french bread

This is what I do when I’ve been snowed in: bake bread. Last year, I made a small single loaf of bread and immediately regretted not using the many spare opportunities I had to mix up some flour, water and yeast and bake a fresh loaf, err loaves — one is never enough. And this year I made a resolution — something I was resolved never to do, but fell into the “It’s New Years! You must have at least one resolution?!” peer pressure, and well, I am kind of thankful I did because the smell of yeasty dough rising on your counter, or browning in your oven or steaming as you slice into the hot loaf is something so satisfying, you’ll regret every day you chose to sit on your couch doing nothing folding laundry instead.

I don’t pretend to be an expert on bread, or even dough. All I know is yeast is some mighty powerful stuff that can make bread taste like heaven, or at least what I image heaven would taste like, if heaven could actually be tasted — but I digress. Bread, is simple enough. Usually comprised of flour, yeast, water and salt, even sugar and of course things like molasses or honey or oats can be mixed in. It is then kneaded and left to rise and later poked and man handled into deflation where it is again kneaded and left for another rise. Then finally it can be shoved into a hot oven where a magical smell wafts through your house and yes, it literally becomes heaven, because I actually do know what heaven smells like: freshly baked bread.

My inquisitive and ever living to please husband, wondered and found what exactly sets apart French bread from any other kind of bread. In short, French bread (or baguettes) is distinguishable by its length — usually about 2 feet, though these each are about 12-inches — crisp golden crust, diagonal slits and above all the French law governing the recipe…of flour, water, yeast and salt.

French Bread
Adapted from Joy of Cooking

Makes 1 12-inch baguettes

4 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups room temperature water
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water

Mix dry ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer (or regular mixing bowl if doing by hand). Make a well in the center of these ingredients and pour in water. Using the bread hook mix ingredients together on low speed (or can be done by hand) until dough is soft and elastic, about 12 minutes. (Meg note: my dough came together and clung to the dough hook after 2 minutes of being mixed, but let the mixer continue to run for the full 12 minutes. I don’t think you can over-knead bread, can you?) Wipe out bowl and coat with olive oil. Place dough back in bowl and turn it to coat all sides with oil. Cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place (75 – 85 degrees) until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours. (A tip I picked up somewhere along the way: to know when bread is ready after rising, use two floured fingers and press them into the dough. If the dough stays dented then it is ready for the next step. If it spring back, it needs more time to rise.)

When dough has doubled in size, punch down the dough and turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead a few times then divided the dough in half. Pat each half into a rectangle. Form each into a baguette by rolling, pressing outward with your hands and tapering the dough toward the ends until you have a long thin loaf. (Meg note: I found this particularly difficult since my dough wanted to shrink back into a ball rather than stay in a long rectangle. After pulling and pushing it I managed to get somewhat of a rectangle out of each half, then folded the bottom edge to the middle and the top edge over the bottom. I pinched the ends together and quickly turned the bread over before it had a chance to “unpinch” itself. I imagine the loaves are suppose to be longer than 12 inches, but the dough didn’t want to stay put…)

Place loaves on a greased baking sheet. If you are setting more than one loaf on a baking sheet, bear in mind that the loaves will double in size, so leave plenty of space — at least the size of a whole loaf — in between. Cover the loaf, or loaves with a floured clean cloth. Let rise in a warm place until somewhat less that doubled. Score (cut deep diagonal slits) in the tops of the loaves.

Preheat oven to 400-degrees. In the bottom of the oven, preheat a baking pan. Fill with 1 cup hot water, it should steam. Bake the bread on the oven’s center rack for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350-degrees and bake about 30 minutes loner. Bake until the crust is golden brown and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Five minutes or so before the bread is finished, mix the egg white and water together and brush over the loaves.

Let cool completely on a rack (yeeeah right…)