How To Make French Bread

If there’s one French pastry that stands out from all the rest it is, without a doubt, French bread. Also known as the baguette if you feel like getting fancy, French bread is a staple of the French diet and has made its way throughout cuisines of the world. Now found in most U.S. grocery stores, a true baguette is usually nothing like Americans are accustomed to eating. The bread is dense and fluffy, incredible warmed and slather with butter and homemade jam. If you want to experience what bread should really taste like, you’re going to want to learn this recipe.

Follow along with our online pastry school chef as she shows you how to make loaf after loaf of delicious French bread. Never have you tasted something this good before. Nothing beats homemade bread!

French Bread

Ingredients
5 ¼ cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 ¼ teaspoon sugar
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp dry yeast
2 cups water
1 egg white mixed with a dash of salt

Directions
1. Mix the yeast, sugar and warm water (98 degrees F) and about ½ cup of flour and set aside until it becomes foamy.
2. Mix the flour and salt and add the yeast and water mixture until incorporated and knead with the dough hook for a few minutes. 3. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for one minute and place in an oiled bowl and allow to proof until it doubles in size.
3. Once the dough has proofed, knead the dough again, allow to proof again. Once the dough has proofed for the second time, divide the dough in 2 pieces and roll into an oval shape about ½ inch thick.
4. Roll the dough into a log and pinch the seams together. Place on a lightly floured towel, cover and allow to proof. Place the dough seam side down in a French bread pan which has been sprayed with cooking spray. Brush with the egg white mixture and make 3-4 diagonal slices on the top of the bread with a wavy edge slicer. Bake for about 30 minutes at 425 degrees F.