8 Perfect little Classic French Brad Loaves, ready to be made into sandwiches.

A myriad of brilliant gastronomical delights have cropped up over the centuries by accident or by incident. Legend has it that a housewife accidentally created the chocolate chip cookie by believing the chocolate chunks would magically incorporate itself into a smooth, chocolate cookie. The waffle cone made its appearance at the 1904 St. Louis World Fair when a waffle stand was located right next to an ice scream Sundae stand, and the ice cream stand ran out of bowls. Some quick thinking yielded a new, delicious vehicle for the ice cream to be enjoyed. But it was a gambling man that creatively chanced upon one of my favorite savory concoctions, the sandwich. It is said that John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, ingeniously piled all the traditional meats in between two pieces of bread to make eating meals easier while gambling. The rest, as they say, is history.

People will say that a sandwich has to have the perfect fixings inside to really make it spectacular, but I only halfway agree with that statement. A mediocre sandwich Filling can be transformed into a mouthwatering feast merely by using excellent bread. While I revel in a tangy sourdough slice or earthy rye bread, one of the most satisfying styles of sandwich bread is a perfectly executed French Bread mini loaf, perfectly sized for a sub sandwich. Slightly crisp and crusty on the outside, and feather light and pillow soft on the inside, French Bread can be the perfect vehicle for transforming your everyday sandwich into something spectacular.

Classic French Bread makes your hoe smell unbelievably homey while baking.

Bread baking is something that is spectacular when done right and an ever evolving learning process. It is extremely intimidating to make by hand for anyone, and I completely understand that. For years, I used a bread machine and was happy with those results, even though the bread was over proofed and never quite as good as bakery bread. I figured it was impossible for someone to learn, let alone someone with diminished vision. However, once on a plethora of medications and discovering that multitudes of added chemicals and preservatives negatively affected my body, I started thinking that I should really learn how to bake bread by hand. I wanted bakery style bread I was happy with, and learned that by using my hands and other senses and trusting my instincts I could create the types of bread I was looking to eat on a regular basis.

This recipe is something that has always worked for me, with and without a bread machine, and was one of the first discoveries I found when I first forayed into bread baking by hand. I first found the recipe here, but I have slightly tweaked it as I prefer honey as a sweeter and I find that bread flour makes for a better final product for this style of bread. The recipe can make one very large loaf, or two smaller loaves, but I actually divide it into 8 mini loaves and they make the perfect size for lunch sandwiches for my husband’s lunch.

This bread gets nice and crisp in the oven because of the whisked egg white. Over time, the crisp will soften, but you can rejuvenate the crustiness by either popping them in the toaster oven for a minute or two, or my personal favorite, melt a little butter in a skillet and place a loaf that’s sliced in half, cut sides down, to crisp and warm the bread like a pan seared bagel. You can also make a garlic butter and create delicious garlic bread with these, but most typically in our house they end up as little sub sandwiches. They hold up well to sauces for sandwiches like turkey meatball subs, Philly cheesesteaks, or a good old turkey grinder.

Classic French Bread is the perfect blank canvas for sandwiches, but also a plethora of other creations.

A few tips I have learned from baking this bread consistently over the past year:

Warm tap water is fine for helping the yeast activate. Err on the side of room temperature instead of blasting the hot water as the yeast will end up activating even in room temperature water - it will take just a little longer than the 5-10 minutes.

If you add salt in at the same time as the yeast and sugar it actually will hinder the yeast from doing its yeasty expansion. Think of salting a slug - it shrivels up, and has the same type of effect on yeast. I add salt to the flour and whisk it together before adding to the yeast mixture.

Personally, I like the crunch of cornmeal at the bottom of loaf breads. It is something that is completely optional, but I have noticed many bakery loaf breads are baked on cornmeal for the added texture. It also helps keep the bread from sticking.

I always bake my loaf bread (actually, typically my other breads baked in a tin as well) on top of parchment paper. For me, it is easier to transfer the bread to the cooling rack without burning my fingertips.

Bread baking is definitely a process, and many recipes take a minimum of 3 hours due to rising and bake times. This recipe can be put together and baked in just about an hour, due to the very large amount of yeast used. Because of this, the bread is a very neutral flavor with a hint of the sweeter, where as a different type of bread, say a ciabatta or a sourdough, require very long rise times which helps create that signature chewiness and also a more distinct flavor.

Classic French Bread, mini loaf style. Perfect for not having to share your freshly baked bread, as everyone gets their own loaf!!

Classic French Bread

Author: Iris Anna Gohn

Servings: 1 very large loaf, up to 8 mini loaves

This is the perfect beginner bread for those who are trepidatiously tiptoeing into the world of bread baking. The dough is very forgiving and does not require a long rise time. This bread is delicious warm with just a bit of salted butter, but really the possibilities of what you can use this bread for are endless. I have used it in homemade stuffing, French toast, sandwiches, garlic bread, croutons, bread pudding, and so on.

these instructions are for mixing and kneading the dough by hand in a large bowl. Once you add the rest of the flour into the dough, I switch from the wooden spoon to lightly floured hands ands to knead the bread right in the bowl rather than on a lightly floured flat surface. This is mainly because I dislike the extra cleanup and I have found no discernible difference between kneading the dough in the bowl vs. kneading it on a countertop. If you elect to make this in a stand mixer, add the water and yeast and honey to the bowl of the stand mixer with the dough hook and then proceed with the directions as written.

Though I have a tendency to make the 8 mini loaves, if you choose to make one large loaf start checking the bread at 20 minutes, it may take up to 25 minutes to completely be done due to the loaf volume increasing so much.

This bread is best for the crusty factor the day of, but you can also freeze it for up to a month if you do not plan on using all of it in one sitting. Just defrost it within a couple hours and if you want to re crisp it just throw it in the oven for a couple minutes after it has defrosted.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups Water, lukewarm
1 Tbsp Honey
1 1/2 Tbsp Active Dry Yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp Butter, softened
1 1/2 Tsp Sea Salt
4 Cups BREAD Flour
1 Egg White, whisked
Cornmeal

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 F. Doing this at the beginning gives you a nice warm environment to let the bread rise before baking.
Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper and sprinkle liberally with cornmeal. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the water, yeast, and honey. Let sit for 5-7 minutes to let the yeast get nice and foamy. This lets you know your yeast is ALIVE!!
While the yeast are in the process of foaming, in a medium bowl combine the bread flour and salt.
When the yeast is nice and foamy, add 2/3 of the dry ingredients to the yeast mixture as well as the butter, and slowly stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Once that amount of flour is mostly incorporated, add the remainder of the flour ingredients and knead in the bowl for about 10 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic. If you gently press your thumb into it, the dough will spring back slightly.
Divide dough into 8 equal pieces and gently shape into mini loaves, staggering them in a zigzag pattern on the trays, 4 mini loaves to a tray. Leave at least 2 inches between each loaf as they will puff up and rise.
Score the tops of each loaf 3-4 times at a 45 degree angle along the tops of the loaves.
Gently cover with a damp towel or Saran Wrap and let rise for 20-25 minutes on top of the preheated oven, until the dough has roughly doubled in size.
Once the dough has risen, thoroughly brush a thin layer of the whisked egg white onto each loaf, making sure to go all the way down the sides.
Bake for 20 minutes. Bread will be golden brown and sound hollow when tapped.
Cool on wire racks, and store leftovers in a Ziplock bag or an airtight container.