Sourdough Baguettes

In my opinion, homemade Sourdough Baguettes are one of the pinnacles of bread baking! The crust-to-crumb ratio is ideal, with a crispy, thin exterior and a chewy and airy crumb.

Since most home ovens are not large enough for full-sized baguettes, this recipe makes four sourdough demi-baguettes (about 14 inches long).

Making sourdough baguettes can be a bit intimidating at first. But just like making Sourdough Croissants or great sourdough bread, you will get better at baking baguettes with practice and some patience.

This detailed sourdough baguette recipe will walk through every step of the process and gives lots of tips and images so you can get the best result possible.

If you’re new to making baguettes, this relatively easy recipe is manageable and gives you great rustic French-style sourdough baguettes.

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👨‍🍳 Tips for Making Sourdough Baguettes

Baguettes have a bit of a reputation for being finicky and difficult to make.

Overall, I would say the biggest challenges with making baguettes are with shaping, steam, and consistency. I’m certainly no baguette master, but I’ve learned many tips from recipe testing and research that I think will help guide you.

• Baguettes need a lot of steam for a thin crust and to get enough oven spring (initial rise). Using a baking steel, I preheat a cast-iron skillet in the bottom of the oven and pour boiling water into it and immediately close the oven door. This creates a lot of steam.
• Follow my baguette shaping instructions in the recipe so that the seams seal correctly, there’s dough tension, and they have pointy ends.
• For consistency, weigh the divided dough to ensure they’re equal size. Then, roll them out to the same length. Bake them parallel to each other and score them similarly. Otherwise, they’ll all look different from each other.
• These baguettes are not as high-hydration as some recipes, so they should be a little easier to shape. It results in a slightly less open crumb, but still delicious!

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👨‍🏫 Baker’s Percentage Chart

I include a baker’s percentage chart to scale a recipe up or down easily. With baker’s percentages, the total weight of all flour in the recipe is 100%.

I also include the prefermented flour from the levain in this flour weight. Finally, I note the ingredients proportionally to the total weight of flour (in this case, 430g, which includes 30g from the levain). That’s why the total percentages below will add up to over 100%.

If you want to learn more, the King Arthur website has a more detailed reference page on why and how baker’s percentages are calculated.

Ingredients	Weight	Baker’s Percentage
Bread Flour	430 grams (includes 30g for levain*)	100%
Salt	8 grams	2%
Water	300 grams (includes 30g for levain)	70%
Sourdough starter	30 grams (all for levain)	7%

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🛠 Tools Needed

See below for my favorite baguette tool recommendations and substitutions.

• Bread or Baking Steel
  • I bake four baguettes at a time on my Brød and Taylor bread steel. It’s light-weight, doesn’t require pre-heating, 14″x14″, and you can use to make great sourdough bread as well.
  • You can also use a pizza stone or other baking steel. Since those require preheating, you will need a baker’s peel to transfer and slide the baguettes off onto the hot stone.
  • If you have a Challenger Bread Pan, you can fit two demi-baguettes in it at a time too.
  • Finally, if you have a baguette pan, you can use that as well.
• Baking Scale
  • Measuring your ingredients by weight instead of volume is essential so you get a more consistent and accurate bake.
• Bread Lame
  • Can use a sharp razor blade or sharp knife.
• Baker’s Couche
  • Traditionally, a baker’s couche is used to proof baguettes so they keep their long shape. A couche is a stiff linen cloth that can support the dough.
  • Use a floured tea or kitchen towel if you don’t have a couche.
• Transfer Peel
  • To transfer the individual baguettes from their baker’s couche after proofing to the bread steel or baker’s peel, you’ll need to use a transfer peel, side of a lightweight cutting board, or even a piece of wood or cardboard to transfer the baguettes.
• Optional: Brød and Taylor Folding Bread Proofer
  • This folding proofing box by Brød & Taylor is a game changer to keep your sourdough starter and doughs at the perfect temperature while proofing.
  • The proofer folds up easily, includes a humidity tray, is multifunctional, and can even be a slow cooker.

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🛒 Ingredients Needed

Like sourdough bread, you only need four ingredients to make this sourdough baguette recipe! See below for more information, variations, and possible substitutes.

