French Bread

A nice french bread to go with your dinner!

The Details:

5 Tablespoons yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 cups warm water

6 cups flour

cornmeal

1 egg white

1 Tablespoon water

Dissolve yeast, sugar, and salt in water. When foamy, add to 2 cups flour. Mix well. Continue to stir in remaining flour. Turn out unto floured surface and knead 7 to 8 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning once to greased top. Cover, and let rise until doubled. Punch down and divide in half. Roll out each half of dough into a rectangle approximately 10 inches by 8 inches. Starting on long side, roll dough tightly into loaf. Pinch seams to seal. Grease pan and sprinkle with corn meal. Place loaves on pan and cut 4 diagonal slices across the top of each. Whisk together egg white and water. Brush over loaves. Let rise 20 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, brushing on additional egg and water halfway through. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.,

If you don't want to cook both loaves at the same time, you can always refrigerate or freeze the second loaf. I usually just freeze the unformed dough after the first rise, and then defrost in the refrigerator.

This bread is good served as is, or you can do a couple different things to it. When I cooked it this time, I cut it in half lengthwise, buttered it and added powdered garlic. I then wrapped it in foil and placed in a warm oven until the rest of my meal was ready. I served this bread with my spaghetti recipe. If you want a more crispy garlic bread, place the loaf opened under broiler until lightly toasted. You can also cut it in half lengthwise, open up, and sprinkle with choice of cheese and/or herbs. Place under broiler until cheese is melted.

Happy Cooking!