French Bread Recipe

How to make it

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• In large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine yeast, sugar, salt, and dry milk.
• Mix in 2 cups flour, then add warm water and butter. Stir thoroughly to combine.
• If using stand mixer, mix on lowest setting and gradually add the rest of the flour, ½ cup at a time. The dough will be a shaggy mass at first; continue mixing until the dough is elastic, but still sticky, and cleans the sides of the bowl. If the dough still seems too sticky and gooey, add a bit more flour.
• Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and let it rest for 10 minutes.
• Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Occasionally, you can throw the dough down hard on the kneading surface.
• Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until the dough is doubled in size, about 90 minutes. (I generally heat my oven to about 150 degrees, then turn it off, before I start kneading the dough, leaving the oven door open just a crack. Then, when the dough is ready for its first rise, I place a towel on the oven rack and set the bowl on the towel, closing the oven door. This provides a warm, but not hot, environment in which the dough can rise. If you’re worried that the oven may still be hot, leave the oven door open a crack during the first 15 minutes of rising.)
• Once the dough has risen to double its original volume, punch it down gently in the bowl and turn it onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 30 seconds to press out the bubbles.
• Shape into three long cylinders, each about 14 inches long and about 2 inches in diameter.
• You can place them side by side on a sheet pan that has been sprinkled with corn meal, or you can do what I do and let them rise in a special French bread baking pan. (These pans are perfectly shaped; they hold three loaves and look sort of like three snowboarder’s half-pipes side by side. They also have perforated surfaces, so the heat can easily pass through the loaves as they bake. My French bread pan is made by Chicago Metallic and costs about nineteen dollars. If you plan to make French bread more than once or twice, one or two of these pans is an excellent investment.)
• Place the sheet pan, or the French bread pan on top of a sheet pan, in a warm place and allow to rise for about 45 minutes, or until the loaves have at least doubled in volume. You should either cover the loaves loosely with waxed paper, or spray them with a fine mist of water every 10 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 400° F.
• Five minutes before baking, place a pan of warm water in the bottom of the oven to provide moisture for the loaves as they bake.
• With a sharp knife, or a razor blade, make diagonal slits on the top of the loaves (about 8 slits for each loaf). Spray the loaves with water and place in the oven. For a nicer crust, prepare an egg wash (an egg beaten in a tablespoon of water) and brush the loaves before they go into the oven.
• Bake until golden brown, about 45 minutes, or until the internal temp of the loaves is 195° F. or more. Don’t let the internal temp exceed 205° F. or the moisture inside the loaves will vaporize and your bread will become very dry. Midway through the baking process, turn the pan around so that the loaves are equally exposed to the temperature variations of your oven.
• Cool the loaves thoroughly on a rack. Cooled loaves can be wrapped in a double thickness of plastic wrap and frozen for later use. When they come out of the freezer, either let them thaw naturally or place directly on the rack of a 350° F. oven for about 5 or 6 minutes.