Thursday, November 19, 2015

Easy French Bread

If you bake one type of easy bread to bake it should be this recipe for easy French bread. Baking bread can be hard but this recipe is quick and there is nothing like baking fresh bread to make your family happy.
I am working towards baking more of our own bread. Store bought bread not only is expensive but is full of preservatives and loads of sodium. I will share bread recipes as I continue this series. But this is a great starter bread recipe for the beginner bread baker.
bread recipe, French bread, easy bread baking
You can bake two larger loaves or split it into three smaller loaves. Total rising time for this French bread recipe is only an hour and a half. I served this with easy potato cheese soup found on our recipe page.
French bread rising



Easy French Bread

Recipe by Elaine Lewis
An easy French bread recipe that any beginning baker could handle but everyone will enjoy.
Cook time: 20-30 minutes. Three smaller loaves will bake faster than two larger.
Yield: 2-3 loaves
Ingredients
  • I packet or 2 1/4 teaspoons active yeast
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 1/4 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 cup hot water
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • little more than 1/2 tablespoon salt
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
Cooking Directions
  1. Place warm water in small bowl and add yeast and the 1/4 teaspoon of sugar and mix well and let sit for five minutes. Next, I use a stand mixer so either in the mixer bowl or a large mixing bowl add the hot water, oil, sugar and salt. Add half the flour and the yeast mixture and stir well. Add the rest of the flour and combine. Leave the sticky dough mixture in the bowl and cover with a slightly damp towel or plastic cling wrap that is loose to allow a little air in the bowl. Let rise for one hour but stir a couple of times with a wooden spoon.
  2. You can make two larger loaves or three smaller, so divide the dough into two or three equal sections. With a rolling pin on a floured board, roll out to about an inch or so thick in an oval/rectangle shape and then roll up the dough into a long log shape. Place flap side down on a greased cookie sheet or parchment paper. Slice the tops just a bit down the loaves and brush with raw egg. Let rise another 30 minutes. No need to cover at this point.
  3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Bake 25-30 minutes until a dark golden color.

5 comments:

  1. Elaine, have you ever tried baking a loaf like this in a vintage (1970s) Pyrex Bake-in-a-Round? I have one I've wanted to test out and I think this bread would be perfect.

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    1. Anne I have not though I do bake bread in my husband's grandmother's old glass pyrex loaf pans. They have to be pretty old.

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  2. I'm excited to try this - I really want to learn more about baking. I love to cook but somehow baking scares me a little. I'm pinning this to go back to when I have a second to experiment in the kitchen!

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  3. My husband does the bread making now - he's better at it than I ever was! Last weekend he made French bread, but I don't know what recipe. It turned out good anyway. Thanks for sharing your recipe!

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  4. I just bought a stand mixer with a dough hook so I look forward to you sharing more bread recipes. Thanks

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