A step-by-step process!
This will be your finished product. Please pardon my pans, they have been well-loved.
INGREDIENTS
* 1 cup water
* 2 1/2 cups bread flour
* 1 tablespoon white sugar
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
* 1 egg yolk
* 1 tablespoon water
Combine the water, sugar, salt, and yeast (you can use rapid rise or whatever) into a small bowl to activate the yeast. After about 5-10 minutes, it should look foamy, like this:
Appetizing, isn't it!! Don't worry, it'll get better.
Add the yeast/water/etc. mixture to the bread flour. I use a wooden spoon to mix it until it gets to this consistency:
From there, I get down and dirty and use my (clean) hands to combine it. Yeah, it gets sticky and sticks to your fingers, but if you are patient, it'll come together and you can scrape most of it off your fingers until it looks like this:
Because I am too lazy to get ANOTHER bowl dirty, I just pick up the ball of dough, spray the bowl it was just in with butter-flavored cooking spray, and splat it right back in, and roll it around in the spray a bit, as such:
Grab a clean dishtowel and get it wet with warm water. Not sopping, but beyond damp. You want to be able to wring a bit out still, but not have it drippy. Cover your bowl o'dough with the damp cloth.
Stick it in the microwave for 30 seconds. At the end of those 30 seconds, let it sit in the microwave for 5 minutes. Then microwave again for 30 seconds. Let it sit in the microwave for 15 minutes. Microwave it for 30 seconds. Let it sit for 15 minutes. By the end of this fun part, it should look like this:
Nice and poofy!
Turn your oven on to the lowest it can go (mine was 170 degrees F).
Turn it out onto a clean floured surface and roll out with a floured rolling pin until it is a 12 x 16 rectangle. Cut it in half (I use a pizza cutter) like so:
Roll 'em up.
Using your handy dandy kitchen scissors (thank you, Alton Brown, for this tip), make cuts in the top of the loaves:
Easy!
Place the loaves on a greased cookie sheet, and cover with the damp towel that you used earlier. Stick it in your oven (oh my!), but leave the door partially open just so you don't set the place on fire. Or just put the loaves in a warm place, but hey, I'm impatient. Mine stayed in the warm oven for 20 minutes. After that, they looked like this:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
Separate one egg. Throw out the egg white. Combine the yolk with a tablespoon of water and brush over the loaves. I would show you a picture, but it just makes the the dough look wet and icky.
Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes, and you'll have this:
These loaves are awesome. The outside is lightly crusty, the inside is light and chewy and fluffy. They are delicious warm with some butter, but even better? Make a nice sub/hoagie/grinder/whatever-you-call it. My husband is looking forward to his lunch tomorrow, LET ME TELL YOU INTERNET.
(The original recipe is from here, but I've adjusted the rising times and whatnot to better serve my non-bread-machine-having needs.)
This will be your finished product. Please pardon my pans, they have been well-loved.
INGREDIENTS
* 1 cup water
* 2 1/2 cups bread flour
* 1 tablespoon white sugar
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
* 1 egg yolk
* 1 tablespoon water
Combine the water, sugar, salt, and yeast (you can use rapid rise or whatever) into a small bowl to activate the yeast. After about 5-10 minutes, it should look foamy, like this:
Appetizing, isn't it!! Don't worry, it'll get better.
Add the yeast/water/etc. mixture to the bread flour. I use a wooden spoon to mix it until it gets to this consistency:
From there, I get down and dirty and use my (clean) hands to combine it. Yeah, it gets sticky and sticks to your fingers, but if you are patient, it'll come together and you can scrape most of it off your fingers until it looks like this:
Because I am too lazy to get ANOTHER bowl dirty, I just pick up the ball of dough, spray the bowl it was just in with butter-flavored cooking spray, and splat it right back in, and roll it around in the spray a bit, as such:
Grab a clean dishtowel and get it wet with warm water. Not sopping, but beyond damp. You want to be able to wring a bit out still, but not have it drippy. Cover your bowl o'dough with the damp cloth.
