Easy French Bread
I love this bread! It’s especially great to make during these difficult stay-at-home moments. All you need is flour, yeast, water, salt, a little milk for brushing- but not necessary, if making it vegan friendly. I hope you enjoy and find some warmth in a nice homemade loaf! The first time I made this– it was gorgeous, but sadly I forgot the salt!!! But we turned it into a nice savory bread pudding that you can find the recipe on my site, as well.
Rustic French Boule
This is actually an easy bread recipe that is baked in a dutch oven
Ingredients
- 3 cups Luke warm water about 102 f
- 32 oz All purpose flour-when weighed it's about 5 cups
- 1 tbsp Sea Salt
- 1.5 tbsp instant yeast
- 1/4 cup whole milk for brushing the top
- flour for dusting top
- 1 cup water in a pan to place in oven
Instructions
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combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl
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Place yeast in 3 cups of 102 f water-mix together and let sit for about 5 mins. Then mix the flour to make a very very sticky rough dough... a stand mixer works well with the dough hook, but don't over mix- only mix for about 1 minute-don't over mix- this will look wetter than you would think-then add the salt and mix a bit more.
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Let the dough rise.... covered with plastic wrap... Let it rise for about 2 hours-ideal temp for rising is 80f-it should double in size- you can let it rise longer to get bigger- find a warm area-I used my breville oven-proof setting at 80F
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Once the dough has risen, place in fridge for at least 2 hours and up to 7 days-for a more sourdough taste---
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You can break it into smaller balls or make a large ball and let rest for another 45 mins to an hour at room temp -you can sprinkle flour to keep it from drying out. Best is to place it in the parchment at this time and put in the dutch oven to rest
Just before baking, brush on some milk... add more flour and score a few slashes with a sharp knife
Preheat the oven to 450f- you can sprinkle sea salt or other spices on top if you want!
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Bake bread for 20 mins covered. After 20 mins--- add the 1 cup water in a separate pan on another rack in the oven-under the dutch oven-then bake for another 20-25 minutes with the top off until the crust is a gorgeous golden brown... this may take more time. You can also take your bread out of the dutch oven at this point and finish it off for 5-10 more minutes just right on the oven rack-to get all sides crispy.
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Enjoy your beautiful bread- store at room temp in a plastic or paper bag or freeze it- just warm it up frozen and enjoy fresh bread!
