French Bread...

This morning I wanted to try making some French bread. I have done this before using different recipes with mixed results. These loaves were made using the Easy French Bread recipe in the More With Less Cookbook. This dough was very soft and light. I did use 2 cups of whole wheat flour along with the 4.5 cups of white flour. I rose the dough once in a bowl for about 1 hour. Punched it down and let it rest another 15 minutes before shaping it into these loaves. Instead of greasing my cookie sheets I used parchment paper. It makes clean up so much easier, and I can reuse the sheets of paper.

This was the bread after it was shaped and risen the second time.



I slit the tops and brushed an egg wash on the top. My egg wash was 1 egg and 2 Tbsp. of water. At this point I could have added poppy or seseame seeds, but I generally don't add seeds to my breads. Some of the kids have braces, and my husband can take a lot of seeds with his partial. So, I stay away from added seeds.



I baked these at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. They look great.



We had one of the loaves for lunch along with a leftover pasta bake.

By the way, I did get those celery seeds planted that I mentioned last week. I will get the pictures up tomorrow.

Blessings...