French Bread- From Scratch, Baby!

My friend Nikki came over the other day and inspired me to make my own french bread from scratch. She said she had found a Youtube video and that the process was relatively simple, and that she and her husband had not been buying store-bought bread since.

I believe that bread making is somewhat of a lost art. There is nothing more enjoyable than the smell of fresh bread baking in the oven, especially when it's been your own hands and hours of labor that have gone into making it. Baking bread from scratch is not a rushed process, contrary to so much of what dominates our lives these days. Spending an entire afternoon preparing bread for that night's dinner brings a certain cozy feel into the home.

Up until now, I have not had success with making bread by hand. I do plenty of homemade bread, sure, but have been spoiled by my bread machine, always believing that it is that device, not my own hands, that produces the best dough. Yet I have had the hand-made bread of others that far exceeds the quality of my own, and have always had a desire to perfect (or at least attempt) the art.

Here's a little secret: it's not that hard. But it is delicious.

If you go on Youtube and type in "how to make french bread" this is the first video you'll find.

You start with a sponge: a mixture of 2 c. flour, 1 tsp. yeast, and 1 1/2 c. warm water. You mix this in a large bowl and let it sit until it gets nice and bubbly, about 3 hours. (Cover and keep in a warm place to aid in the process.)


Here it is, my bubbly sponge.
Then you dissolve another 1 tsp. yeast in 1/4 c. warm water until it is soft, about 1-2 minutes. Add this to your sponge, along with 3 c. flour and 2 tsp. sea salt.


Now you have your dough. Stir this as much as you can...
Then turn onto a lightly floured surface (I prefer wooden, which is why I used my kitchen table) and knead for exactly 8 minutes. I think this is where I've gone wrong in the past- I've had a tendency to rush this part and you just can't do that. You'll see that at 8 minutes, the dough becomes nice and elastic.
Place back in bowl, cover, and let rise until double, about 1 1/2 hours.
Kaitlyn was alongside me making her own little dough ball.
I really think she just liked playing in the flour.
And kneading...
And picking up more flour...
Here is my dough, doubled in size. Just in time to take Jacob to his baseball game. Man, there is a lot of love that has gone into this baby by now.
Turn out onto lightly floured surface, divide dough into fourths, and shape each fourth into a round. Rest for 10 minutes.
Shape each round into a loaf by flattening, rolling, and pinching. (You'll have to watch the video to get the full effect of this.) Cover and let rest 1 hour.
Place loaves onto a lightly greased baking stone and score with a sharp bread knife.
This allows the steam to escape during baking. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. Okay, now here's the important part. What gives french bread that crisp-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside texture is steaming. While there are some fancy industrial ovens that are equipped to do this during baking, the way to replicate the technique at home is to either (a) place a hot pan of boiling water in the oven under the bread, or (b) use a water bottle to spray the loaves and inside walls of the hot oven during baking to create steam. However, you only want to steam the bread during the first ten minutes of baking. To do so after this would create an undesirable texture.
The result: delicious, warm, hot-out-of-the-oven and made-all-day bread that was enjoyed by all. Seriously, this was some good, white, comfort bread. I really noticed a difference in the texture compared to the bread I make in the machine (not that it's bad.) And in all honesty it wasn't that difficult. While it may have taken about 6 hours from start to finish, the actual "working" part was only several minutes at a time. I even had some today for lunch and it was just as soft and fresh.
Will definitely be repeated.