Four ingredients and no experience required for most amazing and beautiful bread you’ve ever made. You’ll be delighted by how truly easy it is to make this heavenly chewy, crispy crust, no-knead French bread.
Watch how easy it is to make these baguettes from my French Bread Dough!
Ok, let’s get down to business because the sooner you read this the sooner you can be making this bread! First, there are three things you need to know to make the best French Bread. (Printable Recipe is below!)
The three things you must know to make the best bread
- High quality flour is so worth it
- A long slow, rise is the magic ingredient
- High heat baking is they key
Good ingredients are your best friend!
If there is ever a time to splurge on a great flour, and french loaf is the time! There are only four ingredients in this bread, no extra flavors to hide behind!
For these loaves I used Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour. It has a higher gluten content than all purpose flour, and it’s my current favorite flour for french breads. Any bread flour will work, too.
If you only have access to all purpose flour, you can still make a tasty bread with this recipe, so don’t let that stop you. BUT, the sooner you can get your hands on the some good quality bread flour, do it!
Ingredients:
3 cups bread flour
1 ⅝ cups water
¼ tsp. dry active yeast
½ tsp. salt
I recommend working from a real life paper recipe, it’s much more enjoyable than trying to scroll and mix at the same time. I can send you this cute little printable I made, just pop in your email address and it will automatically go right to your inbox for printing!
To mix your dough…
Mixing your dough is easy as can be. Just combine all the ingredients in a big mixing bowl and roughly mix together with a wooden spoon. Then cover it and let is sit overnight. It takes three minutes, AND done!
Slow rise overnight (12-18 hours)
Yep! I make this bread dough in the evening, and bake it the following afternoon. This recipe only has 1/4 teaspoon of yeast, and it needs time to do it’s work! The yeast will slowly but surely turn your plain old dough into a bubbly, goopy, glorious mass for french bread magic.
If you need same day french bread, it’s possible. Bob’s Red Mill has a recipe for no-knead bread that is very similar to mine, although it has twice as much yeast and half as long of a rise time. You would be able to make the dough first thing in the morning, let it rise all day, then bake and serve it warm for dinner. Not bad!
Of course, the longer the rise, the better the texture and flavor, but you should try it both ways and compare your results.
Form your loaves
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- If you are making baguettes (long skinny loaves) divide your dough into two pieces. For a larger classic French loaf, leave the dough in one piece.
- Gently stretch your dough to the right length. Don’t press, roll or knead it! Save those bubbles!
- Bring the edges of the dough up and pinch them on the top of the dough lengthwise. If you are making a round loaf, just form the dough into a circle and pinch up all the sides in the middle.
- I usually do two rounds of pinching until the loaves are mostly uniform. (See video tutorial to watch how I do it!)
- Transfer to a lined baking sheet and flip the loaves over so the smooth side is up!
- “Tuck in” the edges so that the loaves are nicely rounded and tight on top. (Again, watch the video for a demonstration of my technique)
Time for baking
I have a regular old ugly, not special, not-convection oven, and I crank that baby up to 550℉ for baguettes, and 500℉ for bigger loaves. That blast of heat is just what your dough needs to form it’s wonderful crust, and lock in all those yeast bubbles.
Your dough should rest and relaxt for 20-30 minutes while your oven preheats. I always slash the top of my dough BEFORE I let it rest. Again, there’s some debate on what’s best so try it both ways and decide for yourself. I use a serrated knife. (Demo in video.)
I also throw a few ice cubes in the bottom of the oven right before I pop the bread pan in. In the bread world, there is some controversy about if one should use water or ice or nothing, or what method is most authentic and all that. Honestly, I throw in ice because it’s easy and safe, and I can do it quickly and not let my oven cool down.
The ice will melt and create a steam in the closed oven, which will keep the crust of your bread from baking to quickly. This will give your loaves a little extra time to expand before the crust gets crispy. It really make a difference in how your loaves pop up!
