A fabulous French Bread that takes just over an hour from start to finish?!
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!... 
I am not the best at making homemade breads. I've tried zillions of recipes, some turn out part of the time, some are bad from the start.
I FINALLY found a quick and easy recipe for french bread, I've made this multiple times in the last month and it's come out great every time. I even tried it at 9,000 feet in Colorado and it worked, there, too! Hallelujah! All you need is a mixer with a dough hook (I used my KitchenAid).
I was sent this recipe (the pictures are my own) and I think it's from a blog, the writing is very "blog-ish"...I've tried googling it and searching for it, so if it's from you, please let me know! I want to give you a huge hug. Or, at least a link to your blog.:) 
I am not the best at making homemade breads. I've tried zillions of recipes, some turn out part of the time, some are bad from the start.I FINALLY found a quick and easy recipe for french bread, I've made this multiple times in the last month and it's come out great every time. I even tried it at 9,000 feet in Colorado and it worked, there, too! Hallelujah! All you need is a mixer with a dough hook (I used my KitchenAid).
I was sent this recipe (the pictures are my own) and I think it's from a blog, the writing is very "blog-ish"...I've tried googling it and searching for it, so if it's from you, please let me know! I want to give you a huge hug. Or, at least a link to your blog.:) 
No Fail Quick French Bread
Ingredients:
1 T shortening
1 T salt
2 T sugar
1 C boiling water
1 C cold water
1/3 C lukewarm water
1 T yeast (cut your yeast in half if you are at a high altitude)
4 1/2 C - 6 C flour
1 egg
Directions:
1. Place the 1 C hot water in the microwave for 3 minutes to get it boiling.
2. Dissolve the yeast into the warm water. Stir it around until it is all mixed.
3. Combine the salt, shortening, and sugar in the bottom of your mixer with a fork. The dough hook doesn't work very well.
4. Pour the boiling water over the shortening mixture.
5. Pour the cold water over the mixture.
6. Pour the warm water and yeast into the mixer.
7. Begin to add the flour, one cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the side of your mixer...see the picture below.
8. Let the dough mix on high for 8 minutes.
9. Let the dough rise in the mixer for about 20 minutes. (This step can actually be skipped if you are in a hurry!)
10. Separate the dough into three parts and place on a large jelly roll pan sprayed with cooking spray. Let the dough sit for about 5 minutes. Letting it sit will make it MUCH easier to shape.
Ingredients:
1 T shortening
1 T salt
2 T sugar
1 C boiling water
1 C cold water
1/3 C lukewarm water
1 T yeast (cut your yeast in half if you are at a high altitude)
4 1/2 C - 6 C flour
1 egg
Directions:
1. Place the 1 C hot water in the microwave for 3 minutes to get it boiling.
2. Dissolve the yeast into the warm water. Stir it around until it is all mixed.
3. Combine the salt, shortening, and sugar in the bottom of your mixer with a fork. The dough hook doesn't work very well.
4. Pour the boiling water over the shortening mixture.
5. Pour the cold water over the mixture.
6. Pour the warm water and yeast into the mixer.
7. Begin to add the flour, one cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the side of your mixer...see the picture below.
8. Let the dough mix on high for 8 minutes.
9. Let the dough rise in the mixer for about 20 minutes. (This step can actually be skipped if you are in a hurry!)
10. Separate the dough into three parts and place on a large jelly roll pan sprayed with cooking spray. Let the dough sit for about 5 minutes. Letting it sit will make it MUCH easier to shape.
11. Spread the dough out as pictured below. 
12. Then roll the dough up like this. 
13. Then bring the ends over and layer them on top of each other. 
14. Turn the loaf so the seam side is down. Repeat these steps with the other 2 parts of dough.15. Spray a sharp knife with cooking spray.
16. Make your egg wash by whisking the egg until frothy.
17. Cut three diagonal slits in the top of each loaf. Cover with the egg wash being sure to get it into all of the slits.
18. Place the loaves in a warm 170 degree oven and let rise for about 15 minutes.19. Turn the oven up to 375 degrees for a convection oven, and 400 degrees for a regular oven. Leave the loaves in while the oven increases in temperature.
