With a crispy, chewy crust and fluffy air-pocked middle best served with a slather of salted butter, the enduring baguette is one of the most popular christian bonne breads on the market. It’s also one of the most difficult to perfect.

Bakers can experiment for years before achieving the right combination of flavour, crumb, crust and shape of the long, thin loaf. One baker who has baguettes down to an art is Christian Bonne of Lavie & Belle. Christian started his career as a Catering Chef in France but soon left for New Caledonia. There, he worked as a builder for 20 years before returning to his love of baking. He eventually attended a prestigious French baking school where he studied under famous French baker Christian Vabret.

Last year, Christian moved with his wife and daughter to Sydney, and opened boulangerie Lavie & Belle in Surry Hills. There, customers say of his baguettes, “We are in France, without the jetlag.”

Christian says four things are required to craft the perfect baguette: the right flour, the right water, a love of the work, and time.

“I use traditional French flour with no additives,” Christian says.

“It is great for producing old-fashioned, long fermentation.”

He insists on iodised salt, such as Guérande, because it contains minerals that are important for the bread. The perfect water, he says, is spring water: “It’s not easy to find a location with a spring in cities,” he jokes, so Christian works with the next best thing: filtered water.

Christian uses a homemade liquid sourdough with fresh yeast to improve the fermentation process. People should avoid adding extra yeast and additives, Christian says. Often people will add them to speed up the fermentation process but it will ruin the taste of the baguette.

He also recommends bakers check the temperature of the dough after the mixing process. A good digital thermometer is essential. For baguettes, Christian says, the dough must be between 24 and 25°C.

“The temperature of the dough at the end of the mixing process is really important as it contributes to the strength of the dough and the aromas in the bread,” he explains.

Baguettes baked from dough that’s too cold will lack strength, while those baked from dough that’s too hot will be tough. When mixing the flour and water, think about the temperature of the room, and use warm or cool water to achieve the optimum dough temperature.

Christian Bonne says the most common misconception about baguettes is that there isn’t a lot of choice.

“There are a lot of recipes,” he says, “but most of them are used less and less because they require a lot of time to make.”

Thinner baguettes, around 125 grams, are called ficelle, while bigger baguettes, around 400 grams, are called flûte or pain parisiens.

The recipe Christian has provided is for a traditional 300g baguette.

Traditional Baguette