How to make Homemade French Bread from scratch! This recipe is so easy, you won't believe it.
- 2 ½ cups warm water
- 4 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
- ¼ cup granulated sugar cane sugar or brown sugar would work
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon butter (melted) for brushing bread with
- 6 cups all-purpose flour (plain flour) or bread flour 720g
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In a large bowl, mix together warm water, yeast and sugar. Add in salt, vegetable oil and flour then mix with a wooden spoon or a kitchen stand-up mixer to form a dough.
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Place the dough on a floured board and knead for about 5 minutes until smooth. Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size for about 1-2 hours.
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Punch the dough to remove air. Cut the dough into four equal parts. Shape each part into a long log. Use a knife to create 5-8 diagonal lines (about half inch deep each) across each loaf. Place the loaves on greased baking sheets/trays and let them rise in a warm place for about 20-30 minutes.
Note: Don't let them rise too long or they'll rise out of shape.
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Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) for about 25 minutes until the bread is nice and golden brown and hard on the outside. Brush with melted butter as soon as they are out of the oven.
1. To get a warm place to let your dough rise, you could turn on your oven to warm up lightly (to about 110 degrees F) THEN turn it off and place the dough inside. This works every time for me.
2. Nutrition information assumes that one loaf of bread makes 4 servings.