Homemade French Bread

This Homemade French Bread is SO delicious! Soft, fluffy and tender with a slightly crispy outer crust. It’s the perfect bread to accompany any meal. So simple to make and absolutely foolproof!

Because I seem to have been making a lot of soup around here lately, I’ve needed bread to go along with that soup. This Homemade French Bread is the perfect bread to have with soup. We love it! Parker could eat an entire loaf if I let him. Let’s be honest, I probably could too.  My mom has been making this homemade french bread for years, it’s a family favorite.

Homemade, warm bread right from the oven will brighten any dreary, cold, wintery, day if you ask me.

I’ve made this bread twice this week, that’s how much we love it.  If there is ever any left after dinner, we toast it for breakfast the next day or I’ll make french toast with it.  It makes some killer french toast.

This bread is soft and tender so if you’re wanting a crusty loaf of french bread, then this bread is not for you. But if I was you, I would totally give it a try, I think you just might be hooked.

Have a great weekend.

Homemade French Bread

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• Total Time: 3 hours
• Yield: 2 loaves 1x

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 4 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 cups hot water
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 6 cups flour
• 1 beaten egg white

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Instructions

1. Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Let stand 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the 2 cups hot water, sugar, salt, oil and half of the flour; beat well.
3. Stir in the dissolved yeast and the remaining flour, one cup at a time. Mix well. The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl, be just slightly tacky to the touch and soft.
4. Leaving spoon or dough hook in dough, let dough rest for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, stir (turn on your mixer for 10 seconds or use a wooden spoon to stir down the dough). Allow the dough to rest another 10 minutes then stir again. Repeat one more time (for a total of 3 times of resting and stirring).
5. Turn the dough onto a floured board and knead once or twice until lightly coated with floured.
6. Turn the dough onto a lightly greased surface and divide in half. Pat each section into a thick rectangle, 10 x 13ish inches or about that. Roll the dough up starting from the long edge and pinch the edge to seal. Arrange seam side down on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
7. Using a sharp knife, cut three or four diagonal gashes on the top of each loaf.
8. Cover with a kitchen towel, and let the loaves rise until nearly doubled in size, about an 45 minutes to an hour.
9. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Just before baking, brush each loaf with the beaten egg white.
10. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden.

• Prep Time: 2 hours 30 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins
• Category: Breads