French Bread

This year instead of doing the expensive thing and having the boy child's birthday party at some place expensive, I decided to have the party at our house. I thought it would be great for the kids to make their own French Bread Pizzas so I went on the quest for an easy recipe. I found the recipe for the French Bread and the Pizza at TheFrugalGirl.

Let's start off with the French Bread.

Ingredients

2 1/2 - 2 3/4 cups of flour

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar

1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (120 degrees F)

Method

In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine 2 cups flour with the salt, sugar and yeast. Add water and beat for 3 minutes. Beat in enough additional four to make a soft but kneadable dough.

Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead for 3-5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a bowl, cover with a tea towel, and let rise 45 minutes (an hour if your house is cold). 

Punch dough down and roll into a long rectangular shape. Starting from the long end, roll up jelly-roll style.

Place seam-side down on a greased baking sheet, cover with a wet towel, and let rise 30-45 minutes, or until doubled. (It really depends on the warmth of your house).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk one egg white with one Tbsp of water until slightly foamy. Using a pastry brush, gently brush beaten egg white onto loaves. Using a sharp knife, make 3-4 diagonal slashes on top of the loaf. 

 Bake for 15-20 minutes,, or until nicely browned. Cool on a wire rack.

 I made three separate loaves. They were a little dense so I think I didn't kneed the dough well enough to activate the gluten. They still turned out good though!