Lorrie's French Bread
By: Lorrie Perencevic
Published: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - 2:40pm

Ingredients




7 cups unbleached white flour
2 tablespoons yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups warm water

Preparation

1 Mix the yeast, sugar, and water together. Let stand until mixture bubbles, letting you know the yeast has activated. 2 Add all other ingredients, the flour one cup at a time, beating as the mixture thickens into a dough. 3 Knead the dough for several minutes, until it becomes smooth and elastic. 4 Set dough aside in a greased bowl. Turning to coat all of the dough, covered with a towel and until doubled in size. 5 Form the dough into loaves or rolls: 6 For regular 9x5 loaves, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to 1/2 inch think, then roll it up into a loaf, pinching the ends and side edges shut. 7 For long baguettes, simply use your hands to roll the dough on the counter top, pulling it to elongate as you go. After placing it on a baking sheet, slash the top diagonally three times to form a lice "split" effect in the finished crust. 8 For rolls, form into balls, then pull the outer edges down and push it into the center on the bottom side of the roll, to obtain a smooth and evenly round top. Elongate into oblong shapes if you prefer. You can either bake them smooth-topped, lightly slash the top to produce a "split" in the crust, or use a pair of scissors to snip the tops crossways to form four points. 9 Let rise until doubled in size while pre-heating oven to 400 degrees. 10 Baking times: 11 Regular loaves: bake for 25 minutes and check for doneness. Cool covered to maintain a soft crust. 12 Baguettes: bake for 20 minutes, brushing with plain water twice during baking to form a crisp crust. Cool uncovered. 13 Rolls: bake for 15 minutes, remove from oven, and cool on a towel covered by a towel.

About


A traditional recipe based on the long-standing French methods of bread baking. Great for loaves, baguettes, or rolls, this recipe can be multiplied up to four times and each loaf still comes out perfectly. Enjoy!