French bread or also known as a baguette is really something else.
A few year ago I had a lovely opportunity to visit France. We stayed in Bordeaux in the South of France. There is something you need to know about Bordeaux. This is wine country. And oh-my the wine here is out of this world! Most nights we would enjoy a glass or two of wine paired with some French cheese and some freshly baked French bread or baguettes from the local bakery.
In the late afternoons we would walk to the little bakery on the corner of the street and buy the most delicious, crispy, long and thin loaf of French bread. With the bread all wrapped up in brown paper and us trying to control the urge not to eat the bread we would make our way home for a lovely dinner. And that is how my love affair with this crisp crust bread started.
A little interesting fun fact about the word baguette. It actually means wand, baton or stick. Which suits the shape of this bread perfectly. 😉
This recipe is easy to make, and makes 2 large French breads with only a handful of ingredients. The breads are golden brown and crispy on the outside, yet soft on the inside.
French Bread
Ingredients
500 ml Luke warm water
1 packet of dry active yeast (+- 7g)
12.5 ml of white sugar
5 cups flour, plus extra for dusting
12.5 ml salt
5 ml olive oil, plus extra for greasing.
30ml Melted butter
Direction
In a small bowl, mix together water, yeast and sugar. Let the mixture rest until it begins to foam. This will take around 5 minutes.
In a large mixing bowl, add 2 cups of flour with the salt. Now using the dough hook on your upright mixer, slowly mix the yeast mixture into the flour.
Add the remainder of the flour 1/2 cup at a time. Followed by the olive oil. Knead the dough until it is smooth but not sticky. Form the dough into a ball and rub a little bit of olive oil on the ball. Cover with some clingwrap.
Allow the dough to rest for 15 – 20 minutes. Or until it has doubled in size.
Knock the dough down and divide the dough into two equal parts.
Roll one half into a rectangle. Now start to role the dough into a cylinder. Once shaped, turn both ends in and pinch the seams closed. Make sure the edges are rounded and the pinched seams are at the bottom. Repeat the process with the second ball of dough.
Place the loafs on a well greased baking tray, Make 3 cuts across each loaf. (I use a scissor, this cuts thru the dough easily with out damaging the shape of the French bread to much)
Allow to dough to rise for 20 minutes. Towards the end of the rising time, start to heat up the oven to 180ËšC.
Bake the loafs for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Once out of the oven, brush with melted butter.
Enjoy!
