Easy Homemade French Bread (In under 2 hours)

Easy Homemade French Bread 

French Bread

Adapted From: here

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INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 cups of warm water
• 2 tablespoons of active dry yeast
• 3 tablespoons of white sugar
• 2 tablespoons of white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 1/3 cups of canola oil
• 6-7 cups of bread flour

DIRECTIONS

• Heat the oven to 170° with an oven safe container of water, and turn off the heat immediately after preheated
• Butter a large bowl and set aside
• In a large measuring cup, combine the water, yeast, sugar, and vinegar and stir until all the little yeast particles are wet

• Let sit for 3-5 minutes until bubbly

• In a large bowl, dump 6 cups of bread flour and mix with the salt
• Add in the oil, and the yeast mixture, and stir together until dough has formed (I made this with a bowl and a wooden spoon to show everyone how easy it is!)

• Flour a clean surface with about half a cup of flour, turn dough out, and cover with another 1/2 cup of flour
• Start kneading dough until soft and elastic-y (adding flour as you need it) You’ll know when you’ve kneaded it enough because if you poke your finger into it, it’ll spring back fairly quickly. I ended up kneading my bread for about 5 minutes
• Put the dough into the buttered bowl and put into the warm oven for 10 minutes

• Punch down the dough and let rise for another 10 minutes
• Grease a cookie sheet and cover with a thin layer of cornmeal
• Once the dough has risen a second time, turn the dough onto a countertop or cutting board and split into 2 or 3 chunks depending on how big you want your loaves to be (I made 2 giant loavess
• Punch the dough down and shape into an oval-like log. Place on the cookie sheet

• Repeat with the second and third dough balls
• Using a sharp knife, score 3-5 deep cuts in the bread
• Whisk an egg and using a brush, paint the loaves with the beaten egg wash

• Let rise on the counter for another 30 minutes
• Preheat the oven to 375°
• Bake loaves for 20-30 minutes (until golden brown)

• Let cool on the pan until cool enough to eat
• Enjoy!

Approximate Nutrition Information for a slice (assuming that you get 30 slices total)