Bonnie's French Bread

As I said this recipe got me started. This is my mother-in-law's recipe and I'm not sure where she found it, but it is now a family staple.  I always baked and made salads.  When my husband and I were first dating I tried many things some of which were good others were a complete disaster.  This included a burnt chicken breast, broken serving dish and a hot mitt with the fingers burnt off.  We obviously went out to dinner that night.  But hey we have to start some where.  This recipe was, however always with me.  People are always impressed when they are served homemade bread.  They usually think you've labored day and night, but in reality it is really quite simple.  I double the recipe and freeze the remaining loaves I have.  That way I always have homemade bread when needed.

This recipe is easily done in a Cuisinart food processor or Kitchen Aid mixer.  You will also need a spray bottle.  The only piece of equipment that you might not have are the French bread pans. I really like the two I have from Williams-Sonoma, but I started with a pan from my local hardware store.

The recipe calls for AP flour, but I now use bread flour for more gluten.

1 1/4 cup of warm water 

1 package (1 Tablespoon + 1/4 tsp) yeast

Blend these 2 ingredients together.

Add 2 tsp salt

Add 3 cups of flour -all at once.

Blend together until you reach the "ball stage".  In other words the dough comes together in a ball shape. I like to kneed the dough out of the Kitchen-Aid.  Place the dough on a lightly floured counter and kneed until it is nice and smooth and springs back when you press into the dough. (The original recipe says until it is smooth "like a baby's butt."  

Put the dough into a greased bowl and let rise, covered, for about 2-4 hours or until doubled.  

Divide the dough in 1/2 and lengthen the dough to baguette shapes.  Allow the dough to rest while you preheat your oven to 450 degrees.  

When the oven is ready spay the inside with water, you are creating a crust, and pop in the bread.  The bread will take 20 minutes.  Within that time spray the inside of your oven 3-5 times within the first 10 minutes.

When you are done let your bread cool to room temperature. It should be nice and golden brown.  It may crackle as it cools -that's okay.  Please resist the temptation to eat before it cools.