YIELD: 4 X 10" LOAVES

Simple Homemade French Bread

Traditional French Bread is adapted for the home. And like
all traditional French Bread, it happens to be vegan! Made
with just yeast, water, flour and salt, it bakes up soft inside
with a crunchy crust. This bread requires very little effort
but you will need a little patience.

You can make 2 long baguettes or 4 smaller personal-sized

loaves

ACTIVE TIME PROOFING/RESTING TIME BAKE TIME TOTAL TIME

20 minutes 3 hours 15 minutes 25 minutes 4 hours

Ingredients
1 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons traditional or instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose unbleached white flour (plus extra flour for kneading)

Instructions
Make the French bread dough
1. Combine water with yeast and let bloom for 10 minutes. It will become foamy and you'll
see some bubbling live yeast action. If you do not, consult my guide for Troubleshooting
Yeast.
2. Add a half cup of flour and salt to the yeast mixture and whisk together until smooth.
3. Add two more cups of flour and stir together until the dough comes together.
 4. Using clean hands, knead the dough into a ball. You may do this right in the bowl or turn
it out to a floured surface. It may be stiff; just work it until it's a cohesive ball.
5. Place the dough into a clean bowl, cover and let rest for 15. This lets the gluten in the
flour relax, making it easier to knead.
. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.
Ideally you would knead this for 10 to 20 minutes. I normally just do 10 but a longer
knead time will develop the gluten giving you a more beautiful texture on the inside and
letting the dough rise higher, faster.

First & Second Rise (Proofing the Dough)

1. Place the dough back in the bowl, cover and let rise for in a draft-free, warm location for
one hour or until the dough has doubled in size. A good place for this is in the oven with
just the oven light on.
2. Punch down the dough and knead again for a few minutes.
3. Place the dough back in the bowl to rise for a second time. Again, let it rise for one hour
or until doubled in size in a warm location.

Shape loaves and Final Rise (Final Proof)

1. Remove the dough from the bowl, punch it down and divide the dough into equal pieces.
You can make two large loaves or four smaller loaves.

2. Shape them into long loaf shapes and place them on a baking pan lined with parchment
paper.
3. Cover the loaves with a damp, lint-free cloth and let rise for 45 minutes or until the
loaves have doubled in size.
4. Place a metal baking pan on the bottom rack in your oven. DO NOT USE GLASS. Place
the second rack in the middle of the oven.

Preheat the oven to 450 F (232 C).

Bake the French Bread

1. Prepare a spray bottle with water and, separately, a cup of cool or room temperature
water.
2. When the oven is hot, remove the cloth from the dough carefully. If the dough sticks to
the cloth, drip some water on top of the cloth to help it release.
3. Make slashes on the top of the loaves, either a few diagonally across the loaves or one
slash down the length.
4. When the oven is well-heated, place the loaves on the middle rack and quickly pour the
cup of water in the baking pan below and close the oven door. Be careful as there will be
steam.
5. Bake for 25 minutes.
Remove the loaves from the oven and cool them on a wire rack. The tops of the loaves
should be golden brown and they should sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Wait at least a half hour before slicing.

Enjoy!

Notes
Due to variations in flour, humidity and the like, you may require a little more or less
flour. Go by feel and aim for a soft dough.

Due to variations in oven and home temperatures, you may require more or less time in
the oven. Go by appearance and remove your loaves when the tops are golden brown
and they sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

If you have any trouble with getting your yeast to bloom (get foamy and looks active) or
with your dough rising slowly or not at all, please see my guide for Troubleshooting
Yeast and Bread Dough.

The metal pan placed below the baking bread is to create steam once you pour water
into it. Stay well back to be safe. DO NOT USE GLASS or any container that can break
from suddenly changing temperatures.

Nutrition Information: YIELD: 4 SERVING SIZE: 1

Amount Per Serving: CALORIES: 117 TOTAL FAT: 0g SATURATED FAT: 0g TRANS FAT: 0g
UNSATURATED FAT: 0g CHOLESTEROL: 0mg SODIUM: 532mg CARBOHYDRATES: 24g FIBER: 1g SUGAR: 0g
PROTEIN: 4g

Nutritional Information automatically calculated by a plugin and may not be correct.

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© 2020, Mary Lin All Rights Reserved. CUISINE: French / CATEGORY: Bread

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