French Bread

It’s amazing that you can put some flour, salt, water, and yeast in a bowl and then throw it an a hot square, and a little bit later it comes out as warm delicious bread.

I made my first attempt at bread a couple weeks ago. I used this recipe.

We don’t have a stand mixer or a bread hook, so I mixed the dough by hand like the tough men and women of the 1800’s. That was ten minutes of pure exhaustion.

I learned a hard lesson with this recipe. I had been taught when baking that when portioning flour, you scoop it into your measuring cup, then use your finger to level it off so you have exactly the right amount. But apparently when making bread, people recommend you spoon fill the measuring cup with flour instead of scooping it straight from the bag so that it doesn’t pack down so much.

As a result of my scooping, I had too much flour in my bread as it came out denser then typical french bread. I also baked it a little bit too long, as the crust was a bit crunchy. But for a first attempt I was quite happy.

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