• Bread Flour
  • For recipe testing, I used King Arthur Bread Flour at 12.7% protein. The higher gluten content helps give baguettes their distinctive chewy texture. However, you can use a high-quality all-purpose flour as well.
  • To make the dough even more extensible, you could add 10-20% spelt flour.
  • Use 20% whole wheat flour to make a slightly more hearty baguette.
• Sourdough Starter
  • Use active sourdough starter and not sourdough discard for this bread.
  • Don’t have a sourdough starter? Learn How to Make a Sourdough Starter and make a stronger sourdough starter with my top sourdough starter tips and why I maintain a small sourdough starter.
• Salt
  • Not only for flavor, salt helps tighten the gluten strands during mixing and helps control fermentation.
• Water
  • I typically use warm water for autolyse so the dough is still warm when I add my levain.

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⏰ Sample Baking Schedule

This is a simple overnight schedule to make the sourdough baguette recipe. It works well for a weekend bake, but many steps are flexible, depending on your own day-to-day schedule.

For example, you can make the levain the night before (use 10g of starter and 40g of flour and 40g of water). You can also proof the dough overnight in the refrigerator for up to a day to bake on your own time.

Steps	Time
1. Make the Levain	9:00am
2. Autolyse	1:00-2:00pm
3. Add Levain & Rest	2:00-2:30pm
4. Add Salt & Mix	2:30pm
5. Bulk Fermentation (Includes folds)	2:30-7:30pm (about 5 hours after adding the levain at 78ºF)
6. Overnight Proof	7:30pm-9:00am (or up to a day)
7. Shape & Final Proof	9:00am-10:30am (1.5-2 hours at 78ºF)
8. Score and Bake	10:30am

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🥖 How to Make Sourdough Baguettes

Follow this visual and step-by-step guide to help make these delicious sourdough baguettes.

This sourdough baguette recipe makes four demi-baguettes.

1. Make the Levain

Mix 30 grams of ripe sourdough starter, 30 grams of bread flour, and 30 grams of water in an empty jar.

Cover and set it in a warm location (between 75-80ºF) for about 4-5 hours until it’s bubbly and ripe. The levain should at least double in size during this time.

2. Autolyse

About an hour before the levain is ready, add the flour to a large mixing bowl and pour in the warm water.

Use your hands or a Danish dough whisk to mix the flours and water. It’s okay if some scraggly bits of flour remain, but you want most of it to be hydrated.

Cover the bowl and set it aside to autolyse for an hour.

3. Add the Levain and Rest

When the levain is bubbly and doubled in size, pour it onto the dough.

Use your hands to dimple the levain into the dough. Then, stretch and fold the dough onto itself for a few minutes until you thoroughly incorporate the levain into the dough.

You’ll do more mixing later when you add in the salt, but you want to make sure the levain is evenly distributed throughout the dough.

Cover the bowl and rest it in a warm location for 30 minutes.

4. Add Salt & Mix

After 30 minutes, sprinkle the salt onto the dough.

Dimple in the salt with your fingers and begin mixing. Stretch and fold the dough for about 5 minutes until it’s smoother, mostly holds its shape, and the ingredients are distributed throughout.

If the dough is sticking to your hands too much during mixing, mist them with water so your hands are damp.

Cover the bowl and rest for 30 minutes.

5. Bulk Fermentation and Folds

After mixing in the salt, bulk fermentation will take about 5 hours at 78ºF.

If your dough and environment are colder, bulk fermentation will take longer. Conversely, in warmer conditions, the dough will ferment faster.

Perform at least four sets of stretch and folds, separated by 30-45 minutes each. If you notice that the dough is still very slack after a few folds, you may want to add more folds in.

The dough rests for the remainder of time until shaping.

Bulk fermentation is complete when this dough has about doubled in size, feels full of air, is smoother, and has some visible bubbles on top of and around it.

6. Overnight Proof

Cover the banneton and place it in a cold refrigerator overnight and up to 24 hours.

The overnight proof, or retard, will give additional flavor to the dough and slow down fermentation so you can bake it on your own schedule.

7. Pre-Shape & Shape

The next day, turn out the cold dough onto a lightly floured surface.

