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Pictured here is
everything you'll need to make French Bread.
I use Saf Instant Yeast (which you can
purchase on the web in the brick shown here). However, you can use
"regular" yeast (I prefer not to use "active" yeast).
For information about yeast
equivalents and how to store bulk yeast (as shown here), then go to:
Jan's Dough Tip #21: Yeast Equivalents |
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Measure flour, yeast, and
salt into a large mixing bowl. Pour in all 3 cups of warm water. |
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Begin to stir the bread
dough, mixing in as much of the flour as possible. It may not be
possible to stir in all the loose flour, as this dough gets pretty
tough. You'll be able to knead in any loose flour, so just stir in as
much as you can. |
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I've turned out the dough
onto a well-floured pastry cloth. As you can see, there was quite a bit
of loose flour that didn't get stirred in. |
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Knead until the dough is
dry to the touch. For more help
with how to knead dough, go to my illustrated tutorial:
How To Knead Bread Dough
After you've finished kneading the
dough, set it to rise according to the recipe directions. If you aren't
too sure just how or where to set bread dough to rise, go to my
illustrated tutorial:
Making Bread...it's easier than you think! |
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The French Bread dough
has been through its first rise. |
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Punch down the dough,
fold it once, then again into an approximate quarter circle.
Set the dough back to rise for the second
time, according to the recipe directions. |
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The dough has now been
through its second rise and is ready to be shaped into baguettes or
loaves. |
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Turn out the risen bread
dough onto a well-floured pastry cloth (or other well-floured surface).
Use a bread knife to divide into two or
more pieces, depending on the size of the baguettes or loaves you want
to me.
|
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I make two baguettes and
one round loaf, so I've separated the dough into three equal pieces, and
kneaded once to form these dry rounds of dough. |
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Cover the dough, and let
it rest for 5 minutes. |
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While the dough is
resting, I prepare the cornmeal that I use to coat the loaves before
their last rise. |
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Sprinkle a generous
amount of yellow cornmeal onto a clean cookie sheet. I prefer to use
"fine" cornmeal. This really helps to give the French Bread a zesty,
crunchy crust. |
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This is a double baguette
pan. You can usually purchase these in stores like Crate'n'Barrel and
William-Sonoma. |
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To form a baguette, use
your knuckles to pound out a dough round into a elongated oval (the
dough should be about 3/4" thick). |
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Starting with a long
side, roll the dough. |
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Fold the ends over to
form this nice long roll of dough. |
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Coat the dough roll with
cornmeal. The "fold" of the dough roll is showing here. This will be the
bottom of the loaf. |
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Place the cornmeal-coated
dough roll, fold side down, in the baguette pan. You can see here that I
put the baguette pan on a [much-used, very old] cookie sheet. The helps
to catch any cornmeal that falls off. |
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Since I only have a
two-baguette pan, I make one round of French Bread. As you can see here,
I just shape the dough so that it is round (by kneading it gently, once
around the "clock" of the dough round). Coat it with cornmeal, and then
put some of the leftover cornmeal that's on the cookie sheet into the
bottom of a pie can. Place the dough round in the pie pan.
Set the baguettes and round loaf on for
the last rise. |
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Once the loaves have
completed the final rise, as an option, you can brush with egg white,
and then slash the loaves. This gives the loaves a really golden brown
crust and shows the traditional slash marks. |
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I use a box cutter (that
I reserve for just this one baking task) to slash the loaves. Make very
shallow, diagonal slashes on the baguettes. Slash front to back on the
round loaf. Avoid slashing too
deeply---you only need to "score" the surface of the dough so that it
pulls apart j-u-s-t a little bit.
Bake according to the recipe
directions. |
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Now the loaves are
baked... ...and ready to be
devoured!
Once you discover how easy it is to
make this French Bread, you'll never buy it again at the bakery! (And
besides...it sure makes the whole house smell wonderful...) |
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This is Jan's Dough
Sourdough Bread! If you've
enjoyed this tutorial for making French Bread and haven't already
visited Jan's Dough to get your free recipe for Sourdough Starter,
Sourdough Bread, and the complete tutorial for making bread, kneading,
rising, baking...and eating!... then please go to
Jan's Dough.
You'll find the links you need to
create your own Sourdough Starter and bake Sourdough Bread, along with
the link to the complete illustrated tutorial that will help you make
perfect bread the very first time!
You'll also find more links to free
recipes (all come with an ad-free printable version) and other baking
and cooking tips. No membership is ever required---and everything is
FREE. |