French Bread

How to:

  • Enter a number in the # of baguettes field to calculate how many grams of each ingredient you’ll need, how many calories it contains, and how many grams of each macronutrient it contains.
  • In this recipe, use honey OR sugar, but not both. Check the “Use?” box if you’d like to use that ingredient. Ingredients with a “yes” in the “Use?” column are required.
  • In addition to the main ingredients below, you should also have olive oil and corn meal to keep the dough from sticking to the mixing bowl and the baking sheet.

Ingredients Use? # of g Cal Fat Carb Prot
Water (1c ≈ 245g) yes 0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Honey (1Tbsp ≈ 25g) 0.0 0.0
White Sugar (1Tbsp ≈ 15g) 0.0 0.0
Unbleached Bread Flour (1C ≈ 167g) yes 0.0
Salt (1tsp ≈ 7g) yes 0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Yeast (1Tbsp ≈ 11g) yes 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Preparation
  1. Mix the flour and the salt in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon.
  2. Microwave the water for 20 seconds in a microwave-safe container.
  3. Stir the honey (or the sugar) into the warm water.
  4. Stir the yeast into the warm water with the honey and let it sit for about 5 minutes until the bacteria begin to foam.
  5. Pour the water, honey, and yeast into the flour and salt.
  6. Stir the ingredients until they stick together. There may be flour that doesn’t stick with the rest of the dough right away, but that’s ok.
  7. Turn the dough and the loose flour out onto a dry, stable surface, and then knead the loose flour into the dough until the dough is smooth and elastic. Roll the dough into a ball.
    8. Now it’s time to let the dough rise for the first time.
  8. Get a dry, clean mixing bowl and pour just a little bit of olive oil into it.
  9. Place the ball of dough into the bowl and turn it over to coat its surface with oil.
  10. Place a folded, reasonably clean dish towel over the bowl.
  11. Put the bowl in a warm place, like a stove with a pilot light or a stove that has been turned on for a minute or so, and then turned off.
  12. Let the dough rise between 25 minutes and 8 hours. The longer the better.
    13. After the dough rises the first time, it’s time to put it on the baking sheet and let it rise again.
  13. Sprinkle some corn meal on baking sheet.
  14. Remove the dough from the bowl and stretch it into a baguette shape, using gravity and the weight of the dough to form it into a basically even loaf.
  15. Place the loaf on the baking sheet, cover it with a dish towel, and then put the loaf back in the warm oven.
  16. Let the dough rise for another 25 to 45 minutes.
    17. Now it’s time to cook the dough.
  17. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, and then heat the oven to 400 degrees.
  18. Once the oven is heated, place the baking sheet in the oven for 10 minutes to start with, and then another 2 to 5 minutes. Bake the loaf until it’s golden brown.
Done! I know you’re excited to have some fresh baked bread, but let it cool for a few minutes after taking it out of the oven. Once it’s cooled off a little, I recommend dipping it in marinara sauce. It’s also great dipped in a mix of olive oil, rosemary, parmesan, and pepper, or in hummus of any kind. You might even want to slice it thinly and make bruschetta with it. Click here to visit the Pioneer Woman for the best Bruschetta ever.

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