French Bread

This bread was a little more involved.  I had to recruit some help. 

Cari loved using the rolling pin. 

We found our lovely rolling pin at our local grocery store for two bucks! 

It was a lot easier than the plastic cup I used on the last bread I made.

Here are the loaves. 

The recipe is suppose to make two really long ones. 

I decided to divide it into four portions and make some sub rolls.

The finished product.  Yummy sub sandwiches for lunch!

Here's the recipe:

French Bread

5 1/2 - 6 cups of All Purpose Flour

2 packages of yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

2 cups of warm water (120-130 degrees F)

Cornmeal (enough for a dusting)

1 egg white, beaten

1 tablespoon of water

In one bowl, stir together 2 cups of flour, yeast and salt.  Add the two cups of warm water.  Beat with an electric mixer on medium for 3 minutes.  Using a spoon, mix in 2 more cups of flour.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface.  (I put one cup of flour out to knead on.)  Knead in all of that flour.  Knead a total of 10 minutes.

Place ball of dough in a greased bowl.  Turn once to make sure both sides are covered with oil.

Cover and let rise in a warm place for one hour.

Punch dough down.  Divide in half (or quarters).  Let the dough rest for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, grease your baking sheet.  Sprinkle greased baking sheet with a dusting of cornmeal.

Roll each dough half into a 15x10 inch rectangle.  Roll up jellyroll style from long side.  If you want, you and kind of squeeze the ends and pull them a little to make it more tapered looking.  Place seam side down on prepared baking sheet.

Using a very sharp knife, make slits through dough about 1/4 inch deep.

In a small bowl, beat together the egg white and 1 tablespoon of water.  Brush it on the loaf tops.

Let rise in a warm place about 40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Bake 20 minutes.  Brush again with some of the egg mixture.  Continue baking for 15 more minutes.  (If you make four, reduce this last baking time to 8 minutes.)

Enjoy.