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Classic French Bread

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Classic French Bread 0 Picture

Ingredients

  • For the starter:
  • 1 and 1/2 cups flour
  • 3/4 cup warm water (about 110 degrees F)
  • 2 and 1/4 tsp. (1 packet) active dry yeast
  • For the dough:
  • 1 and 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 Tbsp. salt
  • 1/3 cup room temperature water
  • bread starter from the night before

Details

Preparation

Step 1

Starter
1. Mix all ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and leave on your counter overnight at room temperature. (Mixture should rise and deflate overnight; you’ll see evidence of this like we do in the photo at the start of this post)

Bread
1. Add the flour, salt, and water to the starter. Mix until all ingredients are incorporated (about 2-3 minutes in a stand mixer).
2. Knead by hand or in a stand mixer for 2-3 minutes more, or until dough is smooth and elastic.
3. Place dough in lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a tea towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
4. Punch down dough, re-cover, and let rise another hour or until doubled in size again.
5. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Punch it down and cut it into 4 sections (if you want to make larger loaves, just section it into 2 pieces).
6. Flatten one piece of the dough with your hand until it is about 1/3″ thick. Fold the top third of the dough down to the middle, then fold the bottom third up – just like you’re folding a letter. Roll the folded piece of dough into a long log shape, about 13-15″ long. Place formed loaf seam-side down on a lightly floured tea towel. Fold the towel up on either side of the roll to help keep its shape as it rises.
7. Repeat this process with the remaining three pieces of dough. Cover loaves with a tea towel and let formed loaves rise for another 45 minutes.
8. Transfer loaves to a baking sheet (I bake them on my silpat, but if you don’t have one just sprinkle some cornmeal on the pan before you set the loaves on it). Let loaves rest for 15 minutes before you put them in the oven. Just before you bake the loaves, cut a few diagonal slashes down the length of each loaf.
9. Bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes or until loaves are browned and sound hollow when you tap them.

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