Easy French Bread

 

I made a new recipe for dinner tonight (which I will share in another post), so I thought I would make a couple of loaves of French Bread to go with it.

This is a very simple recipe and tastes delicious.  It isn’t even close to dinner yet and Chris ate 5 pieces already!  Mind you they aren’t really big pieces but when he got home from work and smelled fresh bread, pretty much straight out of the oven, he couldn’t help himself!

Here are the ingredients I used for it.  Stuff you usually always have on hand!

 

 

The first step is to whisk together the 3 3/4 cups of flour, 1 Tsp. Salt, 1 Tbsp. Sugar and 3 Tsp. Yeast in your mixer bowl, or a mixing bowl.

 

 

Next you are going to add the 1 3/4 cups of Warm Water and mix until you have a nice, soft dough that comes away from the sides of the bowl and isn’t sticky.

 

 

Now place the dough in a greased bowl and let rise for about 45 minutes until it is doubled in size.  It should look like this.

 

 

When the rising stage is done, punch the dough down. And yes, I said punch it lol!

 

 

Divide the dough into two loaves and cut slits in the top.  Brush with a mixture of 1 beaten egg and 1 Tbsp. water.  Let rise again for about 30 minutes in a warm place.

 

 

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 25 to 30 minutes, until brown and it sounds hollow when you tap it.

Remove from oven and hope your husband doesn’t eat it all in one sitting!!!!

 

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Recipe

Easy French Bread

Preparation Time: 1 1/2 hours (including rising time) Cook Time: 25 – 30 minutes     Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 3 3/4 Cups Flour
• 1 Tsp. Salt
• 1 Tbsp. Sugar
• 3 Tsp. Yeast
• 1 3/4 Warm Water
• 1 Large Egg
• 1 Tbsp. Water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease foil lined cookie sheet and set aside.
2. Whisk together the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in the bowl of your stand mixer (or mixing bowl to mix by hand).
3. Add water and mix for about 5 minutes until you have a soft, non-sticky dough that has pulled away from the sides.
4. Place dough in greased bowl and let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes, until doubled in size.
5. Punch dough down when rising stage is done.
6. Shape into two loaves and score with a sharp knife across the top.
7. Brush with egg/water mixture, let rise for 30 minutes.
8. Bake at 350 degrees until nicely browned and it sounds hollow when tapped.
9. Can be frozen, wrapped tightly and enjoyed later.