Bread Recipes You Knead to Try!

Classic French Loaf

picture of final bread loaf

Note: This recipe can be created either with a starter or with standard yeast. In this example we'll be using standard yeast.






What you'll need


Instructions

  1. Weigh out 600 grams of bread flour (I recommend King Arthur brand). Place weighed flour in Pyrex mixing bowl. At this point it's a good idea to whisk the flour to ensure there are no clumps.
  2. Add salt to the flour bowl. Whisk is up to ensure it's evenly distributed.
  3. Add water to separate Pyrex measuring cup - water temperature should be slightly warm but not too hot.
  4. Add yeast to water and stir it up so there are no visible clumps. Let it sit for a minute.
  5. Combine yeast water with flour/salt mixture.
  6. Stir together until they are well combined. Don't worry if it looks like you don't have enough water, keep mixing and it will eventually come together.
  7. After around 5 minutes of stirring, you should be left with a sticky glob of dough:

    8. picture of dough after mixing

  8. Cover your mixing bowl with a loose towel and let it sit on the counter for 2 hours.
  9. At the 2 hour mark your dough should have risen quite a bit. Go ahead and punch it down, knead out any significant air bubbles and form back into a ball in the bowl.
  10. At the point you have 2 options:
    • Cover bread back up and wait another 2 hours; or
    • Cover bread and place in refridgerator for up to 18 hours (this will enable a slower rise so you can attend to it later).
  11. After your choice in prior step, turnout dough onto lightly floured countertop and shape into a ball.

  12. Preheat oven to 480 Degrees for up to 1 hour with dutch oven inside (fill dutch oven with a little water).
  13. Place shaped ball into proofing basket, allow it settle while oven is preheating. By the time the oven is preheated, your proofing basket dough should hopefully have risen as follows:

    14. picture of dough in proofing basket
  14. Carefully remove dough from proofing basket and place gently in Cast Iron pot. Place lid on pot and put it on the center oven rack.
  15. Lower temperature to 435 Degrees and bake with lid on for 30 minutes.
  16. Remove the lid from the pot and continue to bake for an additional 15 minutes.
  17. Remove bread from the oven and place on cooling rack. Allow to fully cool (about 2 hours) before cutting into the loaf.
  18. Enjoy your homemade bread!

Tips and Tricks

You can adjust the time for the final lid off bake up a bit if you like a much crispier crust.

If you are having trouble safely transporting the final dough ball into the cast iron pot it may help to cut a square of parchment paper - place the paper on top of proofing basket and gently flip over. This will allow you to grab the loaf from the parchment and place it all in the pot at once.

Experiment with different types of flour. Different brands have different attributes