My rustic take on the elegant French Bread.. err okay… here it comes… I set out to make beautifully slit perfect looking French Bread but I made a couple of mistakes and hence it what I had on my hands was French Bread that does not look like one. The taste wasn’t compromised, I promise – it was crusty on top and soft inside hence I am sharing the recipe with you. I tried it out again the next day, it turned out a little bit more pretty. I would highly recommend that you look at a few Youtube videos before you try to make it the first time.
First mistake, since the baking sheet that I used wasn’t too big I should have divided the dough in half.
Second mistake, First time I made the slits too gently – using a sharp knife or a razor blade (the kind our fathers would use in the olden days) and making slits with swiftly and firmly. The recipe is otherwise pretty simple.
Ingredients:
- Flour – 2 1/2 Cup + some extra for flouring the kneading surface
- Yeast – 1 package,
- Warm Water – 1 Cup
- Salt – 3/4 tsp
- Oil for greasing the bowl
Add warm water (110F) to a cup and empty the packet of yeast into it. Let it sit undisturbed for at least 10 minutes or till it froths.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.
Pour in the yeast mixture into the flour little by little and knead it into a dough. The dough is going to be gooey at first and then turn elastic and smooth.
Oil the sides of a larger bowl well and and transfer the ball of dough to it. Turn it around once so that the oil coats the dough.
Cover with a towel and let it rise for an hour or till it doubles in size.
Transfer to a floured work surface and knead the dough for few minutes.
Divide the dough and shape into 2 logs with tapered ends.
Using a sharp knife, and make diagonal slits about an inch and half apart.
Carefully transfer it to a cookie sheet (some prefer to preheat the cookie sheet as well)
Dust the loaves with a little bit of flour.
Preheat oven to 375F and while the oven preheats, let the dough rise.
Stick the cookie sheet into the oven and bake for about 30 minutes till the loaf starts turning slightly golden brown.
For the next 2 days we ate French Bread for breakfast as well as snack with a variety of toppings!
Recipe adapted from here!