I LOVE a good French bread! It’s perfect to serve hot AND to enjoy with those delicious Italian meals.

This is my recipe for both baguettes and French bread. Baguettes are part of our #makebread365 challenge we have going on for 2023 over on Instagram!

Be sure to watch video to get a better understanding about how to shape the dough and the texture we are looking for!

Enjoy!

Baguette and French Bread with 100% Freshly Milled Wheat

This two recipes in one! This is my recipe for baguettes and French bread using 100% freshly milled wheat. The difference between the two is how you shape them!

4.34 from 6 votes

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Prep Time 2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Servings 3 loaves

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 2 cups warm water
• 1.5 TB cane sugar honey can also be used
• 5 cups freshly milled hard white wheat mill about 3 1/2 cups of wheat berries. Hard white is recommended, but Kamut can also be used.
• 1 TB instant yeast active yeast can be used, but rising will take longer
• 1 TB oil olive oil is my preference
• 2.5 tsp salt

Instructions

 

• In a mixer or bowl, combine warm water, sugar, and about 2 1/2 cups of freshly milled flour. Stir together, add yeast. Let sponge for about 15-20 minutes until bubbly (if it never rises slightly or bubbles, your yeast is bad. Toss it out and use new yeast)
• After sponge has formed, add olive oil an salt and 2 cups of freshly milled flour.
• Mix together. When using a mixer, add flour a little bit at a time until the dough starts to pull off the sides of the bowl (see video for details). If mixing by hand, add enough flour where it is still tacky and start kneading. Once it's time to knead, knead in mixer for 9 minutes or by hand for about 15-20 minutes.
• Knead until dough is soft and TACKY. Do not over add flour because it will be too dense (See video for details).
• Once kneading is done, place in greased bowl (or keep in mixer bowl), cover and rise for about 30-45 minutes until doubled.
• Once doubled, dough probably will still be tacky. This is good. Lightly dust surface of counter and place dough on counter. Divide into three even dough balls (baguettes) or two even dough balls (French bread). If necessary, lightly dust your hands if too sticky or dip hands in water.
• With each dough ball, roll out into a rectangle about 10 inches wide and 6-7 inches deep. Don't overthink this, you just want a rectangle.
• Fold over 1/3 of dough into middle and press seam down. Roll over again to the edge and press seam.
• Roll dough into a long shape for a baguette or a longer, but shorter, shape for French bread (see video).
• Place on baguette or French bread pans (or place on a dusted, clean tea towel with places pulled up to create an edge between each loaf).
• Cover and let rise until double.
• While dough is rising, preheat oven to 425 degrees F
• Once bread loaves have doubled (about 30 minutes), score and brush with water or mist with a clean spray bottle. Egg wash can also be used, but it will be more browned.
• Bake at 425 degrees F for 10 minutes. Then reduce oven to 375 degrees F for another 15 minutes or until internal temp is 190 degrees F.
• Place on cooling rack and let rest for about 10 minutes.
• When ready to serve, just break apart of slice with bread knife!

Notes

Hard white wheat works best. If you do not have hard white wheat on hand, you can use 2/3 part hard red wheat and 1/3 part soft white wheat. 

If you want a crustier crust, bake about 1-2 minutes little longer at 425 degrees. This all depends on your oven, so experiment! 

 

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!