French Bread

Ingredients:

4 leveled cups All Purpose Flour

1 tsp Salt

2 cups Warm Water

1 Tbsp Yeast

2 Tbsp Oil

1/2 cup Flour (for kneading)

1 Egg, well beaten (egg wash)

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit and turn oven off as soon as this temperature has been reached. Boil a kettle of water and pour this into a shallow pan and place this at the bottom of the oven. (This is to create a humid environment for proofing)

Add yeast to warm water and let this sit for a few minutes. Make sure all the yeast is moistened, but do not stir this mixture.

In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Whisk these together. Create a well in the middle of the flour and pour the oil into the well. Then pour the yeast mixture into the well and mix until combined, to form a dough.

Sprinkle flour onto a flat surface and knead the dough for 5 minutes, sprinkling more flour if the dough feels tacky.

Put the ball of dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover it with a damp towel.

Proof in oven for 15 minutes, or until the dough has almost doubled in size. Be sure the rack in the oven is not too hot. If it is hot, line it with an oven mitt or hot pad, and let the oven cool with the door open for a couple of minutes before putting dough in.

Knead for 5 minutes

Proof for 15 minutes.

Roll the dough flat with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface. Then roll the dough up like a jelly-roll, transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet, and tuck the ends under.

Paint the bread with the egg wash, and score the top of the loaf deeply with a sharp knife

Proof for 15 minutes, and remove the loaf and the pan of water from the oven.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Bake for 1 hour

Cool and Cut