French Bread

Say, hypothetically speaking, you have an afternoon at home. Maybe you already have soup going on the stove, or have lasagna in the freezer ready to be re-heated for dinner. You're doing laundry or some such. You just might think to yourself, "I wish I had some really good bread to go with dinner."

Well DING DING DING, have I got the bread for you! This recipe was ridiculously easy, requiring literally about 15-20 minutes of effort - assuming you have a standing mixer with a dough hook as I do - resulting in the most delicious-crusty-warm-fleshy bread I have ever made. (Truth be told, I have only ever made dessert breads and bread-machine breads, so it's sort of an apples-and-oranges comparison. But anyway.) You totally have to try this:

1 package dry active yeast
1 1/4 C warm water (105-115 degrees F)
1 1/2 tsp salt (add cracked pepper to taste if you want)
3 1/2C AP flour
1 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP flour or cornmeal for the baking sheet
1 egg white
1 TBSP cold water

Dissolve yeast in warm water (give it a good stir to get it started) for about 5 minutes. In the bowl of your standing mixer, whisk together the salt and flour. Once the yeast mixture is ready, attach the dough hook and turn the mixer on low, adding about half the mixture. Drizzle in the tablespoon of oil, then add the remaining yeast mixture. The dough will be fairly dry compared to, say, pizza dough. I had to gather it together a bit with my hands. Not a big deal.

Let the machine knead the dough on medium for 15-20 minutes. That's right - just walk away from the machine and change over that laundry or whatever it is that you're doing. Just make sure to oil a bowl and find a warm, draft-free spot in your kitchen. After the kneading, turn the dough out into the bowl, roll it around until it's all covered in olive oil, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set it in said warm area, and let the First Rise begin. Look for the dough to almost double in size - mine took about an hour and half. The timing is affected by temperature among other things.

After the first rise, punch down the dough and roll it out on a lightly floured surface into a 12 x 15 inch rectangle. Sprinkle your baking sheet with flour or cornmeal. Roll the dough up tightly, jelly-roll style, beginning with the long edge. Set the log seam-side down on the baking sheet, through a tea towel over it and put it back in the warm place, and walk away for another couple hours for the second rise. Now, you can muck with the shape a little - some prefer the more torpedo-narrow ends. It's your call. Oh, and I have heard not to use terry cloth when covering dough. I am not sure why. Anyway. Take this time to pick up the kids from school or exercise or whatnot. Look for the dough to be about 3/4ths the size of a regular loaf of bread.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Make four vent slices diagonally across the top of the loaf with a sharp knife, and pop it in the oven for 25 minutes. In the meantime, mix the egg whites and water together. After 25 minutes or so, brush the top of the loaf with the egg wash, then bake for 5-10 more minutes, or til Golden Brown and Delicious. Cool on a wire rack. Beat the family off the bread until you're good and ready to serve it.

Now find an excuse to make this. Go!