I was making beef stew for dinner and realized that I didn’t have any FRENCH BREAD to dip. We love dipping French bread into the beef stew sauce….I think my kids like that part more than the meat, carrots or potatoes. 😉 So I google a recipe and they all seem to intimating so I combined a few recipe together to get what I wanted. I was never really a huge fan of active yeast or almond flour …but with this staying at home…I am trying out new recipes and new items to make that I never thought I can do. Making bred takes a lot of time because you have to let the dough rise and etc. This situation about staying home also threw me into making some of the items that I needed without having to run out to the store as much. I am only trying to go every 2-3 weeks or do a quick Walmart pickup. The sad thing is…WALMART PICKUP doesn’t have as much opening time slots and most items that I do need aren’t available sometimes. So, making bread was what I wanted to tackle and see if I can do it…since we eat so much bread per week. I am gonna attempt cinnamon roll next!! WISH ME LUCK!!!
Letting the dough rise
letting rise in the oven ..covered
Baking the bread
Golden Brown
beautiful inside
FRENCH BREAD
- 6 cups all purpose flour
- 2 package active yeast
- 1½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 tablespoon cornmeal
- 1 egg (eggwash)
- 1 tablespoon water (eggwash )
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In a large bowl (I used my kitchen aid stand up mixer) with the dough hook attachment. I added the water and yeast…let it sit for about 5 minutes then I added 3 cups of flours and salt. Beat the dough for a few seconds then SLOWLY adding in the rest of the flour.
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Once the flour is mixed in and the dough has the nice consistency…roll it onto a FLOUR surface and start to knead the dough until it is smooth and has that elasticity. Knead for about 8 minutes then SHAPE the dough into a BALL. Place the dough into a GREASED BOWL…turning once so that the oil coats the dough. Cover the dough with DAMP kitchen towel and place in a warm area for rise. I place my dough in the oven and turn on the oven lights.
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Once it had double in size…take the bowl out the oven and PUNCH the dough down…thne divide the dough into 2. Turn out into a lightly floured surface and rough the dough out into a large rectangle shape. NExt, roll up the dough..starting from the long side. Moisten the edge with some water and SEAL the ends. I kinda push in the ends to taper it off.
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Place a piece of parchment paper on top of a large baking sheet and sprinkle with the cornmeal. Place the 2 loaves of bread over the cornmeal. REMEMBER to lay the seams side down. Taking your eggwash…and brush it over the top of each loaves. Now, cover with the damp kitchen towel and place it back into the oven and let it RISE AGAIN for another 45 minutes or until it DOUBLE in size.
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Take the loaves out the oven and PREHEAT OVEN to 375°F. Taking a serrated knife and make 4 diagonal cut into the loaves. Place the loaves on the middle rack into the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes …then take the french bread out and brush with the rest of the eggwash and place it back into the oven again for another 15-20 minutes. Keep a close eye on the loaves because you dont want it to burn. Remove from the oven and let it cool.
****CHECKING for DONENESS of bread…by tapping the loaf and seeing if it sounds HOLLOW
