This easy homemade French bread recipe is just the thing to curb your Fall baking itch! This recipe makes great bread for sandwiches and subs and the best part? My son helped! This recipe is so easy even a kid can do it. Try it for yourself!
My son wanted to bake French baguettes for a French project, so I told him to search the internet for a recipe and we would do the project together. We settled on a very easy recipe we found at Allrecipes.
Although I have made many breads, I have to admit, I have never made a french baguette before. French Baguettes are a great bread for sandwiches and subs! This recipe doesn't require a bread machine nor any kind of special yeast. We did, however, use a KitchenAid stand mixer to combine the ingredients and help kneed the bread. If you have the time, this process can be done by hand too!
We started off by proofing our yeast with the water and the sugar. Nice and puffy!
He carefully measured out the flour...but I will be honest, I prefer to weigh the flour for yeast breads vs. measuring it, but I didn't have volume conversions so we just measured.
After combining the flour and the salt, he slowly added the yeast mixture...
And then let the dough hook do it's thing, until the dough was smooth and elastic.
Once the machine was done kneading it, he took it out and kneaded it by hand for a few minutes.
Then popped it into a greased bowl to rise. ( You see two balls of dough there because we made the recipe twice to get 4 baguettes...the bigger dough ball is the one we made first...it has already begun to rise! ) We let the dough balls rise for about an hour to an hour in a half in the covered bowl....
And then punched them down.
Shaped each dough ball into a rectangle and then cut it in half.
Where he made slits and then covered in plastic wrap to rise for another 30 minutes.
Renee Paj
Super easy recipe, using only a few ingredients, that yields 2 loaves of delicious French bread you can make at home.
Ingredients
1 cup warm water (105 degrees F - 115 degrees F)
2 tsp. dry active yeast
1 TBS. granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups bread flour (I like King Arthur brand)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg yolk
1 TBS water
Instructions
Begin by combining warm water, yeast and granulated sugar in a glass measure. Set aside to allow the yeast to proof for about 5 min. or so.
In a bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attached, add the flour and salt. Turn machine on to combine the two ingredients.
With machine running and dough hook attached, slowly pour in yeast water mixture. Continue to mix until all the ingredients are combined. Then let the dough hook kneed the dough until it is soft and elastic. Cover, and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes, or until doubled in bulk. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.
Punch down dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll into a 16x12 inch rectangle. Cut dough in half, creating two 8x12 inch rectangles. Roll up each half of dough tightly, beginning at 12 inch side, pounding out any air bubbles as you go. Roll gently back and forth to taper end. Place 3 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Make deep diagonal slashes across loaves every 2 inches, or make one lengthwise slash on each loaf. Lightly cover, and let rise in a warm place for 30 to 40 minutes, or until doubled.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix the egg yolk and 1 TBS of water together. Lightly brush loaves with egg mixture.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until loaves are golden brown.
I made a really tasty veggie sandwich for myself for lunch on the bread we made! ( no, he didn't take them all to school today...we kept two at home! :) I put 1 oz. of hummus on my homemade bread and topped it with sliced cukes, shredded carrots, roasted red peppers, red onion, tomato slices, and lettuce. YUM!
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Besides the obvious fact that French bread is typically longer and thinner than regular loaves, it tends to be less sweet and has a crispier crust. French bread is usually also made with very simple ingredients instead of sandwich bread, which can have many different additives.
Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.
Here's what goes into my formula, and why: High-protein all-purpose flour: Most French baguettes are made with a medium-protein flour (11 to 12%) for the proper crisp, yet tender texture.
Are baguettes healthier than bread? Baguettes are similar in nutritional value to traditional white bread. Both baguettes and white bread are high in calories and carbohydrates while remaining low in fat content. Baguettes tend to contain more protein and sodium than white bread.
1. Baguette: The French baguette is among the most popular types of bread in French cuisine, known for its crackly, crispy crust and pillowy chew. The 26-inch long thin loaf first came into vogue in the late 1800s, and was officially defined by price, weight, and length by 1920.
Sourdough bread tends to be healthier than French bread. The slower fermentation process of sourdough bread provides additional nutrients and antioxidants that aren't found in other kinds of bread, like French bread, that are made with commercial yeast.
A “tight crumb” aka small holes in the interior of your bread can be the result of different factors: under-fermenting, over-fermenting, and a lack of gluten development.
The dough should feel soft and slightly tacky, but not wet. Avoid adding too much flour – this will make your bread dry and dense. Once you get the right feel of your dough, knead it on low speed for 5 minutes.
Cover with a damp cloth and let rise until nearly doubled, 35 to 40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Use a sharp knife to make 3 or 4 diagonal cuts, about 1/4-inch deep, across top of each loaf. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
Egg has protein, fat, water and while the fat and water soften the crumb, the protein helps with strengthening the gluten and capturing more CO2. Eggs are also helping with leavening the dough which adds to the rise. Doughs that have more egg usually rise more, so go ahead and play around a bit!
When you substitute oil for butter, you need to take note of the texture. If you want delicate, soft, and tender baked goods, I recommend using oil vs.butter. Butter will result in a denser crumb and not be as moist.
In a nutshell, if you're buying basic, cheap sandwich bread, it's probably cheaper than you can make it at home. But if you compare two loaves similar to what you could make at home — one made with high-quality ingredients as opposed to one made with lesser quality ingredients — home baking becomes much cheaper.
Simple French bread (like baguette or pain au levain) doesn't contain any sugar. It just contains: flour, water, salt, and yeast (and sometimes bean flour). Conventional white bread on the other hand is sweetend with sugar and has added dough conditioners to make the bread soft.
[ french-bred ] show ipa. noun. a yeast-raised bread made of dough containing water and distinguished by its thick, well-browned crust, usually made in long, slender, tapered loaves.: Compare baguette (def. 1).
The quality of a French loaf is increased by some, though not all, reputable artisanal bakeries that employ extended fermentation times. When yeast ferments in order to make bread rise it produces alcohol, which provides flavours and aromas.
Introduction: My name is The Hon. Margery Christiansen, I am a bright, adorable, precious, inexpensive, gorgeous, comfortable, happy person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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