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A 'baguette' (French for "little stick") is a variety of bread distinguishable by its much greater length than width, and noted for its very crispy crust. A standard baguette is five or six centimeters wide and three or four centimeters tall, but can be up to a meter in length. It is also known in English as a ''French stick'' or a ''French loaf''.
Shorter baguettes are very often used for sandwiches. These sandwich-sized loafs are sometimes known as ''demi-baguettes'' or ''tiers''. Baguettes are often sliced and served with pâté or cheeses. As part of the traditional continental breakfast in France, slices of baguette are spread with jam and dunked in bowls of coffee or hot chocolate.
Baguettes are seen as closely connected to France and especially to Paris, though they are available around the world. In France, not all long loaves are baguettes — for example, a standard thicker stick is a ''flûte'' and a thinner loaf is a ''ficelle''.
French food laws define bread as a product containing only the following four ingredients: water, flour, yeast, and salt. The addition of any other ingredient to the basic recipe requires the baker to use a different name for the final product.
The ''baguette'' is a descendant of the bread developed in Vienna in the mid-19th century when steam ovens were first brought into use, helping to make possible the crisp crust and the white crumb pitted with holes that still distinguish the modern ''baguette''. Long loaves had been made for some time but in October 1920 a law prevented bakers from working before 4am, making it impossible to make the traditional, often round loaf in time for customers' breakfasts. The slender ''baguette'' solved the problem because it could be prepared and baked much more rapidly. [1]

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See also

★ Croissant

External links

★ How to shape a baguette

★ French bread recipe and photos