Yes, the baguette is about 100 years old. Its first mentions were in 1922, which of course indicates that the first baguettes were baked at least a few years before. Still, I was surprised to read that it is a fairly recent “invention,” given the baguette is maybe the most iconic food of France. 

As with so many other famous foods, it is unclear who created it, when or why. There are several theories. One attributes the baguette to a baker from Vienna who opened a bakery in Paris and introduced the Viennese white bread and the steam oven. This new oven allowed breads to have an extra crispy crust and a soft inside which is one of the unique attributes of the baguette. 

Another theory indicates a 1919 French law that protected bakers from working all hours: the law specified that bakers could not start work before 4 am. The change in working hours is thought to have forced bakers to create new breads that could rise and bake in a shorter amount of time and still be ready for Parisiennes to have fresh bread for breakfast. Baguette with its white flour, made with yeast that allows the dough to rise fast was the answer. The thin and long shape baked quickly and created the crispy outside preferred by the French.

Whether one of these theories is the true origin of the baguette we don’t know. But we do know that long before Baguettes were first mentioned, France had a history of long bread (in addition to the round loaves we still know as boules). Apparently, bread as long as 5 or 6 feet wasn’t uncommon in the 18th and 19th centuries. They are thought to have been quite different in consistency, not the light, yeasted and crusted loaves we know. Sourdough leavened breads using coarse flour were common and resulted in heavier and denser long loaves.

Then, in the middle of the 19th century, commercial yeast (much more concentrated or active than in sourdough) became widely available and “higher quality” wheat (refined white wheat flour) became cheaper and affordable not just for the rich.

By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century an incredible amount of innovations in technology, transportation, art, etc. had an impact on how people lived, what they ate, and how they worked. It is not surprising that food habits and the bread that was eaten changed. And in my mind, all of this together explains the evolution that created the baguette we know today.

A couple of things to know: Baguette means stick, wand or baton. It is supposed to be 200g – 250g (~7-9 oz) and 60-65cm (~24-26 inches) long. It is made with refined white flour, yeast, salt and water. But by now, we have many different variations to the traditional baguette, different shapes and additional ingredients such as poppy seeds or different grains, e.g. buckwheat as in my Rustic Baguette, a special treat for your weekend get-together.