Stick it in the microwave for 30 seconds. At the end of those 30 seconds, let it sit in the microwave for 5 minutes. Then microwave again for 30 seconds. Let it sit in the microwave for 15 minutes. Microwave it for 30 seconds. Let it sit for 15 minutes. By the end of this fun part, it should look like this:
Nice and poofy!
Turn your oven on to the lowest it can go (mine was 170 degrees F).
Turn it out onto a clean floured surface and roll out with a floured rolling pin until it is a 12 x 16 rectangle. Cut it in half (I use a pizza cutter) like so:
Roll 'em up.
Using your handy dandy kitchen scissors (thank you, Alton Brown, for this tip), make cuts in the top of the loaves:
Easy!
Place the loaves on a greased cookie sheet, and cover with the damp towel that you used earlier. Stick it in your oven (oh my!), but leave the door partially open just so you don't set the place on fire. Or just put the loaves in a warm place, but hey, I'm impatient. Mine stayed in the warm oven for 20 minutes. After that, they looked like this:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
Separate one egg. Throw out the egg white. Combine the yolk with a tablespoon of water and brush over the loaves. I would show you a picture, but it just makes the the dough look wet and icky.
Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes, and you'll have this:
These loaves are awesome. The outside is lightly crusty, the inside is light and chewy and fluffy. They are delicious warm with some butter, but even better? Make a nice sub/hoagie/grinder/whatever-you-call it. My husband is looking forward to his lunch tomorrow, LET ME TELL YOU INTERNET.
(The original recipe is from here, but I've adjusted the rising times and whatnot to better serve my non-bread-machine-having needs.)
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Comments
How long does the bread last? French loaves are usually pretty notorious for going stale fast and I simply don't chew through two full loaves in a day's time.
Honestly, I don't know how long they keep; they've been gone within 24 hours in my house.
I may just have to make some!
(Right after I find myself a rolling pin...hahah!)
I don't think I've ever seen someone roll a loaf before, but it is probably a fool-proof instruction on how to get one shaped right with some surface tension to hold its shape.
Alton Brown's "tip" to use scissors is not helpful. You are cutting the bread to break the surface and let it expand more in the oven. Your cuts were decorative, but not functional (they should be both). A razor blade is a far better cutting tool.
325F for 20 minutes isn't long enough. The eggs on the bread visually trick you into prematurely thinking the bread is done because the eggs artificially darken it.
What I do when I bake bread is during the mixing process, I turn on my oven to the lowest setting (mine starts at 200) and then after a minute of it starting I turn it off. The inside temperature is usually around 85ish by the time I'm done mixing my dough. I stick my bowl in there with a damp towel on top and a pan of hot water underneath.
The reason I do the extra pan of hot water is because I live in San Diego and it can get very dry here, so the extra humidity will help.
I also oven proof only in the winter and spring -- our summers get hot enough that I don't need the oven's help to maintain a warm temp for it :)
Edit: After working at Costco for well over a year also, I became very familiar with the bread making process. We used an egg wash on the baguettes also with cuts on the surface, and it was definitely not raw in the center.
Edited at 2008-03-27 02:06 pm (UTC)
Best!
(also that guy is an idiot, says the girl that comes from a long line of bakers and chefs.)
Thank you.
It looks fab!
Hey...I have an idea...you slice that up, and I'll come over with some eggs, booze and sugar, and turn that into Creme Brulee French Toast. Yes?
That sounds amazing.
As I am a GOVERNMENT BREAD INSPECTOR I will now CONFISCATE this "BREAD" in the name of all that is GOOD AND HOLY. Your CONTRABAND "BREAD PRODUCT" will terrorize the likes of this community no more. Any further INFRACTIONS by the likes of you will meet with SWIFT JUSTICE.
IN MY STOMACH.
*grabs some cheese and Irish butter and runs away*
Oh well, here's another!
But I think your bread looks brilliant, and am going to give it a try. Thanks for sharing. *salivates*
*memories*
*rolleyes*
*laughs*