Homemade French Bread

Our family loves eating French Bread, especially with dinner.  Sometimes it is part of the main dish, like Meatball Sandwiches or Philly Cheese Steak Sandwhiches (recipe here).

 Here's a question: what's the difference between bread and French Bread?

 Bread is made with milk, French Bread uses water.

I found this recipe from Land O Lakes a few years ago.  It is easy and yummy.

French Bread

Prep time: 45 min  Raise time: 2 hrs

Bake time: 25 min

1 pg active dry yeast

2 1/4 C warm water (~110 deg.)

1 T sugar

5-5 1/2 C flour

1 T salt

To brush on tops: 1 egg slightly beaten, 1 T milk

In large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water; stir in sugar.  Let stand 45 min (Top pic).  Stir in 3 cups of flour and salt, beat until smooth (middle pic).  Stir in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surfce; knead until smooth and elastic--about 5 min. Place dough in lightly greased bowl and turn over once to coat dough with grease (left pic). Cover and let rise in warm place until double in size--about 1.5 hours--dough is ready when indentation remains when touched (right pic).

Punch dough down.  Dived into thirds to make 15" long baguettes or 5" rounds.  Or divide into 7-8 small loafs for sandwhiches. Hint: when forming loaves, create smooth tops by placing seems and overlaps on the underside (top pic). Place on greased cookie sheet. Cover and let rise until double in size--about 30 min.

Heat oven to 400 deg. Brush tops with egg and milk mixture. Make diagonal slashes across baguette or rounds.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from baking sheets and cool on wire rack.