French Bread

The French bread was one of the first recipes that I have ever done. After trying a couple many times I found the right recipe. French Bread is very versatile and there are many recipes that can be done with it. This is the first of a bunch of recipes about French bread.

Wash your hands and get ready!

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon of Active Dry Yeast
• 4 cups of Unbleached Bread Flour
• Extra Unbleached Bread flour
• Warm water
• 1 Tablespoon of Salt
• 1 Tablespoon of butter
• 1 Teaspoon of Sugar
• Non-stick Oil Spray

Kitchenware:

• Oven
• 1 Large bowl (Pyrex)
• 1 measuring cup
• 1 Sharp knife
• 1 Baking sheet
• 1 Wooden spoon (or anything to stir)
• 1 spray bottle/brush
• 1 pan
• Plastic covering sheet or a regular supermarket bag.

Making the Dough

1. Get the yeast into the cup and about 1 cup of warm water. Let the yeast proof for at least 10 minutes while you do the “dry” dough.
2. Mix the four cups of bread flour, the salt, and the sugar in the large bowl. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
3. After the 10 minutes have passed, melt the tablespoon of butter (microwave is fine, don't let it boil too much) and add it together with the yeast mixture into large bowl. Start mixing with the spoon.
4. The dough is going to be still very dry and dense so we need to add more warm water. About one cup. OBS. The dough does not have to get sticky, but the entire flour has to detach from the container. It can take a little bit more water (maybe another half a cup). If it's too wet and you don't want to start again just add some more flower until its not sticky.
5. After getting the dough mixed we throw some flour on a clean table and start working the dough. This process is called kneading. The kneading consists in pushing the dough to the front and then folding it. You can do this any way you want, the objective is to get all the ingredients well mixed and the dough a nonstick and soft texture. Knead for about 8 to 10 minutes.
6. Let the dough rest while you clean the big bowl. Wash it with warm water, this way the bowl will be warm (but dry) for the next step.
7. Place the dough inside the bowl and close the bowl with the plastic covering sheet (you can also just close the bowl on a supermarket bag). Let it rest in a warm place (80-82 degrees) for two hours. The dough will double in size.
8. This dough is ready to be used!

Shaping the Bread

1. After resting the dough, put some flour on the table and knead the dough for about 5 minutes.
2. Split the dough in half.
3. Get one of the halfs and spread it in a rectangular shape on the table with your hands making it ½ inch thick. It does not need to be perfect.
4. Roll the dough and make a cylindrical bread shape. The bread needs to be about 17 inches long in order for it to have a thickness that will allow it to cook entirely and not burn the crust. Keep on rolling and pulling on the side to get the desired size.
5. Make cuts in the bread with a sharp knife. They should be diagonal and about one inch in depth. Three of four is enough. These will let the bread to expand while cooking.
6. Spray the baking sheet with oil (there's a special oil can that has flour in it. I recommend it, like PAM Baking) Place the loafs in the baking sheet as apart as possible. Keep in mind that the breads will double in size after resting and double in size in the oven.
7. Spray the breads with water, just moist them but not to get them wet. This can also be done with a brush.
8. Let rest for one hour and a half in a warm place. The loafs will double in size.
9. Don’t mind that the breads don’t look beautiful, while they grow the small imperfections will disappear.

Cooking the Bread:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Put some water in a pan inside the oven. This will create some steam which will prevent the crust of the bread to get extremely crunchy.
2. Repeat the process of moistening the bread with the spray bottle.
3. Check if there’s still water in the pan on the oven, re-fill it if needed.
4. Place the bread in the over the baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes.
5. The bread will be ready when the crust turns brownish and when the crust is hit the bread makes a hollow sound. The bread can be left a little bit longer to get a crunchier crust.

Have fun, the next post will be about what we can do with this recipe!

- Alejandro