Homemade French Bread
 
Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon instant yeast (1½ T if doubling the recipe)
  • 1¼ cup warm water
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1¼ teaspoons salt
  • 1 tablespoon oil (I used olive oil)
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 egg white beaten, optional
Instructions
  1. Put yeast, warm water, and sugar in the stand mixer bowl. Let sit 5 minutes.
  2. Add salt, oil, and 2 cups of flour and mix together.
  3. Add remaining cup of flour and knead 3-5 minutes. The dough will be soft, but if it's overly sticky add a tablespoon or two more flour.
  4. Dump the kneaded dough out onto a floured surface. Every 10 minutes for the next hour knead it a couple of times.
  5. After the hour, divide the dough into two for small loaves or for a large/regular sized loaf don't divide.
  6. Roll dough into rectangles and roll up on the long side. Fold ends under.
  7. Place loaves on a baking sheet and slash the tops 4 times.
  8. Brush with beaten egg white (optional).
  9. Let raise for 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
  10. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  11. Bake for 10 minutes at 425 and turn down the temperature to 375 for another 10-15 minutes.
  12. (If making the larger loaf, might need to increase the second baking time to 15-20 minutes).
Recipe by From This Kitchen Table at https://www.fromthiskitchentable.com/homemade-french-bread/