Any good recipes for French bread?

[wryter2000]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=236x12142

Thanks to this thread, I'm tempted to try SF sourdough bread, but before I spend the money on the starter, I'd like to try making a baguette or two. I have a Kitchen Aid mixer and a regular oven. I also have a pizza stone I could use in the oven if necessary.

If not a baguette, then a free form loaf would be good, too.

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Julia Child's recipe in "How to Cook" is about as close to perfect

as you're gonna get.

[wryter2000]

5. I have that book

I'm going to look through it this weekend. I adore Julia!

[housewolf]

2. French Bread Recipe

The ingredients for making traditional French Bread is pretty simple - water, flour, salt and yeast. Some add some other things like malt barley flour, some other grains, oil, milk, dough-conditioning ingredients like lecithin or ascorbic acid, etc. But to start out and learn how to make great French Bread, all you need is flour, water, salt and yeast, plus maybe a little honey or sugar to fast-start the yeast.

So while the ingredients are simple, the methods used to make the bread run a whole gamut from simple to very complex. I'd suggest you start with something simple, learn how to mix and handle your dough, how to shape your loaves, what point in the final rise to bake the dough, how to slash it to get a great look and bloom when the loaf is in the oven, and some other things. Then you can go on to other techniqes that develop flavor and texture.


Here is a starter recipe from King Arthur Flours. If you have access to King Arthur Flour (Trader Joes, many ranch-style markets, many health food stores and gourmet groceries carry it), it makes very good bread . If you don't have it in your area, use half bread flour and half unbleached all-purpose.

INGREDIENTS
Overnight Starter
3/4 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1/8 teaspoon instant yeast

Dough
2 teaspoons instant yeast
2/3 cup water
2 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt

Topping
1 egg white beaten with 1 tablespoon water

INSTRUCTIONS
The Starter: Mix the starter ingredients in a small bowl, cover, and let rest at room temperature overnight.

Manual Method: In a large bowl, combine the starter and the remainder of the dough ingredients, stirring till the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface, oil your hands, and knead it for 5 to 7 minutes, or until it's supple, but the surface is still somewhat rough. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl or dough-rising bucket, cover the bowl or bucket, and allow the dough to rise for 90 minutes, turning it over and gently deflating it after 45 minutes.

Mixer Method: Combine the ingredients as above, using a flat beater paddle or beaters, then switch to the dough hook(s) and knead for about 5 minutes; the dough should have formed a ball, but its surface will still be a bit rough. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl or dough-rising bucket, cover the bowl or bucket, and allow the dough to rise for 90 minutes, turning it over and gently deflating it after 45 minutes.

Bread Machine Method: Place all of the ingredients, including the starter, into the pan of your machine, program the machine for manual or dough, and press Start. When the cycle is finished, remove the dough, deflate it gently, and let it rest, covered, for 30 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, shape into a round to long loaf, set the loaf on a lightly greased baking sheet, cover, and let rise it rise for about 60 to 90 minutes, or till it's very puffy.

Brush the laof with the egg white glaze. Bake the bread in a preheated 425°F oven for 25 to 35 minutes; the longer it bakes, the crunchier it'll be. Remove it from the oven and cool it on a wire rack (or coo!l it in the turned-off, door-propped open oven). Yield: 1 loaf.



Let me know if you need some instructions on how to shape the bread.

Have fun!

[NMDemDist2]

3. can I use this recipe for my pizza stone with the steam trick? and

should I slash the top before baking?

steam trick= put cast iron skillet on bottom rack while oven is heating and pour hot water into it before I shut the oven door with the loaf

[wryter2000]

4. Thank you

And you put your pizza stone over the pan?

I was thinking of using a spray bottle to spritz water on the crust at some point.

[NMDemDist2]

8. yes, stone goes on the top rack and slip the pan on the bottom rack

just be careful! when the water hits the hot pan it will sizzle and steam a LOT.

the bread loaf goes directly on the stone (with a little corn meal)

H2S says don't open the door to peek for at least 25 minutes :evilgrin:

[wryter2000]

9. Again, thanks

But does the water rust the pan? Or is it just a little and boils off?

[NMDemDist2]

13. about a cup and a half, it boils off pretty quick ice cubes would work too

i guess, but I use hot water from my water cooler thingie so it turns to steam FAST

[politicat]

15. Ah.... we haven't got one of those nifty things...

Hot water round these parts means either using the nuker or the tea kettle. I really must get one of those electric kettles, but I keep forgetting to look when I'm at the thrift store.

[NMDemDist2]

17. i only use hot so I don't take a chance of warping my pan n/t

[politicat]

11. Ice cubes in the bottom of the stove work for steam

And don't require the heat loss that opening the oven engenders.

