Sourdough Baguettes
This Sourdough Baguette Recipe produces two artisan loaves with a crisp crust and light, chewy crumb. The recipe takes more than 12 hours, but the vast majority of the time is hands-off.
I think that this recipe for crusty baguettes is reason enough for making a sourdough starter.
Because the loaves freezes really well, I often make a pair of baguettes each time I need to feed my sourdough starter.
Ingredients
Process photos
See the recipe card for detailed measurements and instructions.
- Combine the starter with the water and some flour and set aside for 30 minutes.
- Finish mixing the dough and knead for 5 minutes.
- The dough will gather on the hook and clear the sides of the bowl.
- Set the dough aside to ferment for 3 hours.
- Every hour fold the sides of the dough towards the center to redistribute the yeast and develop the gluten.
- If the dough is not active, aerated and lively after 3 hours give it another hour or two at room temperature.
- After the initial fermentation cover the bowl and put it in the refrigerator overnight. At this point the dough can be held in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
- To shape the baguettes, divide the dough into 2 pieces.
- On a well-floured surface, pat each piece into an oval.
- Roll the dough like a jelly roll.
- Pinch the seam to close.
- Roll the dough to a 16″ long baguette.
- Repeat with the other piece of dough and place the loaves into a baguette pan or baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal.
- Cover the pan with a damp towel and set aside until the dough is doubled in size.
- Dust the surface of the loaves with flour and cut 4 slashes into each loaf.
- Bake until well browned.
- Cool on a wire rack.
A timeline for making Sourdough Baguettes:
- If your starter needs feeding, do that the night before or early in the morning of the day you want to make the dough.
- Mix the dough in the afternoon. Allow it to ferment at room temperature all day and refrigerate the dough in the evening before going to bed. The dough can stay in the refrigerator for 2-3 days at this point.
- Take the dough out of the refrigerator and shape the baguettes.
- Leave them at room temperature to rise for 1 1/2- 2 hours.
Storage
Sourdough baguettes are best the day they are baked. The baked loaves can be frozen for up to a month. Defrost and warm in the oven before serving.
I know you hate to throw away that sourdough discard. Check out these recipes that use sourdough discard.
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Sourdough Baguettes
This Sourdough Baguette Recipe produces two artisan loaves with a crisp crust and chewy crumb. Makes 2 baguettes.
servings
Ingredients
- 8 oz active sourdough starter (1 cup, 100% hydration)
- 4 oz warm water (½ cup)
- 7 ½ oz unbleached all purpose flour (1 ½ cups, see note)
- 1 teaspoon table salt
Instructions
- Combine 8 oz active sourdough starter, 4 oz warm water and 1 cup of the flour. Mix with the paddle on low speed until it forms a wet dough. Cover the bowl and set aside for 30-60 minutes.
- If using a stand mixer, change to the dough hook. Add 1 teaspoon table salt and the rest of the flour and mix until the dough begins to form a ball around the hook. Knead the dough for 5 minutes on medium high speed. If mixing by hand, add the flour using a wooden spoon and/or a plastic bowl scraper. This dough is quite sticky so if you are mixing by hand you can skip the kneading step for a "no knead" bread.
- Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, turn once to coat the dough. Cover the bowl and set it aside at room temperature.
- After 30 minutes uncover the bowl, lift one side of the dough and fold it into the middle of the dough. Repeat with the other three sides of the dough then flip the dough over. You're basically turning the dough inside-out to redistribute the yeast. Cover the bowl and every 60 minutes repeat the procedure again.
- After about 3 hours the dough should be lively, elastic and airy. If the dough is still sluggish give it another hour or two at room temperature. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight or proceed with forming the baguettes to bake the same day.
- Sprinkle a baking sheet or baguette pan generously with cornmeal. If you will bake on a baking stone use a baking peel or use the back of a baking sheet so you can transfer the bread to the baking stone.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and dump it onto floured surface. Cut the dough into two pieces. Gently stretch each piece of dough into a 8” x 4” oval. Tightly roll like a jellyroll then use flat hands to roll the dough from the center out to form a 16” long baguette.
- Place the two loaves side by side onto the baking sheet or into the baguette pan. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and set aside to rise until almost doubled in size, about 1 – 3 hours. The rising time will vary depending if the dough is cold from a night in the refrigerator.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 475 °F. If you have a baking stone put it in the oven to preheat. Place a shallow pan on the bottom of the oven to preheat. Just before putting the bread in the oven, pour a ½ cup of hot water into the pan on the bottom of the oven and shut the door to capture the steam.
- Sprinkle the tops of the baguettes with flour. Use a very sharp knife or razor to make 3-4 diagonal slashes on top of each loaf. Bake until deeply browned and if you tap on the bottom of a loaf it sounds hollow, about 15-20 minutes. The interior temperature should be 200°F.
- Transfer the loaves to a cooling rack and cool to room temperature before slicing.
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Equipment
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Notes
If measuring the flour by volume use the “dip & sweep” method. That is, dip the measuring cup into the flour bin, overfill it, then sweep away the excess.
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @eileen.bakingsense or tag #bakingsense!
Can I use bread flour instead of AP?
Yes. The dough will be a bit stiffer, but it would work fine.
I was used bread flour and it turned out great! My sourdough starter was heavy in whole wheat flour and the bread had a deeper color and a nice chew to it.
Really awesome! It looked too simple to work but it really did. Very happy with the result!
Hi, I want to try making baguettes, but I reasly don’t like cornmeal. Can I just use flour instead, or parchment paper? Do I have to do anything different if I use that,?
Do you have a baguette pan? If so, you could sprinkle it with flour or semolina flour. If you’re using a sheet pan parchment is fine.
I don’t have a baguette pan.
Thank you, I used a flat pizza pan with parchment paper, and it worked perfectly.
OMG, THANK YOU! This is the third recipe I am using to make baguettes amd the ine that FINALLY worked and didn’t take an eternity to make however, I am having trouble with the roll. I did leave it in the fridge for a day and a half and rolled in the morning but the roll came apart despite me teying to seal the seams. I don’t know if the wearher had anything to do with it (low sixties here) or of I had too much flour on my dough and the layers just didn’t stick?Any chance you have a video on this? Also, do you have a patreon or a paypal account? I want to support as sourdough is becoming a big part of my quarantine hobbies!
My first guess would be that you had a little too much flour on the dough so the roll didn’t stick together. It is a bit tricky, I tend to flour my hands as I’m working with the dough to prevent them from sticking. I also find that if the dough sticks slightly to the surface that helps me in rolling the dough. Thanks for the offer of support. The best way to support would be to turn off your ad blocker if you have one and to continue to visit my website. The ads pay my bills. Also, if you purchase products by clicking on the links provided in the recipe card I get a commission from those sales.
What do you suggest as an alternative to baguette baking pan?
You can bake them on a sheet pan or baking stone sprinkled heavily with cornmeal.