{"id":2035,"date":"2013-11-19T17:10:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-20T01:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.therowdybaker.com\/?p=2035"},"modified":"2014-01-20T23:09:29","modified_gmt":"2014-01-21T07:09:29","slug":"hearty-french-bread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.therowdybaker.com\/?p=2035","title":{"rendered":"Hearty French Bread"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\"MiscNov<\/a>A tender bread with a crispy-crackly crust, french bread is one of my favorite breads to bake. It’s very simple to make, as long as you’re not in a big hurry. It rises twice before you form the loaves, so although you spend less than a half hour of actual prep time (if you’re using a stand mixer), you’re committed to hanging around for nearly four hours, total.<\/p>\n

This is almost identical to my french roll recipe. I just replaced one cup of white flour with one cup of whole wheat flour and dropped the baking temperature just a little, and of course shaped the dough differently.<\/p>\n

The trick to getting a nice crust on the loaves is steam. I put a big lasagna pan of water on the bottom rack of my oven and start it preheating while the loaves are rising. This fills the oven with steam, and then the loaves are carefully\u00a0 put in the oven to bake. From experience I can tell you to wear an oven mitt and don’t get your face close to the oven door when you open it up. That steam is HOT!<\/p>\n

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Hearty French Bread<\/div>\n
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Author: The Rowdy Baker<\/span><\/div>\n
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Ingredients<\/div>\n