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Ingredients:
- 6-7 cups Flour (Bread Flour or Multipurpose)
- 3 tsp Dry Active Yeast
- 2 tsp Salt
- 4 tsp Sugar
- 2 1/2 cups Very Warm Water
- 1 Egg and a 1 TBS Water for egg wash
Instructions:
Stir sugar in bowl of very warm water to dissolve
Mix in yeast and let sit for 2 minutes
Slowly pour 5 cups of flour into water mixture and mix using a spoon
Add salt to the dough
Continue to add the rest of the flour a little bit at a time until the dough isn’t too wet. Do not add too much flour because you want to avoid making it too dry
Lightly dust your work area with flour and dump the dough on top and knead for 1 minute
If the dough is sticky and too wet, sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and knead a couple more times
Return dough to the original bowl, cover with a towel and let sit for 30 minutes
After 30 minutes is up, dump the dough back onto your lightly floured work area and fold it onto itself 4 times
Divide dough in half
Using a rolling pin, roll each half of the dough out until it is flattened evenly to about a 20″ wide diameter
Starting at one end of the dough, slowly roll the dough into 12″ logs
Place dough logs onto a parchment paper lined sheet pan, cover with a towel and let sit for 30 minutes
Preheat oven to 375°F
After dough has rested for 30 minutes, remove towel and make 4 diagonal slits into each of the dough logs
Brush on egg wash (1 egg and 1TBS water, beaten really well)
Bake at 375° for 20 minutes
To test for doneness, thump on the bottom of the loaves and if it sounds hollow, they’re done; if not, put back in oven for a couple more minutes and then recheck.
This recipe isn’t that hard to make. It’s almost fool proof!
I think the hardest part is using the right temperature of water for the yeast (because too cold won’t activate it and too hot will kill it) and making sure you don’t add too much flour to make it dry!
Go ahead and give it a try – this French bread will make you want to bake homemade bread more often!
Enjoy
-TID