A Short History of the Baguette
Published May 10, 2026
The baguette is the most iconic bread in the world, but its history is shorter and more contested than most people think. The long, thin, crusty loaf we know today is largely a 20th-century creation — and it nearly disappeared in the age of industrial baking.
The Viennese Connection
The baguette's ancestor is the pain viennois — a long, tapered loaf introduced to Paris by Austrian bakers in the mid-19th century. The introduction of steam-injected deck ovens in the early 1900s allowed French bakers to produce the thin, crusty loaves we recognise today.
The 1920 Law
A 1919 French law prohibited bakers from working between 10pm and 4am. One popular theory holds that bakers, unable to produce time-consuming round loaves in time for morning customers, switched to the faster-rising baguette shape instead.
Near Extinction
By the 1970s, industrial baguettes made with pre-mixed flour and fast-acting yeast had driven quality to an all-time low. The Décret Pain of 1993 established the "baguette de tradition" — requiring only flour, water, salt, and yeast — and kickstarted a quality revival.
UNESCO Protection
In 2022, the French baguette and the artisanal know-how behind it were inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list, recognising the baguette's importance to French daily life and culture.