Explore the world · Recipe · France · Reference page

Baguette de tradition française

Name: Baguette de tradition française
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 345 min
Yield: 3
Ingredients: 500 g French T65 wheat flour (farine de tradition, no additives); 325 g water at 20 °C; 100 g liquid levain (sourdough starter); 3 g fresh baker's yeast; 10 g salt; 50 ml water for steam

The French baguette made under the 1993 bread decree: only wheat flour, water, salt and yeast and/or levain, never frozen and without additives. This version makes three 300 g loaves with an autolyse, a little liquid levain and a long, cool rise.

Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.

Servings: 3
Preparation: 45 min
Cooking: 20 min
Resting: 4 h 40
Total: 5 h 45
Difficulty: Involved

Equipment

Stand mixer with dough hook (or a large bowl for hand mixing)
Linen couche or floured tea towel; baker's lame or razor blade
Two baking trays, one preheated low in the oven for steam; wire rack

Servings3

Ingredients

Dough
500 gFrench T65 wheat flour (farine de tradition, no additives)
325 gwater at 20 °C
100 gliquid levain (sourdough starter)Or 25 g dehydrated levain, as the source allows.
3 gfresh baker's yeast
10 gsalt
Baking
50 mlwater for steamPoured onto the hot lower tray just before the loaves go in.

Shopping list

Method

Mix the flour and water for 4 minutes on slow speed. Cover with a damp cloth and leave for 1 hour.
Why This rest (autolyse) lets the flour hydrate before salt and yeast go in, so the dough needs less kneading.
Timer · 1 h60:00
Add the levain, the yeast and the salt. Mix 4 minutes on slow speed, then 7 minutes on fast.
Timer · 11 min11:00
Shape into a ball, cover and leave to rise for 1 hour 30 minutes (pointage). It will gain volume.
Timer · 1 h 3090:00
Divide into three equal pieces of about 300 g. Roll each loosely into a short log and rest 30 minutes under a cloth.
Timer · 30 min30:00
Flatten each piece, fold a third over and press, turn it 180° and fold again, then fold in half lengthways and seal with the heel of your hand. Roll to 55 cm with pointed ends.
Lay the baguettes seam down on a floured couche, pleating the cloth between them. Cover and prove 1 hour 40 minutes (apprêt).
Timer · 1 h 40100:00
Preheat the oven to 230 °C with one tray on a low shelf.
Move the baguettes, seam down, onto a second tray lined with baking paper. Dust with flour and make 4 slightly oblique cuts, each starting a third of the way along the one before. Pour the 5 cl of water onto the hot tray and bake 20 minutes.
Why The burst of steam keeps the crust soft long enough for the cuts to open.
Timer · 20 min20:00
Cool on a wire rack.

Substitutions

Liquid levain → 25 g dehydrated levain (the source's own alternative). Under the decree a tradition loaf may also be leavened with yeast alone.
Mixing by machine → By hand: mix in two thirds of the water first, rest 1 hour, then work in the rest of the water with the levain, yeast and salt and knead until supple and smooth.

Common mistakes

Freezing the dough or adding improvers: the loaf can then no longer be sold as 'pain de tradition française'.
Shaping with the seam on top: the loaf splits along the seam instead of at the cuts.

Storage & reheating

Best the day it is baked. Keep in a paper bag at room temperature; it stales within a day.

Allergens

Gluten

Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

Dietary

vegan

A loaf defined by decree

Since 1993 French law has reserved the names pain de tradition française, pain traditionnel français and pain traditionnel de France for bread of any shape that has never been frozen, contains no additive and is made only from bread-making wheat flours, drinking water and salt, raised with baker's yeast, levain, or both. Three additions are tolerated, as a share of the flour: up to 2 % broad-bean flour, 0.5 % soy flour and 0.3 % wheat malt flour. A loaf may add au levain to its name only if its crumb has a pH of 4.3 or less and at least 900 ppm of acetic acid.

In 2022 UNESCO inscribed the artisanal know-how and culture of baguette bread on its Representative List of intangible heritage. It describes a bread of four ingredients (flour, water, salt, and leaven and/or yeast) made in small batches through the day, with hand shaping and the baker's own cuts on top.

[1][2]

Time instead of additives

Without improvers, flavour and structure come from time. The recipe rests the flour and water for an hour before the salt, yeast and levain go in, then gives 1 hour 30 minutes in bulk and 1 hour 40 minutes after shaping. A miller's sheet for professionals uses the same logic at scale: 700 g of water and 18 g of salt per kilo of flour, an hour's autolyse, and either 90 minutes in bulk with one fold or 12–14 hours at 4 °C.

[3][4]

How it connects

Place

origin France In preparation

Recipe

related Pain de campagne