French Bread Recipe

I love making my own bread. Not only does it taste a lot better, but it is a lot cheaper as well. Plus, I know what is in it, and where it has been! :)



Jamie asked for bread recipes and tips, since making her first loaf. Which reminded me of my all time favorite white bread recipe. It is actually for french bread, but I've always baked it the same as white bread. It was also originally a bread machine recipe, but my machine has decided that it only wants to knead the bread..not rise or bake it. Stinker. So, I now just use my Kitchenaid to mix and do the first knead, and I do the rest.



Here it goes:

French Bread

1c plus 2 Tbsp. water

2 tsp marg. or butter, softened (since this is such a small amt of butter, I usually just use margarine and scoop it out of the tub. Since it is already fairly soft, I don't worry about softening it more.)

3 1/4 c flour (the recipe actually calls for bread flour..but I almost always substitute for all-purpose. I have yet to notice a difference. And, all purpose is cheaper!)

1Tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 pkg yeast (or if you are using bulk 2 3/4 tsps)

I put all of the ingredients in the order listed into my Kitchenaid bowl, and using the dough hook, mix on low for about 5 minutes. Then I remove the dough from the bowl and place into a greased bread pan. Cover and let rise until double.

Then bake at 350 degrees for 45 -60 minutes.

Sorry about the wide range of time there..I always forget how long it takes! You can also dissovle your yeast before mixing in the other ingredients. To do so you would combine the yeast and the water, but make sure that it is warm water. Honestly, I have never done this. I guess because the first time I had to adjust since my machine was broken, I just substituted my Kitchenaid in the place of the mixing part of my bread machine. And in my bread machine, you just place everything in there in this order and press a button. Similiar to what I did here.

Depending on your cost of yeast, you are looking at roughly .60 to .75 a loaf. I either use yeast I have gotten for free (after coupons) or a bulk yeast. The bulk yeast is literally pennies when broken down into teaspoons.

For more recipes visit Gayle!