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Crusty on the outside and soft on the inside, this Easy French Bread Recipe is easy to make and tastes amazing. It is our family’s favorite bread recipe.
Homemade French Bread Recipe
The only downside to fresh, homemade bread is that it can take a bit of time. Proofing, rising, rolling, rising etc. Today’s recipe is a quick and easy one. It may not be quite as quick as the 30 Minute Roll recipe I have on my blog, but it is pretty close. And the results are two delicious loaves of French bread that are crusty on the outside and soft on the inside.
Ingredients Needed
- Flour. All purpose flour and you can also use bread flour.
- Sugar
- Salt
- Active Dry Yeast. You can also use rapid rise yeast or instant yeast, just add it in with the flour. You do not need to proof it in the water.
- Water
How to Make Easy French Bread
The dough from this recipe is mixed in your stand mixer with a dough hook or you can mix by hand.
- Combine 1/4 C water, yeast and 1 tsp sugar into a bowl. Allow to stand for five minutes or until yeast is bubbly. (You can skip this step if using rapid rise yeast.
- Into the bowl of the stand mixer, add flour, 1 Tbsp sugar, salt and remaining water.
- Add in yeast mixture. Mix well and knead for 5 minutes or until dough is smooth.
- Cover and allow to rise until double (about 15-20 minutes)
- Place dough onto a lightly floured surface and divided into two pieces.
- Use a rolling pin to roll dough out into a rectangle This is the rolling pin I like to use for bread dough. Be sure your surface is generously floured so dough doesn’t stick.
- Roll dough up jelly roll style and place the seam side down on a baking sheet. I also like to use a silicone baking mat or parchment paper on my cookie sheet. It helps the bread bake evenly and makes clean up a breeze.
- With a sharp knife, a razor blade or a baker’s lamb cut three slits into the bread. Be sure to only go about 1/4 inch deep. If you go too deep your bread may look a little funny after it rises the second time.
- Give the bread a nice little bath in an egg white wash. To make the egg white wash, just add 1 Tbsp water to 1 egg white and mix together. This is what gives it the beautiful golden color. You can also sprinkle with some coarse salt.
How to Get a Good Crusty French Bread
- Heat up a pan of water on the stove until it boils.
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
- TURN OFF the oven.
- Place the pan of boiling water onto the lower rack of your oven and place your loaf of bread on the rack above.
- Allow the bread to rise this way until double. This will take about 20 minutes. The bread will also bake as it rises.
Why put a pan of water in the oven?
The steam that is given off from the water helps the loaf get that nice crust that a good loaf of easy French bread needs.
- Remove the pan of water from the oven and turn the oven on to 425 degrees F.
- Leave the bread in the oven as the oven preheats to 425 degrees F. Depending on your oven this will take about 10 minutes. The oven will usually have just reached its 425 degrees at the end of the 10 minutes. My bread is usually always done at the end of the 10 minutes.
- If your bread is not done, turn the head down to 350 degrees F and bake for another 5 minutes or until done.
Alternative Baking Method
After forming the loaves, let them rise, covered on the baking sheet for 15-20 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Brush top of bread with egg wash or olive oil (you won’t get as golden a color with olive oil), sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
Enjoy a nice, warm loaf of home baked easy french bread with some butter with dinner!
Frequently Asked Questions
Does whole wheat flour work in this recipe?
With this recipe I recommend using half whole wheat and half white flour. I always use a white whole wheat flour.
Can I half the recipe?
This recipe is easy to half and in fact I have a small batch version of this recipe here.
Does this bread freeze well?
It freezes great, just be sure to cool it completely and wrap up air tight. It will keep in the freezer for 1-2 months.
Can I use rapid rise yeast?
Rapid rise yeast will work fine. I use the same amount as I do of active dry yeast. Just add the rapid rise yeast directly in with the flour, no need to add it to the warm water first.
