Sourdough French bread is a simple and classic recipe with a fluffy texture and crusty exterior. Knead the night before and allow it to ferment overnight, then shape, rise, and bake the next day. It’s wonderfully simple.
There is nothing better than a crusty loaf of bread. Slice it thick and spread with homemade butter, and now you are speaking my language.
Most French bread recipes call for instant yeast, which I almost never keep in my pantry, except for that rare occasion I want to make this einkorn sandwich bread.
Once you switch to fermenting grains and using wild yeast to leaven bread, it’s hard to go back to the conventional fast-rising breads. It lacks the flavor that develops during that slow rise.
But it is a delicate balance, because that fluffy center can sometimes be a challenge to perfect with sourdough.
These sourdough French baguettes have all the good qualities one can hope for. Crusty outside with a fluffy, tender texture inside. It’s perfect to serve as garlic bread, or with a bowl of soup.
Why you will love this recipe:
- Super simple. Start the night before and allow to ferment and rise overnight. The next day, all you have to do is shape, allow to rise, and bake. It’s a perfect almost-make-ahead side.
- Fermented grains for easier and better digestion. There is no doubt we love sourdough in our house. Not only is it tasty, but the fermentation process helps break down phytic acid, making it more nutritious, and helps break down the gluten, making it easier to digest.
- Delicious. This recipe is everything you love and hope for in a French bread: crusty exterior with a soft and fluffy inside. Use it as a side, garlic bread, or slice it in half to cover with sauce, cheese, and pizza toppings and now you have a pizza bread. This last particular idea was one my mom made us for a quick dinner growing up.
Is French bread the same as sourdough?
No. While they are similar, most French breads are not made with sourdough, but rather with conventional rapid yeast. You can easily make it into sourdough French bread by using this recipe. Just know that most French breads you buy from the store will use yeast.
Sourdough French Bread Tips:
- For a soft, fluffy, sourdough bread baguette, your dough should be on the wetter side. A dry dough will leave you with a drier loaf.
- To make those perfect long loaves, I like to roll it out into a rectangle and then roll it up and pinch the ends. This allows for a more even loaf for a better shape and more even baking time.
- To give the baguettes a crustier outside, place a few ice cubes in the oven. This will release steam and achieve that beautiful, golden crust.
- New to sourdough? Learn how to make a starter and care for it. Once you get the hang of it, I promise it is really easy. You can even make a ton of recipes from sourdough discard.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.
Tools you may need:
Stand mixer with dough hook.
Measuring cups and spoons
How To Make Sourdough French Bread
Feed your starter 4-12 hours before starting this recipe. It should be very active and bubbly.
To your mixing bowl, add all of the ingredients.
Knead in a stand mixer using the dough hook until stretchy and pulling away from the sides of the bowl. This should take about 5-10 minutes. It should pass the ‘windowpane’ test, which is when you take a small piece of the dough and try to stretch it into a square-like shape. If you can stretch it thin enough where you can “see through it”, then the gluten formation is adequate.
If it doesn’t pass this test and is breaking apart, then place it back into the stand mixer and knead for a few more minutes.
Place in a large, oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap, beeswax wrap, or something that is airtight. This will keep the dough moist, preventing it from developing a hard skin.
Allow to ferment for 8 to 24 hours in a warm place.
The next day, it should have at least doubled in size.
Punch down the dough. Divide into two equal parts.
Shape it by rolling the dough into a flat rectangle (about 1/4 – 1/2 inch thickness) and roll up. Pinch the seam.
Place French bread dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Cover with a towel and allow to rise until doubled again. This could take a few hours depending on how warm your kitchen is.
Slash with lame.
Preheat to 400. Bake for 25 minutes.
For a more golden crust, add ice cubes in the oven. This helps add moisture and steam to make that golden, crustier crust.
Once it is done baking, pull it out of the oven and allow to cool completely before slicing.
Find More Delicious Sourdough Recipes:
- Sourdough Chocolate Cupcakes
- Sourdough Sandwich Rolls
- No-Knead Sourdough Bread
- Sourdough Blueberry Muffins
- Homemade Sourdough Bagels
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone
Sourdough French Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup sourdough starter, 227 g
- 1 1/4 cups water, 295 g
- 2 teaspoon salt and, 10 g
- 4 cups all-purpose flour, 560 g
- 1 tablespoon honey, 21 g
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, 27 g
Instructions
- Feed your starter 4-12 hours before starting this recipe. It should be very active and bubbly.
- To your mixing bowl, add all of the ingredients.
