Cookbook:French Bread
Appearance
French Bread | |
---|---|
Category | Bread recipes |
Yield | 2 loaves |
Time | 3–4 hours |
Difficulty |
Cookbook | Recipes | Ingredients | Equipment | Techniques | Cookbook Disambiguation Pages | Recipes | French cuisine | Vegetarian cuisine | Bread
Ingredients
[edit | edit source]Ingredient | Count | Volume[note 1] | Weight | Baker's % |
---|---|---|---|---|
Active dry yeast [note 2] | 2 packages | 14.4 g | 1.59% | |
Warm water (about 110°F) | ½ cup | 118.5 g | 13.08% | |
Salt | 1 tablespoon | 18 g | 1.99% | |
Lukewarm water | 2 cups | 474 g | 52.30% | |
Flour | 7–7½ cups | 937.5 | 100% | |
Egg white | 1 ea. | 33 g | 3.64% | |
Corn meal | ||||
Total | n/a | n/a | 1595.4 g | 170.18% |
Procedure
[edit | edit source]- In a small bowl, soften yeast in warm water.
- Combine salt and lukewarm water in large bowl. Beat in 2 cups flour.
- Blend in yeast, and stir in enough flour to make stiff dough.
- Turn out dough on floured surface. Knead 10 to 15 minutes, working in last of flour (you may want to do this with a heavy duty electric mixer with dough hooks).
- Form into a ball and put in greased bowl, turning to grease top, then cover with a cloth.
- Let rise until doubled (a finger impression should stay), about an hour, depending on temperature.
- Punch down dough, turn out on floured surface, and divide in half.
- Cover dough and rest for 10 minutes.
- Shape each half of dough into a 5 x 12-inch rectangle.
- Roll up each portion tightly, starting on the long side, sealing as you roll, tapering if you like.
- Place each loaf diagonally, seam side down, on a greased baking sheet sprinkled with corn meal.
- Use a floured sharp knife or razor blade to make ¼-inch slashes diagonally in the tops of the loaves.
- Beat egg white until foamy, adding a tablespoon of water. Brush top and sides of loaves with egg mixture.
- Cover with damp cloth, not touching loaves (drape cloth over inverted glasses). Let loaves rise until doubled, 60–75 minutes.
- Turn on oven to preheat to 375°F.
- Bake until light brown, about 20 minutes.
- Brush loaves with egg mixture again. Bake another 15–20 minutes, or until done.
- Cool on wire racks.
Notes, tips, and variations
[edit | edit source]- To get a rapid initial rise, use water about 130–135°F, pour into bowl with yeast mixed with initial flour and salt, and start mixing.
- All rising should be in a warm place, like near the refrigerator.
- A baking stone, ceramic brick, or even an iron skillet or griddle preheated in the oven (to place the baking sheet on) will give a good "spring" or quick rise when the loaves are first placed in the oven.
- For even crispier crust, brush each time with plain water.
Conversion notes
[edit | edit source]- ↑ Weight conversions from USDA National Nutrient Database. Original recipe text and ingredient order preserved. 7.25 cups flour presumed as all purpose. Egg size presumed as large.
- ↑ This amount of yeast will result in a perceptible yeast flavor. To reduce this flavor, it is recommend to use no more than 1.05% active dry yeast, although you can expect fermentation time to increase somewhat. Further reductions will result in less yeast flavor and longer bulk fermentation times.