharon! I certainly hope my nice commenters have tried the recipe. And I hope you try it too. Have a wonderful day.
There really is nothing quite like a baguette. I became an addict during my time in Paris back in the 90s. I haven’t yet found baguettes quite like those Stateside but maybe this is my ticket back in time?
Hi, Frank! We’ve made the recipe quite a few times and were pleased with the results. I’ve never had a Paris baguette– the actual lengths of those gorgeous loaves are too long for a regular oven. Hope you give the recipe a try.
Hi Marisa! These looks so delicious and I’d love some fresh out of the oven with butter. Thank you for linking up and tempting our taste buds at #BloggingGrandmothersLinkParty. BTW my husband comes originally from San Generallo which is near Naples. Have a great week!
I would love to send you some, Sue. The baguettes are delicious, especially with butter. I bet you cook up some wonderful Southern Italian recipes. 😋
There is nothing like the aroma of fresh baked bread at home. Just makes you even more hungry. I love making homemade bread. This looks so easy. My kids love baguette for their sandwiches.
bellissima ricetta Marisa, non sono molto brava ma vorrei provare ! Buon we
Grazie, Chiara! Ma, no!! Sei molto brava!. Ho visto le tue ricette e anche le foto. Buon weekend e un abbraccio grande.
I love that this is a quicker version of homemade bread – looks great!
Thank you, Ashley. It is such a great recipe. Sometimes the mood to bake bread hits us and we don’t have the two days time. Hope you try it. xoxo
These baguettes look delicious. If only you could find a way to share samples online! Thanks for sharing on #BloggingGrandmothersLinkParty.
Hello, Christie! I would love to give samples. Emeril on his show used to talk about smellavision. Wouldn’t that be great?
Give me a stick of butter and one of these crusty French baguettes and I’m in heaven. Love creamery butter and bread of any kind…..Thanks, for another scrumptious recipe!
Take care…..Hi and love to all
I’m with, Susie! What I wouldn’t love to give your dad some of those loaves. He certainly knew how to butter his bread. And how about the honey butter?? YUM. Hope your weekend is going well. Love and hugs to everyone.
YUM! My mouth is watering 🙂 Thank you Marisa for linking up at the #BloggingGrandmothersLinkParty. I shared your post on Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, and Twitter.
Thank you, Dee. The bread aroma is so welcoming in a house. Thank you for sharing the information!! Have a wonderful weekend.
FYI: Kylee arrived this morning 🙂 I’m sure you’ll hear from the proud Papa.
I love bread, and look forward to trying this soon. Looking forward to seeing you soon!!
Hello!! Congratulations!! I’m sure everyone is happy she is finally here. You’ll have to let me know how you like the recipe. We’ve made it quite a few times. Looking forward to seeing you too. xoxo
These loaves look so good, Marisa—–especially the rolls made into sandwiches—I’m drooling again! Just made your Ciabatta recipe two days ago—–will have to shove all that into the freezer and start over with this recipe. These look considerably easier to make than the Ciabatta. Thanks for another great post!
This recipe is much easier, Diane! The dough is a wet, don’t let that intimidate you. If you made ciabatta then this will be a snap! Let me know how it works out. Un abbraccio forte!!
Our daughter just returned from a trip to Paris and I can’t wait to surprise her with a loaf (or three) of this gorgeous bread! Thank you for sharing! I’m so excited! Brava!
That’s great, Annie! I’ve never been to France although I would love to visit. Let me know how it works out for you. Abbracci!!
Ok…nothing beats the aroma of fresh baked bread. My baba made bread ALL the time….and I would so love going there after school to grab some, slather it with butter and devour. Maybe it is the Ukrainian in me, but making bread and pasta from scratch is so rewarding. I will have to give these a try.
Hi, Gloria! I agree the aroma is simply heavenly! I would rather make the homemade versions, even though they are a bit more labor intensive — they taste so much better. Have a great day!!
There we go. Now I can make your French bread recipe. They look gorgeous. Can’t wait.
I can’t wait for you to make it, Jovina! It is so good!! Let me know how it works out for you and if you have any questions let me know. We’ve made this recipe a lot.