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Why is it that bread making gets all the oohs and aahs, but also all of the fear and anxiety? So many of my friends are amazed that I make my own bread. I love to cook and bake, and making homemade bread isn’t any harder than making homemade cookies!
Yesterday, I wanted to make a nice dinner for my family, and that included making homemade French bread. I posted a few photos on Instagram and Facebook, and next thing I know, I’m getting messages asking for the recipe, and “how’d you do that with three kids at home?!”
I’ll let you in on my secret, I bought a bread machine!
When I first started making bread, I mixed all of my ingredients by hand in a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon or just my hands. It was a production, but the end result was so worth it. Fast forward to this season of my life, and well, life gets in the way of me being able to bake like that on a regular basis. I still do it, but only once a month if I’m lucky, not a few times each week.
If you are incredibly busy or you want to be even more hands-off, you can even allow the bread machine to bake the bread for you. It’s about doing what works for you.
Whether you want to use a bread machine or not is entirely up to you. I love mine and am so happy that we can have fresh bread more often with less work/effort. But, don’t worry, when I share a recipe, I will always give you the directions on how to prepare the bread without the machine as well.
French Bread
1 1/4 cups hot water
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp honey
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp vital wheat gluten (optional)
2 Tbsp lecithin
4-5 cups bread flour
2 tsp rapid-rise/instant yeast
:: Bread Machine Directions
Combine the hot water, milk, vegetable oil, honey, salt, gluten, and lecithin in the bowl of your bread machine. Then, add 4 1/2 cups of the bread flour on top. Make an indentation in the top of your flour and add the yeast. Put your bread machine on the dough setting, and let it go. After it has mixed the dough a bit, check the dough. If it is wet and really sticky, add more of the flour. Allow your bread machine to go through the entire process of kneading and rising the dough.
If you plan on baking your bread in your bread machine, you want to use the European Bread or French Bread setting from the beginning, and not the dough setting. This dough also has an incredible amount of rise, so if you only have a 4-cup capacity on your bread machine, consider dividing the recipe in half if you want to bake in bread machine.
:: Mixer Directions
In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the hot water, milk, vegetable oil, honey, salt, gluten, and lecithin. Put the dough hook on your mixer, and begin adding the flour and the yeast. I usually start with 4 cups of the bread flour, and add up to 1 more cup depending on how wet the dough it. Put your mixer on low (so you don’t wear the flour), and let your dough come together. Once you have a dough ball, you can continue to knead the dough using the dough hook for another 2-3 minutes.
Take the dough out of your mixer, and turn it onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic (about 8 minutes). Place the dough in a bowl that has been lightly oiled, and cover with cling wrap or a damp tea towel. Allow the dough to double in size (how long this takes depends on the temperature, but its usually 45min-60min).
:: Shaping & Baking
Preheat the oven to 400º
Divide the dough in half and shape into loaves. If you want to make baguettes, divide the dough into 4 pieces, and roll each piece into a “snake”. Cover loosely with cling wrap or a damp tea towel. Allow the bread dough to rise until the loaves have doubled in size again.
Brush your loaves with an egg wash (one beaten egg mixed with a tablespoon of water). Bake at 400º for 25-30 minutes.
Allow your loaves to cool slighly before slicing with a serrated bread knife.
French Bread
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups hot water
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp vital wheat gluten optional
- 2 Tbsp lecithin
- 4-5 cups bread flour
- 2 tsp rapid-rise/instant yeast
Instructions
-
:: BREAD MACHINE DIRECTIONS
-
Combine the hot water, milk, vegetable oil, honey, salt, gluten, and lecithin in the bowl of your bread machine. Add 4 1/2 cups of the bread flour on top. Make an indentation in the top of your flour and add the yeast. Put your bread machine on the dough setting, and let it go. After it has mixed the dough a bit, check the dough. If it is wet and really sticky, add more of the flour. Allow your bread machine to go through the entire process of kneading and rising the dough.
-
If you plan on baking your bread in your bread machine, you want to use the European Bread or French Bread setting from the beginning, and not the dough setting. This dough also has an incredible amount of rise, so if you only have a 4-cup capacity on your bread machine, consider dividing the recipe in half if you want to bake in bread machine.
-
:: MIXER DIRECTIONS
-
In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the hot water, milk, vegetable oil, honey, salt, gluten, and lecithin. Put the dough hook on your mixer, and begin adding the flour and the yeast. I usually start with 4 cups of the bread flour, and add up to 1 more cup depending on how wet the dough it. Put your mixer on low (so you don’t wear the flour), and let your dough come together. Once you have a dough ball, you can continue to knead the dough using the dough hook for another 2-3 minutes.
-
Take the dough out of your mixer, and turn it onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic (about 8 minutes). Place the dough in a bowl that has been lightly oiled, and cover with cling wrap or a damp tea towel. Allow the dough to double in size (how long this takes depends on the temperature, but its usually 45min-60min).
-
:: SHAPING & BAKING
-
Preheat the oven to 400º
-
Divide the dough in half and shape into loaves. If you want to make baguettes, divide the dough into 4 pieces, and roll each piece into a “snake”. Cover loosely with cling wrap or a damp tea towel. Allow to rise until the loaves have doubled in size again.
-
Brush your loaves with an egg wash (one beaten egg mixed with a tablespoon of water). Bake at 400º for 25-30 minutes.
-
Allow your loaves to cool slighly before slicing with a serrated bread knife.
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