As if you needed a reason to eat French Bread....it has its own national day! In honor of if, we are sharing our favorite recipe for French Bread to make at home! Want to make it with us? Join us in studio or we can do it via zoom!
Making bread is super easy. There are a few tips and tricks to getting it perfect, but those are nothing that practice won't eventually reveal.
The most classic of all French breads is the baguette, which has a long and narrow shape with rounded edges. Baguette actually means "stick," which makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Fun fact: by law in France, French bread cannot contain any fat such as butter or oil, so there will be none in this recipe. Just the usually flour, salt, yeast and water. A little sugar helps activate yeast, but those are all the things you need for a great loaf of bread. What makes this bread so iconic, aside from its shape, is the crunch crust, which is made by using a baking trick. We will be baking the loaves at 400 F for the first five minutes and then misting the loaves with water. You can also do a steam bath in the oven to create a constant cloud of humidity. The oven temperature is then dropped to 350 F, and the bread bakes for another 25 minutes. The result is a deliciously firm crust that encases a light fluffy inside. In Italian we call the inside the mollica - what is it called in English?
2 cups warm water, 95 F to 110 F
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
5 1/2 cups bread flour, as needed
1 large egg white, lightly beaten, optional
In a large bowl, combine the water, yeast, sugar, and salt. Stir until dissolved.
Mix in the bread flour, a little at a time, until a soft dough is formed.
Turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead it for about 8 minutes.
Put the dough in a greased bowl and flip the dough over so that all of the dough is lightly greased - don't forget to grease the top. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let it rise in a warm, draft-free place for about 1 hour or until double in size.
After rise time, punch down the dough. Give the dough a quick 2-minute knead. Divide the dough into 2 equal halves. Shape each half into a long loaf. Place the loaves on a lightly greased baking sheet. Make about 5 diagonal slits, 3/4 inch deep, into the top of each loaf. Cover loaves with a clean towel or greased plastic wrap and let them rise for 45 minutes or until double in size. Heat the oven to 400 F. If you'd like, brush the loaves with the beaten egg white for a shiny crust you can do that right before they head to the oven for baking at 400 F for 5 minutes.
Remove the loaves from the oven and use a mister or spray bottle to lightly spray the tops of the loaves with cold water. Turn the oven down to 350 F and bake the loaves for another 25 minutes or until done.
Remove from oven and let cool before cutting so that no steam is released. Enjoy!