Wow, crunchy baguettes with fresh butter - is there anything more delicious? French bread tastes amazing right out of the oven; When you start making it at home, you won't want to stop. Read on for a simple guide to making French Bread. This recipe will make 2 or 3 large loaves of bread.
Ingredients
- 6 cups breadcrumbs
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
- 2 tsp yeast
- 2 cups warm water
Step
Method 1 of 3: Making the Dough
Step 1. Activate the yeast
Mix 1/4 cup flour with 1/2 cup warm water to make a porridge-like dough, then add yeast and wait for it to react. The dough will be foamy when it is ready to be processed.
Step 2. Put the remaining flour and salt in a bowl to mix
Beat to combine or use your mixer fork to mix.
Step 3. Enter the activated yeast
Step 4. Knead the dough and add water
Turn on the mixer on the lowest speed or use a wooden spoon to mix the dough. Add a few tablespoons of water at a time, continuing to stir until the mixture comes together and separates from the walls of the bowl.
Step 5. Stop stirring and leave the dough
Let the dough soak in the water for a few minutes. This will make it easier for you to determine the correct flour/water ratio.
Step 6. Continue stirring
Slowly add water or flour until the bowl is "clean", without any dough sticking to the bowl walls. When the dough is pinched it should be just a little sticky. If it feels too wet, add a little flour (try about to cup) and mix a little more.
Step 7. Knead the dough
Turn on the mixer on medium speed. If you're not using a machine, you'll need to knead about 10 to 15 minutes by hand to evenly distribute the ingredients and develop the gluten in the flour. Dust the work surface and your hands with flour, then remove the dough from the bowl and knead.
Step 8. Allow the dough to rise
Put the dough in a bowl that is 3 times larger than the amount of flour used. Coat the bowl with cooking oil, place the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic or a kitchen towel. Place in a warm area to let the dough rise.
The dough may take several hours to rise the first time, depending on how warm the bowl is. You can also leave the dough in the refrigerator overnight if desired
Step 9. Deflate the dough
Once the dough has tripled in volume, you'll need to poke the dough with your finger to deflate it.
Step 10. Let the dough rise again
Place again in the greased bowl and cover with plastic. Place in a warm area to inflate a second time. When it has doubled in size, deflate again.
Step 11. Let the dough rise a third time
Three times the expansion will create smaller bubbles in the dough. If you want to speed up the process or prefer a coarser bun (the bubbles are bigger), you can skip a build or two.
Method 2 of 3: Forming the Dough
Step 1. Form a baton or baguette
Cut the dough in half or three and work one at a time. Dust the work surface and your hands with flour. Roll out the dough into a rectangle as long as the baton (shorter, wider strip of bread) or baguette (long and thin) you want. Starting on the long side, roll out the dough into a baton or baguette shape and pinch the edges when done.
You can also choose other shapes. You can make a round loaf by joining the ends into a circle. The shape of the baguette is thinner than the baton
Step 2. Put the dough that has been formed into the pan
If you are using parchment paper, lightly oil and sprinkle with cornstarch. You can place two or three loaves of bread in the same pan.
Step 3. Let the dough rise again one last time
Cover the bread on a baking sheet with a kitchen towel and let it rise until it has about doubled in size. This time it will take 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
Method 3 of 3: Baking Bread
Step 1. Preheat the oven to 232 degrees Celsius
Step 2. Slice the dough
Unscrew the dough and slice each loaf with a very sharp knife (art skills can help but are not mandatory for slicing these loaves). Usually the slices are diagonal, about 1 cm deep and about 2.5 cm apart from each other. It can also be made more artistic by making a "wheat sheaf" pattern.
- The salty crust of the bread is loved by French bread lovers. Two possible techniques are to grease the bread with a mixture of 1 egg white, about 1 tablespoon salt, and about 1/4 cup warm water; or spray lightly with water and sprinkle with coarse salt.
- To produce a very salty bread crust use both methods above (first spread, then sprinkle).
Step 3. Put the dough in the dough and add moisture
When the oven is hot, place the dough on the middle rack. Spray water into the oven for a moist grill. Moisture is needed to encourage dough to rise without tearing the surface (slicing with a knife determines where the dough can tear) and to develop a crust.
- Another technique is to put a pot of water on the bottom shelf for the first 10 minutes.
- If you use a gas oven, the humidity level will naturally be higher than for an electric oven.
- Professional toaster oven is the most ideal but it costs around 144 million rupiah.
Step 4. After 10 minutes, lower the temperature to 180 degrees Celsius
Spray again with water to moisturize.
Step 5. Bake the bread for another 20 minutes
Remove the bread from the oven when the internal temperature is 90 degrees Celsius. If it is colder than that temperature, the bread will taste like dough and with a warmer temperature, the bread will be dry. You can measure the internal temperature with a thermometer.
Step 6. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack
When it is cold, the bread can be eaten immediately. Some insist on eating it by tearing it but you can actually slice it because some think tearing will tear the bread. Cover the bread with butter (savory) or fruit jam (sweet) if desired. De gustibus non testutantum est – in Latin: “No one can dispute the taste.”
Tips
- If you want to preserve bread for later, put it in a plastic bag and freeze it. Then, thaw in the refrigerator to reduce the salt that melts into the crust.
- If you store bread in the refrigerator in a plastic bag, it will last a long time. Over time, the salt will dissolve into the crust. The taste will still be good but the appearance may change.
- Don't throw away old bread. You can though it into French toast or bread pudding. Both would be even better if made with old bread.
- Make sure you use the right ingredients to make delicious bread.
