Today is National French Bread Day, so you have no excuse to put your hands right in the dough. You cannot imagine how much money making your own bread can save. No need to mention the satisfaction of knowing you can bake your own loaves. I make the dough and put it in the fridge for days and I bake bread every time I need it. I don't know which I like better: the flavor and texture of this bread, or its delicious aroma in my house. Here is my recipe that I first published in my cooking blog Savoir Faire | The Pleasures of the Palate.
Read more ¿Qué Más? Low calorie and easy to make Margherita Pizza
French Bread
Yield 4 loaves1 pound each
Ingredients
3 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tbs. granulated yeast (fast acting)
1 1/4 Tbs. coarse sea salt
6 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
Preparation:
Add the water, the yeast and the salt to the bowl of a standing electric mixer.
Add the flour and mix with the dough mixing blade, until a wet loose dough in formed.
Put the dough in a bowl, big enough, so the dough can rise (it will almost triple in size.)
Cover it with plastic film, leaving a little hole so the dough can "breathe" and the gases escape. Set aside for 2 hours at room temperature. If you don't plan to bake it, save it covered, not airtight, in the refrigerator. This dough will keep up to two weeks.
In the oven, preheat a pizza stone at 450°F, in the middle rack, for at least 30 minutes.
In the meantime, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sprinkle some flour in your hands to avoid sticking. Take some of the dough and shape your loaf. Place it in the baking sheet and let it rise for about 30 minutes.
Dust the loaf with some flour and slash the top with a knife. The slashes can be parallel, cross or tic-tac toe pattern.
Place the loaf in the hot pizza stone and immediately place the baking sheet in the lower rack of the oven. Carefully pour 1 cup of water in the baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes.
Take the loaves out of the oven and let them cool down on a wire rack.
Image via Enriqueta Lemoine