The size of your loaf will determine your bake time. These little loaves were in for exactly 22 minutes. Try not to open the oven and lose that precious heat, and never pull them out to soon. I’d rather have my loaves be on the cusp of burning than be underdone in the middle. EEK!
The crust, a symphony of crackle! The inside, chewy bubble goodness. The flavor..rustic heaven.
I make many different kinds of bread that I love, but there is a pleasure unequaled in my bread baking experience, and that is the sound and feeling of tearing apart a perfect French loaf. It’s either that, or when my children pretend to faint because they love this bread so much.
Save this for later on Pinterest!
More popular posts to try from Cottage Chronicles:
Coq au Vin, the easy classic French chicken in wine sauce
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Balsamic & Maple Glase (Reduction)
Kids in the Kitchen: Sharing the joy of good eating with my children
42 Comments
Bitsy Goss
Jane where do I find Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Flour? Love the French bread recipe.
Jane
I get mine at Fred Meyer, but it is also on Amazon, though more expensive.
Christy
Question!? This bread sounds amazing. What are the directions if you do have a convection oven?
Thanks,
C Nesher
Bob’s Mill products can also be ordered online via the company direct. I’m not sure how the price compares otherwise.
Mike Manning
Amazon advertisers offer a full range of Bob’s Red Mill products. The bread flour cost less than King Author’s
Mary Kempf
Cannot get the recipe to show…help please!
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Jacqueline
Unfortunately I threw ice cubes into the bottom of my super expensive Wolf oven as I had all of my other ovens and it caused the enamel to pop off! What a disappointment and the repairman said there was nothing to be done about it. Your loaves look beautiful.
Simon
I have melted aluminum foil to the bottom of my wild “M series” double oven and Wolf was able to replace the bottom of the unit. Not a cheap fix…but a fix none-the-less.
Charlotte Smith
I am curious about adding ice cubes. I know what it does, but do you put them in a baking pan or on the bottom of the oven?
Patti
Where is the recipe??
Desurée
I’m new to bread making, and I made this bread two weeks ago. It turned out beautifully – crispy crust, perfect interior! So delicious (my husband and I finished both loaves in less than 24 hours!). I was just wondering if it would be possible to add more salt? Would that harm the yeast?
Enza
Can I please have the receipt for the French bread.
chelsea
Thanks for this recipe! Perfect for the moment, when yeast is nowhere to be found.
I do have a question that maybe you can help with. I’ve made this twice now and my dough (after rising 14-18 hours) comes out really wet, more of a gloopy mess than in your pictures. When I try to shape them to look nice and pretty like yours do and they look like wet blobs in comparison haha. They do still taste really great, but I would love to get that nice thick crust, and maybe have them looking a little nicer!
Any idea where I might be going wrong here?
Thanks for your help! 🙂
Keri
I am having the same issue. It’s so wet I can’t do anything with it! Then when baking they are flat and the bread is too dense. I have tried it 3 times now following the recipe exactly, then a forth adding a little more flour. All with the same result.
Jillian
I’m with these two ladies. The water to flour ratio in this recipe is definitely off. I’m so sad I wasted my last bread flour on these. Total gloopy mess after rising for 16 hours. They’re basically flat breads.
Lisa
Agreed. Making it on a cold winter day in NY, so humid weather is not the problem. This recipe calls for far too much hydration. There was no way to pinch the baguettes as shown in the video. I mushed them back together and put the whole thing on the cookie sheet. Obviously, this worked for some people. I suspect the problem is that the recipe is written with volume measurements, instead of weight. I used KA bread flour and used 120g per cup. Is the author packing her flour and getting a lot more than 120 g per cup? What is the hydration ratio supposed to be for this recipe?
Maureen
Same experience thus far for me. I weighed by flour (120 grams for each cup). I was excited to see all the bubbles when the dough sat. Then I dumped it out, and it still had some liquid! No way I could do anything with it without adding a lot of flour and man handling the dough. I’ll bake it up, but I don’t have high hopes. Very disappointed. Guess I’ll keep searching for a recipe but look for one that expressly lists the flour by weight.
