Homemade French Bread

I have to start out by showing off the newest addition to the family, my Kitchen Aid mixer.  It was a gift from my wonderful Mom!!!  

Hubby was surprised that I didn't pick an orange one, since I love orange.  I didn't think orange would work well with my kitchen so I went with my other favorite color, grey.  

I love this mixer.  Honestly, I use it almost every day.  One of my favorite things to use it for is to make bread.  Being from New Orleans, I love french bread, and I have a really good and easy recipe that I make quite often.

I start off by dissolving the yeast in warm water.  Make sure the water is not too hot or you will kill the yeast.  Add the sugar and stir to dissolve.  Once the yeast has all dissolved and looks frothy like it is starting to look in the above picture (see the sides of the bowl) add the salt, and the flour.  I use the bread hook on the mixer and mix until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl.  

(Sorry I didn't  get a chance to take a picture)

After about 3-4 minutes the dough has pulled away from the sides and is ready to go into the greased bowl to rise (I spray the bowl with Pam).  If you were to knead the dough by hand, the kneading process would take about 8-10 minutes so the shorter knead time is a great reason to use a stand mixer.  

Next cover the bowl with a cloth or plastic wrap and let rise.  I put the dough in my oven with only the light on to help it rise, this takes about 1-2 hours depending on where you let it rise.   

Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down, divide it in half, roll it out on a floured surface and form into rectangles.  Recover the dough and let rise to the size you like.    

After the final rise, place dough in the oven and let bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.  

Here is the bread right out of the oven.  My house smells so good when I bake bread, we all love it.  

After taking the bread out of the oven, I rub the butter on top to give it a little buttery flavor.  I've also eaten it without the butter, either way this is a wonderful french bread recipe.  

I've been trying to get my mom to bake bread, but she insists that it is much easier for her to drive to Gendusa's bakery and pick up a couple of fresh loaves.  Well, if I still lived in New Orleans maybe I would too, but since I don't I will have to make my own and I will say this recipe is pretty darn good. 

Renee

French Bread

  
Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients:

2 & 1⁄2 cups of warm water

1 tbsp. of rapid rising dry yeast

1⁄2 cup of sugar

2 tsp. of salt 

About 6 cups of all purpose flour

Directions:

Mix the warm water, yeast, and sugar together in a large mixing bowl, until dissolved

Mix in the salt and then 5 of the 6 cups of flour

If the dough is still sticky, add the remaining cup of flour. If it is still too sticky, add another 1⁄2 cup of

flour.

Mix until it forms a ball, and then cover with a cloth or plastic wrap

Let the dough ball rise in the bowl until it doubles in size (1-2 hours)

Divide the dough in half

Roll out each ball into a large rectangle (the length of your baking sheet)

Starting at a long edge, roll each rectangle, until your dough is shaped like a jelly roll

Place both loaves on the baking sheet, with spacing on each side

Cover and let rise until the loaves become as large as you prefer

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, until it just starts to turn golden brown

Immediately rub the top of the bread with butter, to give it a shine