As you may have figured out from some of my earlier posts, I did not grow up eating food made from scratch. My mom is a good cook, but definitely used boxed mixes and convenience items. So where did I get the idea to eat real food? DH would blame my friend and former co-worker Holly. She’s the one who told me about kombucha, turned her front lawn into a garden, and made a believer of raw milk out of me when she brought fromage blanc to work.
She just had a baby, and I don’t get to see her as much now that we’re not working together, but we keep in touch through FaceBook. Good thing, because I got a new KitchenAid for Christmas and couldn’t find her “best breads” email that she had sent me oh, a year or two ago!
I decided to christen my KitchenAid by making the Basic French Loaf.
BASIC FRENCH LOAF
2 c very warm water
1 ½ T yeast
1 T sugar
-whisk together in mixing bowl, let proof 5 minutes
1 T salt
5-6 c flour
-add salt and 2 c flour, mix with dough hook.
-slowly add flour til the dough all pulls away from the side
-knead for 8 minutes (Note: If using a heavy duty mixer, mix until it starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and is nice and elastic; it will only take a few minutes)
-cover and let rise til double (apx 1 hour)
-punch down, form into 2-3 freeform loaves, let rise on greased cookie sheets, covered.
-preheat oven for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.
-when loaves have doubled, put in oven with 4 ice cubes on bottom of oven
-bake 30-35 minutes til crusty.
The Verdict: Oh my, this was perfect! I fed it to the guys who were helping DH brew beer in the garage and they snapped it up. It’s the perfect flavor and texture.
This recipe shared with Yeastspotting and I’m Lovin’ It!
Hi – what kind of flour and salt are you using? What is the temperature of the water?
I used unbleached all purpose flour. For the salt I used the King Arthur bread baking salt. I have no idea what the temperature of the water was – hot out of the tap LOL. I see I have a lot to learn about bread baking! Luckily this recipe was foolproof, obviously 😉 Some of my other breads have turned out fairly dense, which I thought was because of my yeast being old but now I’m wondering if I should be taking temperature of water.
WOW – you answered so quickly. Thanks! I have been struggling with bread for a while now and I am determined to win! My pizza dough is worthy of Michelin stars! (IMHO), but I cannot nail bread down. Maybe I am over thinking it? That’s why this recipe jumped out at me…. I will give it a try and report back… if you are interested… 🙂
oh yes, please do report back! And I’d love to hear about your pizza dough. Mine is only so-so.
OK – the anticipation is killing me, so I am checking in 🙂
I microwaved room temp water for 40 seconds. I used plain, granulated sugar, Fleischmann’s active dry yeast, Morton’s kosher salt and Bob’s Red Mill Unbleached Flour. I ended up using just under 5 cups total flour. It’s rainy here today, too. The rise was flawless. I just shaped into 2 baguette-style loaves and placed them in a bread pan (the one that is shaped like a rounded W – if that makes sense). I just turned the oven on to pre-heat and the dough is at the edge of the top of the stove where it is nice and warm.
Oh yeah…. pizza dough. I have been working my way through Peter Reinhart’s “American Pie” kinda like Julie/Julia. So far, the first and second recipes for dough has been my favorite. Some days I can work it and stretch it to 12-14″ and other days we are having individual pizzas. But the flavor is great.
OK – I baked for the full 35 minutes. It’s dense and chewy and the color is awesome. Flavor is ok. I had a slice with butter and a sprinkle of Fleur de Sel. Tastes better.
Overall, this recipe works. I will use it again, for sure.
So glad it worked out! It doesn’t have much flavor, but it’s good with cheese 🙂