Divide the dough into four equal-sized pieces by weight. Mine are typically around 185g each.

It’s important to preshape the baguette dough into cylindars before shaping so the gluten can relax and make shaping easier and smoother.

To preshape, press each piece of dough into a square. Then, roll it up into a cylinder.

Cover with a tea towel and rest the preshaped dough seam-side down for 30 minutes.

How to Shape Sourdough Baguettes

Shaping baguettes can be a little challenging at first, but the more you make them, the more consistent they’ll become. Essentially, we want to create taut, cylindrical logs that are tapered at the ends.

To shape, turn the pre-shaped dough over (seam-side up) and pat into a rectangle (Image 1). Only lightly flour a surface and your hands to prevent sticking.

Fold the top half of the dough to the center (Image 2).

Rotate the dough 180º and repeat on the other side to create a seam. This time, however, use the palm of your hand to pat down the seam of the dough. Pinch the seam together (Image 3).

Now we will roll out the dough into their final shapes. This process isn’t too different from making Sourdough Bagels, Sourdough Breadsticks, or the initial rolling out for Sourdough Pretzels or Sourdough Garlic Knots.

Starting with your hands in the middle of the dough, press gently and roll outwards to create a tapered shape with the ends thinner than the middle. It will bounce back some, so you may need to repeat a couple of times until they’re about 14″ (35.5 cm) long (Image 4).

I like more dramatic pointy ends to my baguettes (called le quignon or le croûton in France that you may eat from the bag on the way home). But you can shape your baguettes to have more rounded ends if you prefer that look as well.

8. Final Proof

Lightly flour a baker’s couche or a couple of sturdy kitchen or tea towels. To make it easy to carry the proofing baguettes around, I usually lay the couche on an upside-down sheet pan.

Fold one side of the couche under to create a bumper and place a shaped baguette seam-side up beside of it. Fold a 1-inch tall pleat beside of the baguette to separate and hold the baguette. Then, repeat with the remaining baguettes and couche.

Cover with a tea towel and proof for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until the baguettes expand, feel puffy, and pass the finger poke test with a slight impression.

9. Score & Bake

About 30 minutes before the end of proofing, place an empty cast-iron skillet on the bottom rack of your oven and preheat it to 450ºF (232ºC).

Boil a cup of water on a stovetop or tea kettle and keep it nearby before baking.

Use a lightly floured baguette transfer peel, a lightweight cutting board, or even a long piece of sturdy cardboard to gently flip one sourdough baguette at a time from the couche to the transfer peel (seam-side down now).

Then, slide the baguette off onto your bread steel or baker’s peel and repeat with the remaining baguettes so you have four on the bread steel.

To score, use a curved bread lame to make four long cuts down the length of the baguette. They should overlap by about a third.

To help increase the chances of small sourdough ears, the score should be about ¼”-½” deep at a slight angle.

Bake

Place the bread steel with the sourdough baguettes into the oven (or slide off from the baker’s peel to your baking stone/steel).

Pour the cup of hot water set aside into your preheated cast-iron skillet to create lots of steam and immediately shut the door to trap in as much steam as possible.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until the baguettes are deep golden brown. When done, the baguettes should feel light and sound hollow if tapped on the bottom.

Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack. If you’re using a baking stone, remove the baguettes with tongs and allow the stone to cool in the oven so it doesn’t crack.

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How to Store & Serve

Sourdough baguettes are best in the first couple of days of baking. Once sliced, they will begin to lose moisture and dry out.

To keep longer, keep them in a brown paper bag, bread box, or freeze for long-term storage.

Freeze whole, wrap in aluminum foil or plastic wrap and freeze for up to three months. Thaw in the refrigerator and reheat in the oven.

Crusty sourdough baguettes are excellent as a dinner side for soups and stews, served with butter and jam (maybe my Concord Grape Jam with Vanilla or Apple Butter), or served with cheeses.

You can also use the baguettes to make lunch sandwiches, similar to ciabatta or Sourdough Pan de Cristal.

If the baguettes stale, use them for croutons in Sourdough Panzanella with Peaches & Burrata or even for this Sourdough Stuffing with Fennel.

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❓FAQs:

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