- Knead in a stand mixer using the dough hook until stretchy and pulling away from the sides of the bowl. This should take about 5-10 minutes. It should pass the ‘windowpane’ test, which is when you take a small piece of the dough and try to stretch it into a square-like shape. If you can stretch it thin enough where you can “see through it”, then the gluten formation is adequate.
- Place in a large, oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap, beeswax wrap, or something that is airtight. This will keep the dough moist, preventing it from developing a hard skin.
- Allow to ferment for 8 to 24 hours in a warm place. The next day, it should have at least doubled in size.
- Punch down the dough. Divide into two equal parts.
- Shape it by rolling the dough into a flat rectangle (about 1/4 – 1/2 inch thickness) and roll up. Pinch the seam.
- Place French bread dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Cover with a towel and allow to rise until doubled again. This could take a few hours depending on how warm your kitchen is.
- Slash with lame.
- Preheat to 400. Bake for 25 minutes. (For a more golden crust, add ice cubes in the oven. This helps add moisture and steam to make that golden, crustier crust.)
- Once it is done baking, pull it out of the oven and allow to cool completely before slicing.
Notes
- For a more golden crust, add ice cubes in the oven for a crustier crust.
- The windowpane test is when you take a small piece of the dough and try to stretch it into a square-like shape. If you can stretch it thin enough where you can “see through it”, then the gluten formation is adequate. If, after kneading, your dough just breaks apart, then knead it longer until it can pass this test.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is my first time making actual bread with my starter. I love all of your recipes and have done well with the rules, cinnamon rolls, English muffins, pancakes etc. My dough for this recipe seems really moist and very sticky after 10 minutes. I did another half a cup of flour, will see if this does the trick! I did use my starter directly from the fridge so it was a little more runny or than usual – is this normal?
Hi,
Why are the instructions in the blog and the instructions in the lower (printable) section totally different? Was there a glitch?
Would love to know which one you prefer.
Thanks.
This recipe was fool proof and soooooo easy!! I tried a different recipe and failed but this one came out PERFECT!!
Wow! Wonderful to hear/
I will try to make this sourdough french bread thank you for sharing your recipe.
It would be great if you would give the measurements by weight!
Thank you!
I second this. How much active starter is “one cup.” Afterall?
When I weighed it in the past, it was 227g. Hope that helps.
Perfect sourdough French bread! What a great recipe. Thanks for sharing! My sourdough starter seems to take forever to rise, so this recipe took a good 24 hours including time out of the fridge for my starter to be active/bubbly. Worth the wait!
wow!! so simple but so amazingly tasty. I felt like a profesional bread maker when I tasted this! 5 star
This is probably a stupid question, but I just can’t get my mind around it. How do you know how much to replace the amount of starter you’ve used? And why do you have discarded starter, aside from when you’ve just started a new starter? Thanks!
The King Arthur website has very good info about sourdough from making a starter and on to hire to feed it and many recipes as well as what you can do with the discard if you’d rather not throw it out. I used organic all purpose flour from Costco, whatever brand they sold when I bought it, but King Arthur all purpose flour is my favorite. Hope that helps. Happy baking! Mabel
What kind of flour? Whatever you want? I don’t think it’s specified anywhere
You can’t make sourdough with bleached white. That says a lot about what a dead product that is. Unbleached white is probably what she used, but I add about 20% whole wheat for flavor.
Such an easy recipe to follow and both loaves came out beautifully! The taste has a perfect sour tang!
I just made the dough for this recipe. It seemed really wet, yet, after 5 minutes with 4 cups of flour. I added about a 1/2 cup or so more before I got it to the “window pane” stage. I haven’t baked it yet, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
So weird! I just made the dough and it seemed pretty dense and dry. Had to knead more a long time to get dough to absorb moisture and it was still pretty dense but passed the mid now pane test. Finger crossed as well 😅
Could be your weather/environment.
This recipe is a definite keeper! Followed your instructions exactly (fermented overnight for about 10 hours then did the second rise for 2) and the bread turned out perfect! Super soft and fluffy on the inside with a really nice, and easy to chew through crust! I made half of the loaf into garlic bread and the other half we are eating on its own and both are better than any French bread I’ve had! This super simple and delicious recipe will be part of many meals! Thank you!!
How did you make it into garlic bread? I would love to try that, it sounds amazing!!
Sorry this took me so long to reply to! Once the bread was baked and cooled I simply mixed soft butter with minced garlic, and a little salt and spread that onto a loaf that was sliced in half lengthwise. Then baked at 350 until nice and toasty! Enjoy 🙂