Daring Baker Challenge: French Bread

Here I am for my third Daring Baker Challenge, and a challenge it certainly was. When I first read the recipe (or tried to read the recipe!) it seemed like a daunting challenge. But, as a Daring Baker I was up for any challenge. I used to be afraid of yeast, but in the past few years we have become more friendly. I've made delicious pizza doughs, honey/brown wheat rolls (like the tasty ones you get at outback restaurant) foccacia, soft pretzels, and my favorite recipe from my mother in law for crescent rolls. I have never tried a French bread recipe, but I thought it would be great to add to my repertoire.

I read others talking about how time consuming this recipe was, so I knew I needed a nice free day to devote to crafting my bread. Well, I was in luck! One morning I received a phone call at 5:30 am. Now most people don't like phone calls at an ungodly hour, but I embrace it! A phone call at 5:30 am to a teacher in the winter can only mean one thing SNOW DAY!!! As my wonderful hubby trudged off to work, and shot me the evil eye (as he was recently deemed an "essential employee" to the State of New Jersey), I cuddled in bed for a few more minutes of rest and thoughts of tasty French Bread.

The recipe (provided by Breadchick Mary and Sara) started out easily liquefy the yeast and mix in the dry ingredients. I used my handy kitchenaid for this part and let the dough rest for a few moments. I began to knead the dough using a slapping/slamming motion I saw on the PBS Julia Childs video. This reminded me of how I throw clay on my art tables at school to make them into nice thin slabs for my students. After countless throws and some achy arms I was ready to let my dough rest and rise. I bundled it up with a towel on top and bottom, and sat down to watch some on demand movies, much better than wrangling 30 six graders.

My first rise went great! I deflated the dough and let it rise again (and watched another on demand movie and thought of all the little kindergarteners that missed art class that day). After the second rise I carefully shaped the dough. I really enjoyed this part; it felt quite artistic to me.

It was now getting late in the day and my Hubby was on his way home from work, so I knew my loaves needed to go in the oven. I heated that baby up along with a pizza stone and got to work baking off my loaves. My first loaf came out of the oven and looked great to me. After I finished my next loaf I realized the first one looked a little pasty. The darker crust of the latter loaf was more appetizing and had better flavor. I finished off with my batard, which came out great. My only problem was I didn't have a razor and didn't want to trek out on the icy New Jersey streets to find one.

After I let them rest, Hubby and I gobbled them up. He ate his with a tad of butter, and I enjoyed mine with a fantastic flavored Olive Oil. This challenge was so much fun, and a great way to spend a snowy winter day.

The remnants of the bread got recycled into a tasty turkey meatloaf for my loving husband!