Handmade French Bread for Dummies

[kristen.c]

On Friday we had a bit of an ice storm and my DH, Michael, ended up staying home from work to avoid the dangerous road conditions. We were both bored and looking for something and jokingly talked about baking a loaf of bread to have with dinner. He took on the challenge.

His mother is an avid baker and wouldn't even dream of popping open a can of biscuits (organic or otherwise!) to serve with dinner. He has an easy 10-step recipe for French bread that produces a dense bread that goes well with a lot of meals. For the first try in doing something the bread came out fabulous. Our theory is if he can do it, anyone on the site can. The only problem we had was the burning of the bottom of the pan. We fault our base-model Kenmore apartment-issued inconsistent oven for that, not the baker. (Oh, and the fact that he covered the bottom of the whole pan with butter )

Here is Michael proudly displaying his bread. (He couldn't wait to try it, thus the sliced off end.)
breadwinner.jpg


Michael's Handmade French Bread in 10 easy steps:

1 pkg. active dry yeast
1&1/4 cup warm water
2&3/4 to 3 cups all purpose flour
1 t salt
corn meal, for dusting

Step 1: In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast into the warm water. Let it stand until bubbly- five minutes.

Step 2: Add 1&1/2 C of the flour, and 1 t salt, and beat it by hand for a few minutes. Slowly add in the remaining flour until a soft dough forms.

Step 3: Flour the countertop and knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it is springy and elastic.

Step 4: Place the dough into a greased bowl. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise until it doubles in size. This should take between 1 and 2 hours.

Step 5: Using the floured countertop, punch the dough down. Then roll it out to a 12" by 6" rectangle.

Step 6: Using the 12" side, roll the dough up very tightly. Pinch the edges so that there are no gaps and gently roll the bread on the countertop so that it lengthens slightly and it is thicker at the center than on the sides.

Step 7: Sprinkle a cookie sheet with cornmeal. Put the loaf of bread onto the pan seam side down.
Step 8: Cover it and let it rise again until doubled in size. This will take about an hour.

Step 9: Gently slit the top of the bread loaf with a knife in three places.

Step 10: Bake the bread for 425 degrees for 20-30 minutes. The bread will be golden brown and will sound hollow if you tap it. Remove the bread from the cookie sheet and let cool slightly before serving.

[jujubee]

Thanks Kristen! (And Michael for modeling!)

I'll print this out and see if I can get my dh to bake me some bread! :)

[averys_mom_92205]

That looks great, Kristen! I printed it out and I think I'm going to try and make that to use for garlic bread later this week when we have lasagna!

Mandi

[kristen.c]

DH made this again today! (Sans the burned pan.) It came out even better than last time!

[queenofthehivemomof5]

I love making french bread! However my dumb oven is all messed up and you can never tell what temperature it is going to be. I either need to get a thermometer in there or break down and get a new stove.

[Prizm99]

The bread looks delicious! You're lucky to have a DH that is willing to make it for you. That is why I am asking for a bread maker for Christmas.

Ice storms??? OMG, I am so not ready for winter.

[OHeather]

Awesome! I'm so gald that this was bumped up. I was just coming to look for camping food ideas and french bread was on the list. I had just picked yeast last week too for no reason at all... Maybe the cool air had something to do with it!

I'm hoping to make this, use some of it for dinner one night, and then use it for french toast the next morning.

[ocean_brez]

Ditto here. Thanks for bumping this post! :)

queenofthehivemomof5 ~ Is there a possibility that your thermo couple/heating element is going out? Ours went out and thats the piece they ended up replacing. It was sooo easy too! :)

[mslazarus]

That does look good, I am printing it out and am going to try it tomorrow! Thank you!

[OHeather]

I just wanted to add that 1 Package of Yeast is equal to ~2 1/2 tsp. of yeast in a jar. I'm making a double batch now, so I'll let you know how it turns out!!

[Jaci5K2012]

I know this is an older post, but I just stumbled across it when Google-ing French Bread Recipes... because my husband accidentally donated my BREAD BOOK!!!!!! ARGH... ok... I will live now that I have gotten that out LOL! After lunch today my 4yr old daughter and I will be making 2 loaves of this... ok maybe 3... we are going to cut them in half and make french bread pizza for supper!