French Bread
This bread takes a little more watching and tending (throwing the ice cubes in the oven every ten minutes or so makes the crust really crisp and chewy), but it's entirely worth it! A golden, chewy crust hides a soft white interior, and nothing is better for sopping up pasta sauce or dipping oil! You can make this in a cake pan (the shape will be odd), but if you really love French bread, then invest in a good French bread loaf mold (the kind without the holes). It will run you about$ 20.00 on Ebay, and it's worth every penny. This recipe makes 2 medium baguettes or 1 large 9x13 cake pan.7g (1 package) active dry yeast or instant
French Bread
Ingredients
- 1 package or 7) Instant or Rapid Yeast OR ( 1 package or 7g ) Active Dry Yeast
- 1tsp sugar
- 490g warm water 110F
- 2 tsp salt
- 490g Better Batter Original Flour or Bread flour
- 1/4 c cornmeal
- 1 egg white, lightly beaten with a Tbsp water
- Ice cubes
Allergy Free Options:
- vegan option up the sugar to 1 Tablespoon. and no egg wash
Instructions
Mixing:
Dissolve water yeast, and sugar , in the bowl of your electric stand mixer. Let stand about 5 minutes.
Add in the salt. mix well. Add half of the flour and beat on high speed until the mixture resembles a very thick batter, about 4 minutes. , let rise for 30 minutes to 1 hour or until the batter/sponge is fluffy (almost doubled).
Add the rest off the flour to the bowl and beat on high speed for another 4 minutes, or until mixture resembles very sticky cookie dough.
Shaping
Preheat your oven to 500°F.
Put the dough onto a lightly floured board or counter. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions and shape each one into a long loaf (about 6 inches in length) with pointed ends.
Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle with corn meal. Place loaves 3" apart. Sprinkle each loaf with BB flour. Score 4 diagonal slashes down each baguette with a lame, razor, or sharp knife.
Brush the tops lightly with the egg and water mixture and cut three deep slashes along the tops of the loaves.
Cover with oiled plastic wrap or damp dish towel. Allow to rise in warm location until almost doubled (about 30 to 35 minutes). Time to proof will depend on your kitchen.
Optional: While the loaves are proofing, place an additional baking steel or pizza stone on the bottom rack and heat for 45 minutes. This will be used for adding ice cubes to create steam in your oven. The steam will allow the crust to be pliable and stretchy during baking. Without the steam, your dough will cook too quickly on the exterior and it will not rise sufficiently.
Baking. Once the oven and the optional steel stone are heated, place the loaves (on their baking sheet) on the middle rack of the preheated oven. Immediately add a few ice cubes into the bottom metal baking sheet/pan. Close oven door.
Reduce and Bake. After 5 minutes add a few more ice cubes. Reduce the oven temperature to 450° F and bake for an additional 30-35 minutes. The loaves are done when they reach an internal temp of 210°F.
Remove the loaves from the oven. Transfer loaves to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before cutting. Enjoy!
