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(Fake) French Bread Recipe

by Jonah

2 cups water heated so it feels warm but not uncomfortably hot
1 package or 2 to 3 teaspoons yeast
a little bit of sugar or flour to proof the yeast
1 TABLESPOON of salt after yeast has begun proofing
5 to 6 cups flour (I like King Arthur Bread Flour best) or however much the dough will take until it stops being sticky

Put in a greased bowl, turn over, cover, and let rise about an hour. Punch down, kneed, and shape into two long loaves. Place on a cookie sheet generously sprinkled with cornmeal. Make slices about half an inch deep crosswise along the loaves so they won’t break their own cracks. Cover and let rise again at least an hour. Place in an oven preheated to 400 degrees and bake for 35 minutes.

For a crispy crust, brush with egg before baking. For a softer crust, brush with butter when you take it out of the oven.

You can use about half whole wheat flour, and it will still work. But it won’t be (fake) French bread anymore.

Oh, by the way, this bread is terrible the next day (though, you can toast it fine and it makes lovely French toast).

This entry was posted by Jonah on Thursday, September 20th, 2007 at 8:46 pm and is filed under Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

8 Responses to “(Fake) French Bread Recipe”

  1. Nathan Says:
    September 20th, 2007 at 9:18 pm

    What if you brush it with eggs AND butter?

  2. Jonah Says:
    September 20th, 2007 at 9:33 pm

    You could do that, but it wouldn’t be crispy anymore.

  3. nana Says:
    September 20th, 2007 at 10:00 pm

    “Italian Feather Bread” from Beard?

  4. Jonah Says:
    September 20th, 2007 at 10:33 pm

    No, it’s Beard’s fake French bread recipe. Italian feather bread isn’t very good.

  5. Doraine Says:
    September 21st, 2007 at 7:48 am

    So why is it fake?

  6. stephanie Says:
    September 21st, 2007 at 11:27 am

    Thanks! I’m about to make some!

  7. Jonah Says:
    September 21st, 2007 at 12:06 pm

    It’s fake because real French bread is made according to the regulations set forth by the French government. It involves stone ovens, pans of water, no sugar, and other things I don’t remember off hand. To make a more authentic loaf, put a pan of water in the oven on the rack below the one with the bread pan. (It doesn’t make enough of a difference for me to go through the trouble.)

    I added the fact that this bread is wonderful fresh but is terrible the next day.

  8. Berck Says:
    September 24th, 2007 at 12:23 pm

    I’ll point that “stops being sticky” is relative. Bread is better if it’s just a bit sticky, so don’t dry it out.

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