This my go-to crusty bread recipe. It’s pretty easy, even if you’ve never made bread from scratch before. As with anything temperamental, such as yeast, the more you practice, the easier it’ll be to improvise and the tastier your bread will be. So if you don’t get it right the first time. Try again. And again. Bread is my favorite thing to make. It’s so satisfying to pull it out of the oven and eat it hot, but it was one of the hardest to get comfortable with. Enjoy the process.
French Bread
1 1/2 c warm water (not hot, not cold, warm to the touch)
1 T yeast (not the Breadmaker kind)
1 T sugar
1 1/2 T honey
2 T olive oil
1 t salt
3-4 c regular flour, bread flour is best, and you can make it wheat by doing a 2-1 ratio of whole wheat flour to white flour for best consistency
Proof (basically means activate the yeast by adding liquid) the water, yeast, sugar and honey for about 10 minutes in a mixer with dough hook or in a large mixing bowl. The mixture should be frothy and if you watch at first the yeast will bloom, by puffing up in the water and then becoming frothy. A pretty amazing thing, yeast. If this doesn’t happen, something is wrong with your yeast or the water wasn’t warm enough for this particular recipe, so start over.
Next add the oil and salt and 2 cups of the flour. Mix on low if using a mixer or with your hands or a wooden spoon if not. Keep adding flour by 1/3 cup intervals until the dough just comes together. It should still be slightly sticky (just keep adding a little flour to the board or your hands) if you’re mixing by hand, and it should form a ball if you’re making it in a mixer. Either way, keep kneading for about 8 minutes. This makes the dough elastic and gives it a great chewy texture. Very important.
Oil a large mixing bowl and put the dough ball in and flop it over to coat all sides of the ball. Cover with plastic wrap or a slightly wet kitchen towel and let rise for about an hour in a warm, un-drafty place (usually a high shelf in a room that doesn’t connect to outside is best, no bathrooms, that’s weird). By then it should have inflated to about double its original size.
Now’s my favorite part. Make a fist and punch the dough to deflate it. SO satisfying and fun. Turn out on a floured surface and cut into equal pieces with a knife or a bench scraper. Should make about 16 smallish rolls. You can roll them into balls or just leave them in their cut form. At this time preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place a few inches apart on a greased baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap or a slightly wet towel for about 40 minutes. They should inflate some more.
Then place about 8 per greased baking tray and either egg wash (one egg scrambled with some water) using a brush or just dunking the rolls into the wash or mist with water. (This gives the roll a really nice crust.) Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. If just using water, occasionally open the oven door and throw small handfuls of water on the rolls (or use a spray bottle if you have one). This sounds weird, but it really gives them a superior crust than if you didn’t do this.
Enjoy.
Variations: Turn this into garlic bread by cutting in half length wise and spreading on each side half a stick melted butter with 4 large garlic cloves finely chopped and 1 t salt mixed in. Sprinkle with roughly chopped fresh parsley or dried parsley. Bake sandwiched (buttered side to buttered side) together on a baking sheet or wrapped in aluminum foil in oven preheated to 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.
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