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.
If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a star rating and a quick comment. Ratings and comments help my recipes show in search results. Thanks!
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.
Would you like to save this recipe?
We’ll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Equipment
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
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!
Absolutely delicious! Best baguette I’ve ever made! I am a fairly new sourdough baker and have a baguette pan with 3 troughs. I want to make this again but produce 3 baguettes instead of 2. Would I simply add half again of each ingredient in the recipe? That seems to make sense but not sure when it comes to sour dough. I also used bread flour instead of AP (didn’t have AP) so I increased the water a little. Again, so much flavor here!! Try this you won’t be sorry!
Yes, you could do 1.5X the recipe.
Easy and turned out perfectly. Baked 6 hours ago and I have to do another batch because the family ate both already
this was my second time making baguettes. first time they looked great but were so hard you could hammer a nail with them. so, I saw this recipe and tried it.
GREAT
pretty much followed the recipe to a tee. I’ve made sourdough bread before but not baguettes. very simple recipe. I just took them out of the oven less than an hour ago. broke a piece off and just as described. crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. If I didn’t have leftover lasagna dinner would have been the bread and a bottle of wine. well, maybe some cheese.
I can’t see how it could be easier or taste better. I will be making this from now on.
thank you for the recipe.
john
Hi Eileen, I would love to know how you freeze the baguettes, baked, or parbaked?
I freeze them baked. After defrosting just a few minutes in a low oven and they’ll be almost like fresh baked.
I’m trying this recipe for the first time. BOY IS IT STICKY..I’m on my last 60 minutes, but mine doesn’t seem lively and airy. Still sticky. So I’ll give it 2 hours and then put it in the fridge. I so want to add more flour!
Hope it comes out…
The condition of your dough will depend A LOT on the condition of your starter. I have the best luck with this recipe (which I make quite often) when I use my starter at peak activity.
What do you mean by “peak activity “?
When you feed your starter it rises up and then begins to recede. By peak I mean using it when it is fully risen or just beginning to recede. If you use your starter a lot you probably have a good handle on how it activates after feeding.