A baguette de tradition on T65 comes down to four numbers: 100 percent flour, 70 percent water, 1.8 percent salt and 0.7 percent fresh yeast. Those are the figures on the Grands Moulins de Paris technical sheet for its Tradition T65, and they work because the flour is doing the rest: 10.3 g of protein per 100 g, enough extensibility to open the crumb, and a malted wheat flour addition that colors the crust. Below is that formula in grams for a 1 kg test batch and a 10 kg bakery mix, the mill's mixing temperatures and fermentation schedule, and the shaping and baking notes that turn the dough into a 45 cm baguette with a crisp, blistered crust.
The flour is French Bread Flour T65 Traditional from our Grands Moulins de Paris collection, stocked in Brockton, MA in 25 kg bags and shipping nationwide, with next-day UPS Ground in Massachusetts.
Shop this formula: T65 Tradition flour, SAF Red instant yeast or fresh yeast, and fine sea salt by the 50 lb case. One 25 kg bag makes about 120 baguettes.
T65 is the grade French bakers use for baguette de tradition. The T number is an ash measurement, so a T65 keeps a little more of the wheat's mineral-rich outer layers than a white T55, and that shows up as a cream-colored crumb, a crust that colors faster and a fuller wheat flavor. What the number does not tell you is strength. The mill's T65 runs 10.3 g protein per 100 g, well below the 12.7 percent of an American bread flour, which is exactly why it makes a better baguette: the dough stretches into a long, thin loaf without springing back, and the crumb opens instead of tightening. If you are used to American bread flour, read our guide to French flour types before you scale this up, because the handling is different.
The formula that follows is the mill's own, converted to baker's percentages. We have not changed the ratios; we have added the instant-yeast equivalent, a 10 kg column and the bench notes a mill sheet leaves out.
| Ingredient | Baker's % | 1 kg flour batch (4 baguettes) | 10 kg bakery mix (about 49 baguettes) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grands Moulins de Paris T65 | 100 | 1,000 g | 10 kg |
| Water, first addition | 65 | 650 g | 6.5 kg |
| Water, bassinage | 4 to 5 | 40 to 50 g | 400 to 500 g |
| Fine sea salt (Cargill or Diamond Crystal) | 1.8 | 18 g | 180 g |
| Fresh yeast | 0.7 (plus or minus 0.1) | 7 g | 70 g |
| or SAF Red instant yeast | 0.25 | 2.5 g | 25 g |
| Total dough | about 172 | about 1,725 g | about 17.2 kg |
Two things to notice. The salt is 1.8 percent, not the 2 percent common in American formulas; the mill's figure is the norm in France and the crust tastes properly seasoned at that level once the crumb has fermented long enough. And the yeast is low. Fermentation here comes from time and temperature rather than from yeast, and a T65 dough with less gluten to relax is ready sooner than a bread-flour dough at the same dose, so do not round the yeast up on the first batch.
The mill specifies a base temperature of 58°C for a spiral or planetary mixer and 62°C for an oblique-axis mixer. Base temperature is the sum of the room temperature, the flour temperature and the water temperature in degrees Celsius; subtract the first two from the base and you have the water temperature to use. In a 22°C bakery with 22°C flour, that is 14°C water for a spiral mixer. The target is a dough at 24 to 25°C off the hook.
Mix on first speed only, for 12 minutes on a spiral and 15 minutes on an oblique-axis mixer. There is no second speed in this method. A T65 dough reaches full development slowly and gently, and a fast mix oxidizes it, whitens the crumb and flattens the flavor. Hold back the bassinage water until the dough has cleared the bowl, then trickle it in over the last two or three minutes; added at the start it slows the gluten from forming, added at the end it loosens the dough for a more open crumb without making it slack.
The same-day schedule is a two-hour bulk fermentation at room temperature with two folds: 30 minutes, fold, 60 minutes, fold, 30 minutes. Each fold builds strength the low mixing left out, and the dough should feel noticeably tighter and more domed after the second one.