[NMDemDist2]

12. i do it when I open the door to put the loaf in, and I'm FAST LOL n/t

[housewolf]

14. Yep, ....

Make sponge, let sit for however long the recipe said

mix dough

rise until double

gently turn the dough out onto the counter and shape it into a rough log or ball

Cover and let sit for 20 minutes

Shape your loaf and let rise again (a form is real helpful although you can do free-form loaves as well. For round loaves, bakers often line a bowl or basket with a well-floured cloth then put the shaped loaf in upside down (seam-side up). For baguettes, there are special baguette pans or baskets that can be purchased. Commercial bakers traditionally have used cloth canvas, well floured, and made sort of forms for their loaves by creating a fold with the cloth between the loaves and lining them up next to each other, sort of like a bunch of W's lined up across a table, with the loaves resting in the U sections.

You'll need a wooden peel or an open-sided cookie sheet to use to get the bread onto the hot stone.

To let it rise free-form, dust the peel or cookie sheet with corn meal or semolina flour and let the loaf rise directly on the peel, cover it well to protect it from drying out. Or let it rise on parchment paper (then you don't have to worry so much about it sticking to the peel).

Let your loaf rise until about double. There's another way to tell when your bread is ready to bake though, let me see if I can explain it. When you've just shaped your loaf, it's tight and resilliant - when you lightly press on it with your finger, it resists you a little and bounces immediately back to it's shape. As it rises and becomes puffy, it loses its tightness and resiliance and eventually, when you press it lightly with your finger, an indentation will remain where you pressed in. At this point it loaf is fully risen (fermented) and ready to go in the oven.
When baking bread on stones in hot ovens, it's important to not allow your loaf to over-rise because if you do, it will deflate some as you're trying to get it in the oven and it won't rise as high as you might like it. So try to find that point at which the dough stops resisting your light touch (actually, use a very gentle or light touch, almost a tap, just touch lightly, don't press in, don't hold your finger down, let up quickly, and you can do it more than once. Practice, you'll get the hang of it. Keep in mind that when baking loaves directly on hot stones, baking the loaf when it is a _little_ under-risen will be more successful than baking one that is a little over-risen.

Pre-heat your stone at least 40 minutes prior to baking the bread (they take a while to fully heat up). If you're using a cast iron skillet for water, put it in now too and let it heat up along with the stone.

When your loaf is ready to bake, turn the loaf carefully out of the form onto the peel (using corn meal or semoline to keep it from sticking), or if you're baking a free-form loaf, gently move the loaf to make sure that it's not sticking to the peel.

Slash with a razor blade or sharp knife.

Brush on your wash, if using one.

Open the oven, gently maneuver your peel so that the bread slides off of it onto the hot stone.

Do your steam thing (water, ice cubes, spritzing (but be careful to not spray the oven light as it will shatter), etc.)

Shut the oven door and let it bake. Some people spritz every couple of minutes for the first 7 minutes.

Now comes the hardest part of all - when you take it out of the oven, let it sit for at least a half an hour before cutting into it. (I know... I know....) The bread will continue to bake for a while after you take it out of the oven, the flavor will continue to develop and it will be MUCH easier to slice if you let it cool at least a half an hour.

Slice, butter and enjoy!



If you have some time before you're going to start this project, stop by a Barnes & Noble or some sort of book store. Treat yourself to a cup of their great coffee and find yourself a comfy place to sit. Visit the Cookbooks section and select a few great bread baking cookbooks to peruse. Spend some time reading their french bread recipe instructions and looking at their instructions for shaping bread, as well as the pictures of how things look at different stages. There are many great bread books on the market now, and I'd be happy to give you some suggestions if you'd like.

Good luck! Have fun!

[wryter2000]

16. Thank you so much for all that information

Wow. I hope everyone gets a chance to read this. It's great. :applause:

[wryter2000]

6. Thanks

I get a catalogue from King Arthur flour. This is going to be so much fun.

[ernstbass]

7. I use the Joy Of Cooking recipe

[wryter2000]

10. I'll check that one, too

It's always good to look at several recipes to look for common themes.

[Tab]

18. If you want to know more about baking

particularly if you live in northern New England (Vermont, NH, or northern MA), but they have online classes too...

King Arthur Flour is highly regarded for the quality of its flour (which you can order online) but they also have in-house baking classes - some are just evenings, some are for a two or three day workshop, some are more geared for professionals.

KAF is located in Norwich, VT, literally across the street from Dartmouth College in Hanover, VT, which is halfway up the Vermont / New Hampshire border.

They've been running classes for years; I'm not a baker myself, but I keep meaning to take the one on pizza dough. But they have whole sessions devoted to, say, the mysteries of French Bread Bakery.

You can check the classes out at http://www.kingarthurflour.com/baking/