French Bread

 I had a day off from work today and after a long afternoon of shopping with a friend, I decided that this was the day to try my hand at the art of bread making!  I wanted to start with a recipe  my mother in-law made for us a few weeks ago. While I acknowledge that the nutritional profile would never put this bread in the “super food” category, it was absolutely scrumptious and I wanted to share. I was slightly intimidated to make it on my own because my mother in-law is such a great baker and I pale in comparison, but I gave it a try because at least I already knew how it was supposed to taste.
     This was a surprisingly easy recipe to follow and does not require much preparation. After I made the dough, I left it to rise for ~1 hour and 20 minutes. This is what it looked like when risen.

     I then punched it down and molded it into one French loaf (I halved the recipe). I tried diligently to make it look as appealing as I could but figured if I tampered with it for too much longer it just might compromise the texture. My shaped bread. Not perfect but it WAS my first time.

     After letting the mold sit for another 30-40 minutes I put it in the oven. I pulled the bread out after 15 minutes because the crust was a beautiful golden brown and I was ready to dig in! It could have probably used another 1-2 minutes but I did not want to risk producing a dry crumb.
     I just adore bread and this one in particular!  When you slice into the loaf, this bread delivers a dense center that is moist and rich in flavor. The crust is also both thick and crunchy. With just a small slather of butter, it melted in my mouth. This was the perfect compliment to our grilled chicken “Betty” salad and will pair nicely with a chicken chili I want to make later in the week.  I could have honestly devoured the whole loaf but… would that have been gluttonous?

French Loaves
Taste of Home Magazine
Makes 2, 12″ loaves

2 T Active dry yeast
2 cups warm water (110-115 degrees)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
4 1/2-5 cups bread flour
1 tsp cornmeal (which I omitted)
Directions:
1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water and add salt, sugar, and 2 cups of flour. Beat until smooth, stirring in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. (Basically, keep adding more flour until it is not sticky).
2. Turn the dough onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic (~6-8 minutes). Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. (I used butter to lightly grease the bowl but I was not sure if I could have just used cooking spray…anyone know if that would have been okay?) Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled (~1 hour).
3. Punch dough down. Turn onto lightly floured surface, divide in half and shape into two 12″ loaves.
Place seam side down on greased sheet (again, I used a light coating of butter). Cover and let rise until doubled (~30 minutes). Sprinkle with cornmeal (Omitted this step). With a sharp knife, make 4 shallow slashes across the top of each loaf. Bake 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Nutrition (1 slice, 12 slices per loaf): 94.7 calories, 19 g carbohydrate, 0.7 g fiber (yea…I know), 3.2 g protein
(I calculated the nutrition facts myself and they came out a little higher than Taste of Home’s calculations. I’m assuming the serving was a tad smaller)
Betty Salad
Turco Family Recipe; combination of all of the following ingredients (as much or as little as you like)
Spinach
Center cut bacon
 Hard boiled eggs
 Bean Sprouts
 Water Chestnuts
Plum Tomatoes, chopped (personal addition)
Betty’s Dressing (Might only be available in NW, OH and parts of Michigan)

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Food MATTERS.