First back to the question itself, French baguette ingredients and its simple, is the flour, baking powder / old flour, salt, water and egg batter, machine kneading dough, after several fermentation process, the pastry chef shaped into a baguette, the shaping process is not simply rolled into a baguette, more close to the dough will be elongated, patted flat, folded into a baguette type and then turned over and patted flat, folded into a baguette prototype again. Before baking, the tops are coated with an egg wash for color and several diagonal cuts are made with a razor blade at evenly spaced intervals to facilitate heating. After baking in the oven, the fresh baguettes are crispy and tender, with a golden brown upper crust, a fine texture on the lower crust of the baguette, regular cracks, and uniform internal cavities, giving them an excellent texture. The whole process takes about one and a half to two hours. The general process is as follows, from my personal research, sorry for the French.
Fresh baguettes are not hard, but because they are made from simple ingredients with no special additives, they don't retain the soft texture of some industrial pastas, and tend to become very hard and start to tighten up internally after sitting for a while. That's why French pastry stores never leave any baguettes they can't sell on the same day, but either leave them on the street to be picked up, or hand them over to churches and welfare organizations.
Extension. Skip it if you're not interested. French noodle stores are a traditional trade, and the relative status of those who work in them as "craftsmen" from the French point of view is not insignificant. Compared to the United Kingdom and the United States, the French spend a lot of energy and money to maintain the "purity" of this industry. The method of making French baguettes is basically the same as it was hundreds of years ago, both in terms of process and ingredients, and the flow of people in the bakeries and stores that still dot the country is a testament to the vitality of this traditional industry in France, which is an indispensable part of the French people's lives.
In fact, before World War I, traditional pastry chefs would even refuse to use machines to knead the dough, more men went to war in World War I, the noodle store room appeared a lot of women, women still tend to use machines to knead the dough, and when the men came back from the war, these machines are also used along the way. But that's as far as the machines went. Shaping is still done by hand.
Pastry cooks are hard workers, usually starting at 4:30 a.m. There are many different types of pasta to prepare and make in addition to the baguettes, most of which start with the basic ingredients, so planning is an important part of a pastry cook's program, making sure the different processes work together and don't conflict. The first baguette is usually ready for takeout around 6pm, hot and fragrant.
The pasta industry in France has a strict code of practice, and only pasta stores that comply with this code are eligible to use the "Boulangerie" title. I worked with the industry's regulator, Philippe Roussel***, for a while, and I admired his professionalism and love of tradition. His professionalism and passion for tradition is something I admire. One of the most important aspects of these norms is the strict limitation of the use of additives and the restriction of frozen semi-finished products (which is relatively relaxed nowadays), which is one of the ways in which the French maintain their traditions. It is also because of this norm that Paul, as we all know him, can not use the title Boulangerie, because half of its baguettes are frozen industrial semi-finished products, which only need to be heated in the outlets, which is one of the reasons why there is a difference between Paul's baguettes and the traditional baguettes.