20. Bake for 10 minutes convection or 15 regular oven, or until the loaves are golden brown and crusty.
21. Turn the oven down to 325 for convection, 350 for regular and turn the pan around in the oven. Bake for another 7 minutes convection or 10 minutes for regular.
17 comments:
Looks fabulous! I'll have to try this ;)
I made these for dinner tonight and LOVED them! One flopped over and looked like a T-Rex after baking but all in all this is a great recipe! Quick and easy. Thanks for sharing!
This couldn't have come on a better day. I've NEVER baked homemade bread and I really want to try it. I'm around 7000ft in Colorado so I'm very eager to try this out now!! I've been searching all day for bread tips! Thanks
If you are at high altitude, cut your yeast in half (1/2 Tablespoon), it should work great.
Looks great! I too struggle with homemade bread, or anything with yeast. The results are always edible but not great. Thanks for sharing!
I am so glad you came by my blog - I love trying out new recipes and your blog looks like a goldmine! My family loves homemade bread and I am so thrilled when I find a "no fail" one. This is going on the menu at our house this week. :0)
I made this tonight and it was DELICIOUS!!! Two of the loaves started to roll over during baking so next time I will make sure the bottom is a bit flatter, but it didn't affect the taste at all.
Thanks!
I made this recipe tonight. I've always had a little difficulty making bread, too. This recipe was so easy and this dough was simple to work with. Thank you so much. I froze two of the loaves for down the road!
I made these for a couple of people for Christmas treats along with some whipped cinnamon honey butter and it turned out fantastic. GREAT RECIPE, MANDY!
I just made this with whole wheat flour(trying to cut out white flour from my diet). It was GREAT!!! I'm not sure exactly how much wheat flour it took cause I just mixed until it was the right consistency. I was so yummy and EASY!!! Thanks for the recipe, it's a keeper!!!
I made this a while ago and wrote about it here. My dough did flop a bit, but other than that it was delicious, fast and easy...a winning combo. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
We made this bread last night - I say 'we' because my 10 year old had to help - and everyone was hovering around the oven waiting for it to finish baking. We used that for sub sandwiches for dinner and it was a huge hit but everyone was disappointed to not get to try it as a stand alone bread. So, this morning, we made a second batch. The 10 and 3 year old helped with the mixer, the 8 year old helped dump in the flour cup by cup and both the 10 and 8 year old helped shape the loaves. As soon as it came out of the oven ALL the kiddos helped eat it - and two loaves were gone in a matter of minutes. In fact, we have an outing later this week and they asked if we can take this bread in our lunches instead of sandwiches. They've proclaimed they like this better than any of mom's other homemade breads (and I have three different recipes in rotation). The 8 year old even asked if we can add it to the family recipe book and give him a copy to start his own recipe book. I'd say that this is a DEFINITE winner! :)
By the way - miss your posting very much!!! I know you've been missing here for about a month and hope all is ok on your end and just busy rather than a problem. Thinking about you through bloggy-land....
Just made this bread. Amazing! Love it and I can't stop eating it. I live at 9100 ft in Colorado and it turned out perfectly. Thank you.
Thank you for this recipe! It has saved me a few times. I've made pizza rolls and filled braided bread and it always come out wonderful.
I love this recipe! I have tried many bread recipes and feel like half the time they come out, half the time they don't. This is terrific:) I also put olive oil on top of the bread instead of egg. I love it!
I just made this and it did not disappoint! It's the lightest, fluffiest french bread I've ever come across. I'm not ashamed to say I ate half of a loaf already! :)
Two things I changed: I didn't shape the loaves, I was lazy and just made them into large rounds. I also didn't use an egg wash, I just drizzled a teeny bit of olive oil on the tops. FANTASTIC!
I made this and it was fantastic. Only thing I did different was I divided the dough into two pieces and formed baguettes.
Any ideas on adapting this to a sourdough recipe? I'll try but I'm not very good at this kind of stuff.
Thanks again for sharing this,
John
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