French Bread

There is nothing like fresh, homemade bread.  Coming back from Hawaii I was reminded about my Grand Pee Paw and Nana.  They used to live there and I was fortunate enough to visit them when I was a child.

One of the things that I remember about my Grandfather is that he was always cooking.  He had these HUGE mixers, 3 or 4 of them and they were always busy.  He always made fresh bread, and rolls. 

When I got my first Kitchen Aid mixer, making bread was one of the first things I did!  This is a great recipe and so easy!

The ingredients are:  2 1/4 cups water, 3 Tablespoons sugar, 1 Tablespoon yeast, 1 Tablespoon salt, 2 Tablespoons oil, 6 cups flour.

The first thing you do is combine the water, sugar and yeast in a bowl and let it proof.  This means that you are activating the yeast.  When it is ready it will make little bubbles or foam.....like this:

As you can see from the picture, I just put the ingredients straight into my mixing bowl.  Don't forget to have your dough hook handy!  If you don't have a mixer with a dough hook, that's OK.  Just plan on getting your hands dirty!

When you see the foam/bubbles, then you add the salt, oil and flour.  Start the mixer and add the flour one cup at a time.

When you have added 5 cups of flour, you should start to see the dough forming on the hook.  Continue adding flour, a little at a time, until the dough has separated from the sides of the bowl and is on the dough hook.

At this point you can remove the dough and put it in a bowl.  I spray the bowl with PAM and flour it a little so the dough doesn't stick.  Cover the bowl and put it on top of the oven, with the oven on 200 degrees or so.  This is a great way to have the dough rest and rise.

Let the dough rise 30 minutes or so and then go and punch it down.

Cover it back up and let it rise again.  When the dough comes to the top of the bowl, remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a floured surface.

You can either make  2 large loaves of bread, or break it into smaller pieces and make sandwich rolls.  I choose to make 5 smaller loaves............

Roll the dough out into an oval shape, about 1/4 inch thick.  Then take the dough and roll it up, making a loaf.  Put it on a baking sheet lined with corn meal.

When you have rolled all of your dough, take a knife and make a few slits on top of each loaf.  Cover and let rise again.

After 20 minutes or so, crack one egg into a small bowl and add 1 tablespoon of water.  Whisk that together and brush on the top of each loaf.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or so, or until golden brown.

Look at how they turn out!

Baking bread is very easy!  If you've never tried it, do it!  You won't be disappointed!

This recipe is featured on Totally Tasty Tuesdays!