Delicious Homemade French Bread

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Homemade French Bread tastes fantastic and cuts like a dream. These loaves are traditionally used in a variety of appetizers, sandwiches, and make wonderful dipping breads for recipes like whipped honey, brie cheese dips, and herb infused olive oils and butters.

This simple yeasted recipe is easy to follow and comes together beautifully for a loaf of french bread that is soft and fluffy on the inside, with a crusty exterior that gives wonderful chew and flavor. We add a bit extra to our loaves by brushing them with an egg wash and a sprinkle of cornmeal. This is of course optional, but we love the added texture and visual flair that it brings to the bread loaves.

The versatility of French bread is why it makes such a useful and delicious homemade bread for your family to enjoy. It can be eaten on its own, used in other recipes, or made into a butter garlic bread for family dinners like lasagna, pasta dinners, and hearty soups.

The simple recipe also makes it a great beginner bread for anyone starting out, but not quite ready to take on the commitment and learning curve of the more challenging artisan sourdough breads. Using commercial yeast gives you a straight forward process to execute, and does a lot of the work for you.

Honestly, bread is so versatile. You can make a zillion different tastes, textures and uses for bread in it’s various forms and flours. Need some bread making tips?  

Our Homemade Whole Wheat Bread recipe as an extensive tutorial full of tips on the bread making process if you are looking to educate yourself on the bread making process and a more in-depth look at the reasons behind the processes used.

French Bread recipe notes

Don’t let the long recipe scare you. Bread making is a long, but not difficult process. Making bread takes time, but not a lot of effort.

Source good ingredients like high quality flour and yeast. Then, get ready to spend the day in your kitchen amongst heavenly smells. We love the homey warm feeling and amazing flavor freshly baked bread adds to our meals.

You can form the french bread loaves into any shape you like. Rounds, baguettes, traditional bread style loaves…whatever you like and whichever shape will best suite your intended use.

Below we have a picture of the bread dough ready to be shaped. It has risen twice, and as you can see it is soft but not sticky, strong and resilient rather than soft and spreading out of the shape. It has a good amount of life to it which is what gives it the crusty crust and wonderful chew that french breads are loved for.

Instructions to make the French Bread

In a large bowl or stand mixer, sprinkle yeast and sugar over the warm water. Stir until combined and let sit 10 minutes.

Add 2 Cups of the bread flour and salt.

Beat hard for 3 minutes until smooth.

Add remaining 1 cup of bread flour and most of the all purpose flour 1/2 Cup at a time, mixing between additions.

The dough will form a shaggy mass and clear the sides of the bowl.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until the dough becomes soft, silky and resilient; about 5 minutes. Add flour to prevent sticking as this is not a sticky dough. This process takes about 5 to 10 minutes on low in your stand mixer using a strong dough hook.

Place the dough in a greased deep bowl and turn once to coat the top.

Cover and let rise in a cool place until tripled in bulk, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Punch it down and let it rise again for about an hour. The dough may also rise overnight in the fridge.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and divide into three equal portions.

Knead in more flour if the dough seems sticky.

For Boules form into tight rounds

Bake in a round dutch oven or pan for the traditional rounded loaf.

For baguettes bake on a baking sheet

Flatten each portion into a rectangle. Roll the rectangle up tightly with your thumbs to form a long sausage shape; roll back and forth with your palms to adjust the length of the loaves.

To make the egg glaze

Whisk all the ingredients together until foamy.

Brush onto uncooked dough for a shine and to help seeds stick to the dough

Place the loaves 4 inches apart on a greased or parchment lined baking sheet, sprinkled with cornmeal.

The quick baking method

• Directly after forming the loaves, slash the tops diagonally with a serrated knife, no deeper than 1/4 inch and brush the entire surface with an egg glaze.

• Place in a cold oven on the middle or lower rack.

• Turn the oven to 400 degrees F and bake 35 to 40 minutes or until crusty.

The standard baking method

• Loosely cover the loaves with plastic wrap and let rise until puffy and doubled, about 30 to 40 minutes.

• Preheat a baking stone at 450 degrees F., for at least 20 minutes. if desired.

• Slash the bread tops with a serrated knife, no deeper than 1/4 inch.

• Brush the entire surface with the egg glaze.

• Move the loaves to the baking stone if using.

• Turn on the oven to 400 degrees F. and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until crusty and hollow sounding when tapped.

Howto make french bread

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This recipe is originally from ‘Baking Bread, Old and New Traditions’ by Beth Hensperger, available on Amazon.