What Is a Baguette? Plus a Baguette Recipe

Bread is a staple of many destinations we offer for our food tours and cooking vacations, and perhaps the best examples of this are France and Italy, where bread making is a true art. In France, the classic and famous baguette is perhaps one of the most instantly identifiable culinary products in the world. So what is a baguette? A baguette is basically defined by three things:

• a long, thin loaf shape
• a lean dough (not enriched with milk, eggs, etc., but a simple recipe of water, flour, salt, and yeast)
• a crisp crust

The Baguette Shape

A classic baguette is a couple feet long and only a couple inches in diameter, although you can find shorter or longer versions. When buying it in France they’ll wrap paper around the middle so you can put it under your arm. The word “baguette” means wand or baton, which perfectly describes the shape of the loaf. Part of what makes a baguette a baguette is the method of baking, which traditionally includes the use of steam. This allows the loaf to expand in the oven during the baking process, creating a lighter crumb. It also aids the formation of the distinctive crust, which is crisp to the point of hardness at times.

Making Baguettes

The traditional baguette loaf is made from only four ingredients, flour, water, yeast, and salt. The yeast can be from a pre-ferment or starter yeast, or from commercial yeast. Our favorite baguette recipes is the Pain a l’Ancienne recipe from American master baker Peter Reinhart. The recipes could not be more simple!