French Bread

Some time ago my husband bought me a long loaf pan for making french breads (I want to insert here now much I love Kaboodle - every member of our family has a wish list on there and it has made gift buying so easy!)

So here are the delicious results of my first attempt. I used half freshly ground whole wheat and half store-bought white flour. I doubled the batch so I could freeze some and pull it out throughout the month. Can I say how nice it is to be able to pull out home-baked goods from the freezer to add to meal times? It's been too long since I've felt like I could take on baking our breads again. I'm not saying I'll be doing this every week but it was a nice change from the store-bought variety.

French Bread

1 c plus 2 Tbsp water

2 tsp butter, softened

3 1/4 c flour

1 Tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 pkg yeast (or 2 3/4 tsp)

In your Kitchenaid bowl (I use my Bosch), dissolve the yeast in warm water. Add the butter, sugar and salt and let sit for a few minutes. Add in the flour and mix/knead for about 5 minutes using your dough hook. Cover, and let rise until double. Then I remove the dough from the bowl and place into a greased bread pan or shape into little baguettes. Cover and let rise until double again.

Then bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes.