Easy Homemade Artisan Baguettes || Bakery-Style Bread with Minimal Effort

By Rebecca St.Clair

Updated August 28, 2025

These homemade artisan baguettes are beginner-friendly, require no special tools, and bake up with a gorgeous crust and tender crumb. Your kitchen will smell like a French bakery in no time! Baguettes are made and enjoyed world wide. However, most people would agree this bread is quintessentially French.

When I traveled in Paris, many years ago, one of the things on my culinary bucket list was a baguette from a proper artisan French boulangerie. 

These beautiful loves are not difficult to make at home. They require very few ingredients and are a great way to get started in your bread making journey! Crusty on the outside, soft and airy on the inside—these homemade artisan baguettes are everything you love about bakery bread.

How to store homemade artisan baguettes

Homemade artisan baguettes are best served fresh and eaten the same day.

At room temperature

Baguettes, like most homemade loaves dry out and become stale more quickly than store-bought bread. Baguettes especially dry out and get hard quickly, due to their low moisture content.

To store a baguette at room temperature first wrap it in aluminum foil or plastic wrap. Store it on the counter for up to 2 days.

Baguettes stored this way are best served toasted or warmed the next day.

The refrigerator

Homemade artisan baguettes should not be refrigerated. The refrigerator is not the best option to store a baguette, or any homemade bread. Refrigerated bread will quickly turn hard and tough, even if wrapped tightly.

The freezer

Baguettes can be frozen! Store a baguette, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap or an airtight container, for up to 3 months.

When you are ready to enjoy your bread, remove it from the wrap and allow it to come back up to room temperature.

If you want to warm the whole loaf up to get that warm fresh baked taste, place the baguette lightly wrapped in tin foil in a preheated 325 °F (160 °C) oven for 20-25 minutes or until warmed through.

How baguettes are made

There are a few extra things that bakers use to make beautiful baguettes.

• Couche A couche is a soft cloth that is used to separate the bread loaves while they are rising. It keeps them rising up in stead of out. That way you will have a nice cylinder shape instead of a wide flat baguette.
• Baguette Pan These are pans that are specifically designed to bake baguettes. They are perforated for airflow and are in that cylindrical shape that you want for a baguette.

Do you need a couche and a baguette pan to make baguettes? No!

For this recipe I make the baguettes without a couche and without a baguette pan.

If you plan on making baguettes all the time, these may be worth the investment. However, you can make your own with things you probably have in your kitchen right now. 

To make your own couche. Fold and dust a long piece of parchment paper with flour.

When you place the shaped dough in the couche tie it with kitchen twine on both ends to form the parchment paper into a half cylinder shape.

To make your own baguette pan. Since parchment paper can go directly into the oven I use the same parchment paper to bake the bread in the oven. Half way through, undo the twine on both ends of the baguette and pull the parchment paper down, to allow the bread to get golden brown on all sides.

How to use homemade artisan baguettes

There is nothing better than a fresh baked baguette sliced and served warm with butter, in my opinion. There are many different ways to use baguettes.

• Bruschetta– Sliced baguettes, lightly toasted, and served with a tomato feta and balsamic mixture.
• Garlic bread – This crusty outside and soft inside makes an excellent garlic bread. Either sliced first and then spread with garlic spread, or cut the entire loaf in half, apply the garlic mixture, place in the oven to melt and get nice and toasty. Then slice the bread and serve.
• With chocolate– A classic French treat. A warm baguette with some good quality dark chocolate sandwiched inside and maybe a sprinkle of salt.
• For stuffing– I always make my stuffing for Thanksgiving and Christmas with a baguette style bread that I have pre-baked full of seasoning.
• An absolute treasure trove of breakfast casseroles can be made from day old baguette.

How to Make Easy Homemade Artisan Baguettes

Mixing the dough

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large bowl by hand, mix 1 ½ cups warm water and 2 ¼ tsp (1 packet) dry-active yeast.
2. When the yeast is soft, add in 4 cups of flour. Mix with the dough hook attachment, or your hands.
3. Knead for about 4 minutes (6 minutes if kneading by hand). Or until the dough cleans the side of the bowl and is smooth an elastic.
4. Cover and allow to rest 20 minutes.

5. Sprinkle on top 1 ½ tsp salt.

6. Knead this into the dough for another 3 minutes. The dough should be smooth and glossy.

7. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.

Shaping

1. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Split the dough in 3 for small baguettes or 2 for long.
2. Form each section of dough into a rectangle and then fold it in thirds, like a letter going into an envelop.
3. Cover and let rest 15 minutes.

4. On a lightly floured surface, lightly press and roll each portion of dough into a long log about 12 inches long.

5. Place all three (or two) in a floured couche, or on a folded, floured piece of parchment paper slightly longer than the loaf. Tie a piece of twine on each end to form the parchment paper into a half cylinder, so they will hold their shape as they rise. See video for more details

6. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Baking

1. Preheat oven to 450 °F (230 °C) fan on or convection mode.
2. Transfer the loaves to the baguette pans, if using. I keep mine in parchment paper and place on a baking sheet.
3. Cut slashes in the top of the loaves with a sharp blade just before going into the preheated oven. Pour about cup of ice cubes into bottom of the oven, to create steam, and shut the door.
4. Bake for 8 minutes. If using parchment paper, remove from the oven and untie both ends and fold down the paper to get an evenly browned crust.
5. Return to the oven and bake another 6-8 minutes or until golden and sounds hollow when tapped.
6. Meanwhile, mix ¼ tsp salt with ¼ cup water. (This will get brushed onto the loves when they come out of the oven to give them a slight salty crust. This is optional)
7. As soon as the loaves come out of the oven, brush with the salt water. This will immediately dry onto the crust.
8. Once it is cool enough to handle, slice and serve!

Hungry for some more fresh baked bread? Hop over here!

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