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Classic French Bread




Source of Recipe


I BELIEVE this is Julia Child's recipe


Recipe Introduction


This makes beautiful, crusty perfect loaves of French bread. The bread pan mentioned is a pan that is specifically for making loaves. It is perforated with tiny holes (for that wonderful crust) and has separate round bottomed sections for each loaf (usually 3). You don’t HAVE to use one of these pans, but they really help. She also mentions using baking tile to put the bread pan on. This is not absolutely necessary, but again, if you have them, they will ensure a better loaf.


List of Ingredients




1 c. warm water (105 – 115 degrees)
1 envelope yeast
1 T. sugar
1 t. salt
½ t. balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar
2 c. bread flour
¾ c. (about) all purpose flour
Vegetable oil
½ stick butter
¼ t. salt


Recipe



Put water into mixer bowl. Sprinkle with yeast and sugar; stir. Let stand until foamy. Mix salt and vinegar into yeast. Add bread flour and mix 5 minutes using paddle attachment. Replace paddle with dough hook. Add ½ c. regular flour and knead until soft and slightly sticky dough forms, adding more regular flour if dough is very sticky – about 7 minutes.

Oil a large bowl with 2 T. vegetable oil. Add dough, turn to coat and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm place 1 ½ hours.

Cut dough into 2 – 3 pieces. Flatten each to a rectangle and roll up into a loaf shape. Put in an oiled French bread pan.

Melt ½ stick butter, add ¼ t. salt. Brush on the loaves. Let loaves rise in warm place 45 minutes. Brush again with butter mixture. Let rise another 35 minutes.

Put baking tiles (or a pizza stone) on middle oven shelf. Put a roasting pan (one that will hold 4 c. of water) on the bottom of the oven. Preheat to 450 degrees. Add 4 c. boiling water to the roasting pan. Put the loaf pan in the oven on the baking tiles. Close oven 2 minutes. Brush one last time with the butter mixture, cut slits in the top of each loaf. Bake for about 20 minutes. Loaves should be golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.