Basic French Bread

[merlinofchaos]

Realistically, 'french bread' should be a baguette. That's pretty much THE bread in France. But because we're Americans and we always get this stuff wrong, it's not. Instead, French Bread is more or less the same bread, but in the shape of a batard, or a torpedo.

French bread is a lean bread, meaning it doesn't use oil, nor sugar. I put a little

Comments

[blitheringpooks]

Reading this makes me very aware of why I'm not a great baker. I did find a kneadless recipe that I have baked over coals in a cast iron dutch oven that turns out kind of awesome, though!

[merlinofchaos]

Other than the 'over coals' part, I ran my 8 year old daughter through a no-knead recipe that came out totally fantastic! It bakes in a dutch oven. Many sourdough recipes I've read also bake in a dutch oven; the main reason to do this is to trap the moisture in to get that crunchy crust, and to get completely even radiant heat around the whole loaf. It works well, but limits you to something that fits in a dutch oven.

After having done it awhile, I find the kneading to be both easy and actually a bit simpler than doing a no knead, but it's a nice change. Plus, small hands can do it, and I suspect C will do more no knead bread as time goes on. She's really enjoyed getting to go in and do some cooking.

Just wait until I decide she's to the point where I stop actually telling her the step by step and make her do it herself! :)