You can bake homemade French bread recipe at home easily. Most people feel quite intimidating when trying to bake their own bread. In fact, they feel incompetent and decide to buy it at store. That’s not a problem anymore because making bread is relatively easy, especially the French one. To know how do you do it, read and follow instructions at below sections.
Ingredients:
- 6-8 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 packages dry yeast
- 1 1/2 – 2 tsps. salt
- 2-3 cups water, warm at 45 degrees C
- 1 tbsp. cornmeal
- 1-2 egg white
- 1 tbsp. water
Cooking Instructions:
- Combine flour, salt, and yeast in large bowl. Pour warm water and blend with stand mixer. Utilize the dough hook and manually stir it with spoon for the rest of flour.
- Knead the dough for 10 minutes and shape into ball form. Put the dough inside greased bow and turn then cover it. Put near warm place.
- Divide dough and punch down several times. Roll dough to make large rectangle. Add with water to moisten both edges.
- Prepare baking sheet and grease it then sprinkle cornmeal. Put the dough in baking sheet and baste with egg white. Brush the entire surface and wait for 40 minutes.
- Cut the dough into diagonal cuts or you can apply your own slicing idea.
- Put into oven and bake for 20 minutes at 150 C. Baste again with egg and bake for 15 minutes.
- Check the bread texture and add foil if necessary. After baking is done, remove it from oven and wait until the temperature is cooling down.
From the list of ingredients for French bread recipe above, you may not find issue to obtain them. Flour, yeast, salt, cornmeal, and eggs are available at store. You may add more flour and the rest of ingredients, but make sure to be in proper portion. Salt is optional because some people don’t like much salt in their bread.
One critical step is during dough making. This is process that determines whether you are succeeded or not in applying French bread recipe. After the mixture is ready, you should keep it near the warm place. Direct sunlight is preferable in order to smooth the texture and expand its compound. After that, you still have to slice and roll then add water to preserve the moist level.
Beat the eggs and separate the white to baste on dough surface. Brush slowly and equally then do it again three or four times. The eggs determine how much crust you get when the bread is ready. As alternative, melted butter is also reliable option. Prep time is about 20-30 minutes then 30 minutes to ensure the dough is ready. Baking time is 1 hour 30 minutes if you want crispy texture.
You can apply normal slicing bread or try your own style. It is not obligatory thing to do as long as the dough processing is done properly. You can enjoy he bread with many ways. It is ready for plain meal, soup, pizza, French toast, sandwich, etc. That’s all the information regarding French bread recipe.