Crusty French Bread

Submitted by Wildflower5656

"I adore this recipe for it's simplicity and versitility! I have added everything from cinnamon sugar to garlic and cheese to this bread, and it still turns out beautifully every single time! If you have the time, this bread really benefits if allowed one single, overnight rise covered in the fridge. The yeast flavors develop perfectly, and the texture is much nicer."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 10mins
• Ingredients: 5
• Yields: 2 loaves
• Serves: 20

ingredients

• 3 1⁄2 cups flour
• 1 1⁄4 cups water, lukewarm
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 1⁄4 teaspoons dry active yeast

directions

1. Proof the yeast in the water and sugar.
2. Knead in salt and flour until dough is well-developed.
3. Let rise until double in size.
4. Knead down gently, and allow to rise again.
5. Form dough into two loaves and drop into greased bread pans. Allow to rise again.
6. Bake at 400* until the loaves pull away from the pan edges, and sound hollow when tapped.
7. *For really beautiful loaves, egg wash each toward the end of baking time with 1 well-beaten egg plus 1 TB of water.*.

Reviews

[HappyMami]

Simple and good. Thanks! I added a couple cups of wheat flour to add a little healthy ummpf...but the recipe is perfect! Thanks for posting!

 

[yousry007]

Nice and tasty.i will make it again,it's my favorit now thanks to wildflour5656.i made it today 7 rolls instead of 2 loaves.tomorrow i will try to use the bread machine.

 

[planegirl]

My first time making bread with yeast. I followed recipe exactly. Will make again.

 

[KGCOOK]

Made this bread to go with the soup I made for dinner. It's been years since I have tried to make bread from scratch. I did it with this. Although it would have been helpful to know though at what point in the recipe do you add spices i.e. garlic, cimmamon etc. the bread is wonderful. I will be making this bread again. Husband really liked it too. I did butter the outside when it came out of the oven so the crust was not so crusty for us. Good Job Wildflower5656

 

[eknecht]

This was a very good bread. Very crisp and chewy crust, slightly dense interior and very evenly textured crumb. I used my Kitchenaid stand mixer to do the mixing and kneading. The first rise was about 90 minutes, the second about 40 minutes, the last was about 30 minutes. I did not use bread pans- I simply shaped into 2 loaves and placed on a cornmeal-dusted sheet pan, then did the egg wash just before baking. Thanks so much for posting!