French Wheat Bread (Bread Machine)

Bev's Note:

Ooh, la la! A simple recipe for simply delicious, wonderful bread! This versatile, slightly shorter, loaf goes with anything - beef, pasta, chicken, fish - but stands alone with a simple pat of butter, too. This one is bound to become a repeat visitor to your dinner table! From Electric Bread!

• Total Time: 2 hrs 10 mins
• Prep Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 1.5 pound l ...

• 1 ¼ cups water (lukewarm)
• 2 ½ cups white bread flour
• ½ cup wheat bread flour
• 2 ¼ teaspoons sugar
• 1⁄8; teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons fast rise yeast or 3 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions:

1. Combine according to your manufacturer's directions.
2. Success Hints: To develop the crisp crust that French Bread is known for, use your French cycle.
3. If your machine doesn't have a French cycle, simply start your machine and let it go through the first knead, then stop and restart it from the beginning again.
4. This gives the bread extra kneading time and results in a crisp crust.
5. Because of the distinctive chewy French crust, it is recommended that this bread is served within 24 hours to avoid toughness.
6. This recipe can be made using the regular, rapid and delayed time bake cycles.

Reviews

[Kerr(ie)bear]

Very nice. Has a good crust with a soft fluffy center.It also smells wonderful. It does have a yeasty flavor, and good texture. I changed nothing about this recipe. I set the machine for a 1 1/2 lb loaf. Cheers!

[mommandant]

Great Loaf, but NEEDS SALT! I'm trying it a second time with half a tsp salt to see if that works. I also crisped it up in the oven after baking for a short time to make the crust a little browner.

[KellyMac6]

I hated to rate this two stars, but I tried this recipe twice and both times the bread didn't have any flavor for us, it kind of just tasted like water. I am sure that this is something that I am doing wrong, but like I said I tried the recipe twice with the same results both times. However, both times I did have a great texture and it smelled really good. If anyone has any ideas of what I might be doing wrong please let me know, because I think that if I could get this to taste right we would really enjoy it. Thanks!