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Easy French Bread
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup warm water 105-115 degrees
- 1 pkg dry active yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cups plus 2 Tbsp. warm water
- 1 egg white and 1 Tbsp water.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- Combine 1/4 C water, yeast and 1 tsp sugar into a bowl. Allow to stand for five minutes or until yeast is bubbly.
- Into the bowl of the stand mixer, add flour, 1 Tbsp sugar, salt and remaining water.
- Add in yeast mixture. Mix well and knead for 5 minutes or until dough is smooth.
- Cover and allow to rise until double (about 15-20 minutes)
- On a lightly floured surface roll out with a rolling pin. (May divide dough into two pieces for two smaller loaves if desired)
- Roll dough up jelly roll style and turn ends under and place seam down on a greased cookie sheet. Cut 3 diagonal slits into each loaf (only about 1/4 inch deep)
- Mix together egg white and 1 Tbsp water and gently brush on loaves. Or brush with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt.
- Boil a pan of water and then put it into a shallow dish, if your pan is not oven safe. Place pan of water on the lower shelf of oven.
- Place bread in oven on shelf above pan of water.
- TURN OFF OVEN
- Allow bread to rise and bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove pan of water
- Leave bread in the oven and turn oven to 425 degrees and bake bread for 8-10 minutes. (this includes the preheating time)
- If the bread is not done at the end of the ten minutes, reduce oven to 350 and bake for an additional 5 minutes longer or until bread is golden brown.
jennifer says
This is my first time using this recipe and first time making bread in general. I used too much flour, is there a way I can fix it?
Leigh Anne says
If needed, add in a little extra liquid.
Don C. says
Leigh Anne,
Let me first say that I have made this bread 3 times in the past 6 days. My family loves it and it is gone within a day.
Second, I am a professional baker. I’ve baked breads and rolls for a small family owned Bakery for the past 8 years. This bread is so much better than what I make in taste, texture, crust crunchiness and this bread is so much easier to make.
Thank you for publishing this recipe.
Leigh Anne says
Don, I love hearing that!!! So glad you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for letting me know
Stephanie says
How much water do I mix in wih the yeast and sugar? On the list of ingredients you have to waters listed
Leigh Anne says
It is the first amount 1/4 C
Brittany says
So, I made this recipe today. . . But when I left my bread in my oven while it was preheating to the 425 it completely burnt on the top…any suggestions on what to next time?!?!?!?
Mallory says
Hi Leigh Anne!
Thank you so much for sharing your fantastic bread recipe! I just used this recipe this evening to accompany a spaghetti dinner that I served for my husband and myself. I hadn’t read all of the comments so I assumed that I had to wait until my oven attained 425 degrees and then start timing for 10 minutes before I dropped the temperature to 375 degrees. So, my bread was a lovely chocolate brown with a super crunchy crust but the inside was light and fluffy and my husband and I, both, ate more bread than spaghetti. Isn’t it funny that if you just make spaghetti with nothing else, it’s just spaghetti and kind of boring at that, regardless of your mother’s famous spaghetti sauce, but if you are also serving a homemade loaf of bread fresh out of the oven, well, then you have a beautiful dinner worth writing about! I think that people all over the world feel nostalgic when they smell bread baking. I love baking good old-fashioned yeast breads but rarely do I have the time it often takes to let the dough rise for 2 or 3 hours and punch it down and let it rise again. This recipe was so simple and turned out such a beautiful and delicious loaf of bread in less than an hour so I know I will be able to recreate those wonderfully nostalgic meals much more often. The recipe made one very large loaf of bread so I think that next time I will heed your advice and make two loaves and give one away. Also, I now know to start counting my ten minutes as soon as I set the oven to 425 degrees and I will have an even prettier golden brown loaf rather than the dark brown I achieved. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe; my husband and I are both so grateful. This will definitely go into my list of favorite recipes. It is food fit for the gods! Bless you and yours!
Mallory