The bakery schedule, and the one the mill lists first, is a 60-minute bulk with one fold followed by a cold block of 12 to 24 hours at 4°C. Cover the tub, and on the next morning divide straight from the cold. The cold dough divides cleanly, shapes without tearing and gives a crust that blisters in the oven. Both schedules can also take a poolish if your shop prefers one: take 30 percent of the flour and an equal weight of water with a pinch of yeast 12 to 16 hours ahead, then subtract both from the main mix.
Divide at 350 g. Preshape each piece into a loose log on a lightly floured bench with the seam down and rest 20 to 60 minutes under a cloth; the cold-blocked dough needs the longer end of that range to warm and relax. Shape to 45 to 50 cm by folding the log in thirds lengthwise, sealing the seam with the heel of your hand, then rolling from the center out with even pressure to taper the ends. Proof seam-side up on a floured couche for 30 to 45 minutes at 25°C, until a fingertip dent springs back slowly.
Roll the loaves onto a peel or loader seam-side down and score with three to five cuts that overlap by a third, held at a low angle so the blade lifts a flap rather than slicing straight down. A shallow, angled cut is what gives a baguette its ear.
Bake at 250°C, plus or minus 20°C for your oven, with steam for the first ten minutes, for 20 to 23 minutes total. Vent the steam for the last third of the bake so the crust dries and crackles. The mill's sheet finishes with a step most recipes skip: cool 30 minutes on a rack before selling or slicing. The crust is still setting as the steam inside escapes, and a baguette cut hot goes leathery within the hour.
At 10 kg of flour the dough weighs about 17.2 kg, which is a comfortable load for a 60-quart spiral mixer and gives 49 baguettes at 350 g. Keep the 58°C base temperature but expect the larger mass to gain about a degree during the mix, so aim a degree cooler on the water. Fold in the tub rather than on the bench. Divide the cold-blocked dough in two or three passes so the last pieces do not warm and slacken on the bench while the first ones are shaped. A 25 kg bag covers two and a half of these mixes, roughly 120 baguettes.
France's 1993 bread decree restricts the name pain de tradition française to bread made from wheat flour, water, salt and yeast or levain, with no additives and no freezing at any stage of production. Fava bean flour up to 2 percent, soy flour up to 0.5 percent and malted wheat flour up to 0.3 percent are the only flour adjuncts allowed. Our French Bread Flour T65 Traditional is the mill's Tradition T65, and its ingredient line is wheat flour, wheat gluten and malted wheat flour, nothing else, so a loaf made from it to the formula above, never frozen, meets the decree. The mill's everyday pain courant T65 shares the same 10.3 g protein but adds ascorbic acid and enzymes and does not qualify; if you have ever baked on that grade, expect this one to gain strength more slowly in the mixer and to lean harder on the folds and the cold block.
Start at 65 percent and add a 4 to 5 percent bassinage once the dough has come together, for 69 to 70 percent total. That is the mill's own number for its T65 and it gives an open crumb without a slack dough. Push past 72 percent only once you know how the flour handles in your shop.
0.7 percent fresh yeast, or about 0.25 percent instant, on flour weight. The formula relies on a long bulk fermentation and a cold block for flavor rather than on yeast, so resist the urge to add more on the first batch; a T65 dough has less gluten to relax than a bread-flour dough and is usually ready to divide sooner than you expect.
Yes. Divide the fresh yeast weight by three: 7 g fresh becomes about 2.5 g of SAF Red instant per 1 kg of flour. Mix the instant yeast into the flour before the water goes in.
Twelve to twenty-four hours at 4°C develops flavor, relaxes the gluten so the baguettes shape without fighting back, and lets a bakery mix in the afternoon and bake in the morning. The mill lists it as the standard method for its Tradition T65; the two-hour room-temperature bulk with two folds is the same-day alternative.
350 g of dough, shaped to 45 to 50 cm, bakes to a standard baguette of roughly 300 g. A 1 kg flour batch gives four of them with a little dough left over; a 10 kg mix gives about 49.
Yes, on this flour. The 1993 French decree limits tradition bread to wheat flour, water, salt and yeast or levain, with no additives and no freezing. Our T65 Traditional is the mill's Tradition T65, which lists wheat flour, wheat gluten and malted wheat flour and nothing else, so the formula above, baked without freezing, qualifies.
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