How baguettes are made
A traditional French baguette is limited by law to flour, water, yeast, salt and traces of extras, with no pre-made dough.
- stations
- 7
- things upstream
- 28
- raw sources
- 11
- steps from the ground
- 9
The short version
Flour, water, yeast and salt are mixed into a lean dough and allowed to ferment, often with a pre-ferment for flavor. The dough is divided, shaped into long thin loaves and proofed. A deck oven over 200 °C injects steam, which lets the crust expand before it sets. The result is a crisp crust and an airy crumb.
-
Mix a lean dough
Wheat flour, water, baker's yeast and salt go into the mixer. The traditional baguette is defined by French law, which allows only small amounts of a few additions such as broad bean flour and malt flour.
-
Let the dough ferment
Yeast makes carbon dioxide, which inflates the dough. Artisan bakers often start with a pre-ferment called a poolish to deepen the flavor. Faster factory doughs ferment less and tend to taste of less.
-
Divide and shape the sticks
The dough is cut into pieces and rolled into long thin loaves. Under the 1993 bread decree, traditional French bread cannot be made from pre-made dough.
-
Proof the loaves
Shaped loaves rest in a warm, humid room so they swell again before they meet the oven.
60 to 90 minutes at 27 °C
-
Score the tops
A blade makes a few shallow cuts along the length of each loaf. The cuts let it open in the oven and are part of what marks a traditional baguette.
-
Bake in a steam deck oven
Loaves go onto a thick stone or firebrick deck in an oven heated over 200 °C. Steam injected at the start lets the crust stretch before it hardens and melts surface sugar into a slight glaze.
205 to 220 °C, steam for the first 2 to 5 minutes
-
Cool on racks
Loaves cool and crackle as the crust shrinks. A baguette is best eaten within hours, because the thin crust gives up its crunch quickly.
Worth repeating
- Since 1994 the city of Paris has awarded a yearly prize for its best traditional baguette.
- In 2022 the artisanal know-how and culture of baguette bread was inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage lists.
- The first steam oven reached Paris in 1839, brought by August Zang, who is sometimes credited with originating the baguette.
Back to the ground
Follow every input upstream and baguette starts as these 11 raw sources.
Everything it is made of See it on the map
Open the whole family tree
Keep walking
Sources
Cite this page: "How baguettes are made." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/baguette