Patricia Zabala
Me too!!! Help
patricia
I need some guidance. I’m not very good. I made this and 18 hours later it was so gooey. What did I do wrong. Because it was me not your recipe!
Meghan
Does the recipe work for high altitude? Or are there any adjustments for it?
Adela
Hi, thank you for the recipe, it’s really good. I’d like to know if I can freeze the dough and when.
Thank you
Maxine Slapper
Hi,
Your bread recipe looks great!
Can I ask you to give me the amounts other than in cups? In grammes? Or pounds and ounces as I’m not sure what size cup to use? Also, how much yeast is that?
Many thanks
Maxine
Marion
Hi there!
First of all thanks a lot for this recipe! We all love it! I m from France and this actually reminds me of one baguette we used to buy! I ve tried many and by far this one is the best! However mine keeps coming out kinda flat. Any tips ? I m doing as you say so i m not sure what is wrong ?! Please let me know! Thankss
John
Hi Jane
Thank you for this amazing recipe, everything turned out perfectly first go. I baked two loaves in my fan assisted oven at 250° for 30 minutes, hope this helps anyone else giving this recipe a go
Nancy
Mine turned out perfect!
Michelle
Your recipe worked fantastic. I added a pan with water under the cooking bread. It helped the bread brown more slowly. We all enjoyed it immensely. The crust was crisp and the center was moist with nice holes and gaps. It’s an easy to follow recipe that gives great results.
Marija
I made your recipe for baguettes. My bread turn out fantastic.
Just like in Paris. Thank you very much.
marieanne52h@gmail.com
Great looking bread can not wait to try it
Please send your cute recepy
Marieanne
Elizabeth
Just made my own loaves for the first time and chose this recipe. They turned out great! The dough was very wet but it worked out. Ended up cooking them at 500 degrees for 22 mins, next time 18 minutes will probably be enough. Also put about 10 ice cubes in a broiler pan under the baking sheet and it worked well for the crispy crust. I’ll be keeping this for my go to recipe! Wish I could attach a picture!
Lisa
Do you have an approximate time for the larger loaf. I only saw the time for the baguettes.
Jennifer
Follow the instructions in the “cute little printable” or the instructions in the post itself and the video? They are VERY different.
Mike Manning
The French Bread recipe calls for 3 Cups flour. Thats 360 grams. 15/8 Cup water thats 384 grams. 384/360 = 106% hydration rate. After 14 hours bulk fermentation in a sealed bowl it more than doubled is size but was elastic soup utterly unmanageable and too late to knead. If I got something wrong don’t know what it was.
dale stamwitz
I agree with Mike the hydration is way off. I used the 1 5/8 cups of water with the 3 cups of flour and came up with a soupy mess. Over 100% hydration just doesn’t work no matter how long you wait. I suspect there is a typo somewhere in the recipe.
patricia
Since we weren’t getting any feedback from our recipe lady I searched n searched n found this.
3 1/4 cup bread flour
1 1/2 cup cool water
2 tsp dry active yeast
1/2 tsp coarse salt.
This is from sallysbakingaddiction.com
Just the initial mixing all together is so much better. Not goopey.
That’s as far as I am now. It’s sitting and waiting till tomorrow.
She shows a video also.
So anyone else like me and couldn’t get it right, check this out.
Debbie
I used unbleached all purpose flour followed your instructions as written. It was the best bread I ever made crusty on the outside and light and airy on the inside. Thank you!!
Patricia Zabala
I did exactly as the recipe read and it was so goopy I couldn’t do anything with it. What’s your secret. I’m sure it’s me not recipe!
MarieMom
My search is over. This is the best bread recipe I have found on pinterest. So easy to make and so very yummy! Crisp crust, nice and airy texture and good flavor.
Susan Welder
Hi I’m excited to make these! I was wondering -after forming baguettes on pan – can or do I let them rest/rise more than 20 min? They look a bit flat.
Thanks
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Cindy
Cottage chronicles lady, Jane. Could you please respond to comments about too wet. What are we doing wrong??