Easy Sourdough Baguette Recipe

Want an easy sourdough baguette recipe? These step by step sourdough baguettes have a classic, crunchy sourdough crust and a light and airy, chewy interior.

Hello sourdough lovers, today I present you with my sourdough baguette recipe.

If you haven't tried a fresh sourdough baguette before then I'm very glad you've made it to this post!

They are something special. An abundance of the classic sourdough crust teamed with an airy, light and chewy inner. It's absolutely delicious.

Making baguettes is not that hard and if you read on you will see. I will start with an outline of my timings and go into more detail later on.

The timings show a 'range' of time in which you can complete these steps. They don't have to be exact, there is flexibility.

Sourdough Baguette Timing

Between 7am-9am: Make a levain. This levain can sit between 4-8 hours, depending on when you're ready to start the next step.

Between 12pm-2pm. Autolyse. Flour and water is mixed and left to autolyse for about an hour, then the levain and salt is added

Between 2pm-6pm. Bulk ferment time. First you will stretch and fold the dough (by method of coil fold) , for two hours, every 15 minutes.

After the last fold the dough will sit for another two hours before pre shaping.

Between 6pm-9pm. Pre Shape. On a well floured bench, split the dough into four and shape and roll into balls.

Leave the balls to sit on the bench for another three hours.

9pm.  The dough balls are shaped into baguettes and placed in the refrigerator for a cold proof of at least 8 hours, but up to 20.

The next morning. Baking day.

Levain

Usually when I make my sourdough bread, I feed my main starter freshly every morning and then use some of that to make my bread, leaving some behind to re-feed the next time I bake.

For these breads, I'll be making a seperate starter (levain) using a little bit of my bulk starter, and then I'll use that entire thing in the baguettes.

I'm making it at a ratio of 1:1:1 (equal weights starter, flour and water) because I want it to rise quickly.

If you need more time, or you want to start your levain the night before, I'd suggest feeding it at a higher ratio of flour and water. 1:2:2 or 1:3:3, this will slow the rise down so your starter doesn't peak and collapse.

You want to use it when it has at least doubled, if not tripled, but before it has peaked and collapsed. Use a starter with a low acid content, that is refreshed often (Read more about that here).

Autolyse

For the autolyse, the main flour and water is mixed and left to sit. This helps form the gluten strands in the flour, which will make a much more pliable and easy to work with dough.

It's just mixed into a shaggy dough. The proper working of the dough will happen later, when the stretch and folds start.

If you are comfortable working with wetter doughs and you have a baguette tray so the bread can hold it shape, you can add a little extra water. It creates a more open crumb. Wetter dough is harder to handle but not if you perfect the coil fold (in the video below). The coil fold is made for wet dough.

If you have no baguette trays and are relying on just towels to hold the shape, I would use a lower ratio of water. I have given two options in the recipe below.

Folding the Baguette Dough

After the autolyse period (minimum of an hour), add in the levain and salt. Mix it together with wet hands until it is well combined, then put it in a glass, stainless steel or ceramic dish.

Now it is time to start coil folds which help build the structure in the dough. Coil fold are my favourite technique to use for sourdough stretching as it keeps the face of the dough nice and smooth.

Coil folds are when you lift up a part of the dough and fold it on to itself. Here is a video of my second round of coil folds of the baguette dough.

After two hours of coil folding your dough should be smooth and bouncy with the odd bubble forming.

Now leave it to sit for two hours before pre shaping.

Pre-Shaping Baguettes

Before the actual shaping of the baguettes, they'll be shaped into balls of dough.

These are left to bulk ferment for another few hours on the bench.

The dough is split into four.

Take one piece and form it into a square. Take each of the four corners of the square, and bring them, one by one into the middle to create a little parcel. Flip this parcel upside down so it's seam side down and then cup this gently in between your hands and rotate it around and around on the bench to form a ball.

Leave the balls on a floured bench, covered with a tea towel, for two to three hours.

If your kitchen is on the cooler side, anything below 22 degrees Celsius (71.8 F), leave the dough balls to sit for around 4 hours instead of three.

Shaping Baguettes

Once your dough has sat, you can shape each dough ball into a baguette and place it in-between floured towels, either in a baguette tray or pushed together so they hold their shape. Then they'll go in the refrigerator for 8-20 hours.

To shape the dough, grab a dough ball and gently form it into a horizontal rectangle. Take the bottom third of the dough and fold it up to meet the middle. Use your palm to push it and down and seal it together. Rotate the dough 180 degrees, and do the same to the top third of the dough.

Now starting at the top right corner, fold over the top layer again with your left hand, but in small increments. Each bit you fold down, use your right palm to push it in and elongate the dough.

Then start rolling it on the bench to lengthen it, tapering off at the ends to get that traditional baguette tip.

Place the dough in well floured towels, placed either in a baguette tray or push the towels together so the baguettes keep their shape.

Then they're placed in the refrigerator for a long cold proof. I cover mine with a tea towel.

Baking Baguettes

When you are ready to bake the breads, preheat your oven and two oven trays to 230°C(446 °F) fan-bake. If you're using a standard oven, increase the oven temperature a bit. 

Once the oven is up to temperature, remove the baguettes from the fridge and gently tip the breads from the floured towels onto the heated oven trays.

Sprinkle with a little flour and give at least three big angled slashes in the dough to allow the air to escape. How many slashes you do is up to you but if you don't do enough or they aren't deep enough, the air will burst out where you might not want it to.

Place a large bowl of water or ice cubes in a tray in the oven alongside the baguettes to create the steam that will let the baguettes rise to their full potential.

Bake the baguettes for 30-35 minutes until they are browned to your liking.

Then enjoy!

Have you made this? Tag me and let me know! @home_grown_happinessnz

If you’re after a traditional sourdough loaf, try my Basic Sourdough Loaf.

Have you made these? Tag me and let me know! @home_grown_happinessnz