My mom's french bread recipe is so simple, and it produces a wonderfully light, yummy bread. If you've never made bread before, I think a simple french bread is a good place to start. (I say that and this is the only yeast bread I've ever made. But I imagine it's true.)
Mom's French Bread
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
7-8 cups all-purpose white flour
Mix warm water, oil, and sugar in a large bowl to dissolve. Mix in yeast and salt. Slowly, cup by cup, beat in flour, making sure it's all incorporated before you add the next cup. It will take about 7-8 cups of flour. Add enough to make a dough that's not too sticky and not too firm. If you don't have a mixer, you'll have to knead in the last cups on a greased countertop. The key is to not let the dough get lumpy or clumpy, keep it smooth. Cover and let rest 10-20 minutes to get a little air in it so it's easy to work with. Shape and roll the dough into a mini loaf, keeping in mind it will double in length and width. It should be about four times as long as it is wide. Spray a baking sheet and lay dough on it, spray the top of dough with cooking spray. Use a serrated knife to make diagonal slices on top of bread. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle seasonings on top (sesame seeds, parmesan, suddenly salad, etc). Let it rise for 20 minutes, until doubled in size. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, then turn oven down to 350 and bake for 10-20 more minutes, until top of bread is nice and golden.
Makes one large loaf of bread.
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
7-8 cups all-purpose white flour
Mix warm water, oil, and sugar in a large bowl to dissolve. Mix in yeast and salt. Slowly, cup by cup, beat in flour, making sure it's all incorporated before you add the next cup. It will take about 7-8 cups of flour. Add enough to make a dough that's not too sticky and not too firm. If you don't have a mixer, you'll have to knead in the last cups on a greased countertop. The key is to not let the dough get lumpy or clumpy, keep it smooth. Cover and let rest 10-20 minutes to get a little air in it so it's easy to work with. Shape and roll the dough into a mini loaf, keeping in mind it will double in length and width. It should be about four times as long as it is wide. Spray a baking sheet and lay dough on it, spray the top of dough with cooking spray. Use a serrated knife to make diagonal slices on top of bread. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle seasonings on top (sesame seeds, parmesan, suddenly salad, etc). Let it rise for 20 minutes, until doubled in size. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, then turn oven down to 350 and bake for 10-20 more minutes, until top of bread is nice and golden.
Makes one large loaf of bread.
Your bread looks beautiful! Okay, now that you have a stand mixer you should try more yeast bread! I love making bread. It's strangely therapeutic for me. Weird, I know. :)
ReplyDeleteWay to go! See how easy that was and it is very therapeutic and the smell is almost better than brownies as it comes out of the oven. This is why I could never remove carbs from my diet. Never ever!!
ReplyDeleteWAY TO GO ANGIE!!
ReplyDeleteSharla, I love that you could "never ever remove carbs" from your diet (you are so real), and that you consider the aroma of freshly baked bread almost better than brownies!!! Life without bread would be... BORING!
My mom used to bake cracked wheat and honey wheat bread at least once a week as we were coming home from school and it was the BEST welcome! I think that warm, freshly baked bread is better than cake OR brownies (especially with honey butter or homemade strawberry jam)...YUM.