Double Batch of French Bread

Tanith here again! This time with a kitchen update. It's coming up to the end of the break, (Colin and I fly back to Saskatchewan on Monday, weather providing), and something I wanted to do while I was home was make a huge batch of French bread with Mom :) So, the other day, that was what we did. Colin bought me a breadmaker for my birthday (thanks dear!) and I've been on the breadmaking fanatic train recently. I thought it would be nice to get back to the traditional side of breakmaking while I was home. Learn from the masters, if you will, and bring so more skills back with me to Saskatchewan.

I will add a copy of the recipe we used at the bottom, but you can follow along with my extensive and highly-flattering photos detailing our baking adventure.

This is what we were working with: The Lake Ainslie Heritage Cookbook, a well-worn and used version of it for sure. The measurements for doubling the recipe are already written in too, which (thankfully) meant that Mom and I had minimal math to complete. This is the recipe that I grew up with eating. As a kid, my involvement was limited to punching the dough down after the first rise. Now, I get to do that AND all the other steps.
Okay.... I'll admit.... Mom still did the dishes. #shamed.

Mom! Measuring!

 Speaking of Mom.... here she is starting to measure out the yeast. Now, we should have done the yeast and sugar and water after we mixed the sugar, boiling water and salt, so this mixture would be cool enough and not kill the yeast... But we forgot. It worked out alright in the end. Thankfully.

So, future reference... Mix the sugar, salt, lard and boiling water in a boil. Dissolve the lard, sugar and salt. Mix with a whisk to aid in cooling. This mixture should be tepid.

After getting these ingredients mixed up, set aside. In another bowl (a smaller one than the huge one you will need for the other mixture) add the sugar and warm water. Mix the sugar a little bit to dissolve, then add the yeast, mix very briefly and then set aside for ten minutes until the mixture is frothy. 

On the right is the yeast mixture. We let is sit for a little bit longer than the ten minutes because we were waiting for the lard/sugar/salt/water mixture to be a bit cooler, but I don't think it was detrimental at all. It always freaks me out a little bit at how much bigger the yeast gets after sitting.... And it just looks so weirddddd....

Below that picture, you can see Mom still whisking. And to the left of the yeast mixture, you can see my cat wandering in to the kitchen. And also my yogurt apparently. I forgot about that.

 Add the yeast mixture in to the larger bowl. Make sure to get all the frothy bits in to the larger bowl.



Then it is time to add the flour. Lots and lots of flour. The doubled recipe (to get four loaves) calls for fourteen (FOURTEEN!) cups of flour. Plus, there is more added in when you start kneading.

And kneading is what you are going to do next. Don't skimp out on that part. My 97-year-old grandmother knows how important it is, and she has made a mighty number of French bread loaves in her past.

Add more flour as necessary for you to not stick to the flour ball. Nannie also recommends adding the new flour underneath. I don't know exactly why we do it that way, but I'm not going to argue there. I think at the beginning of kneading I had enough extra dough stuck to my fingers to make an entire loaf of bread... If this happens, peel it off as best as possible, aaaand add more flour.

Ten minutes of kneading will take you from the mess on the left to the relatively neat looking dough ball that you see below you. Your arms should be at least a little tired at the end of it.


Then comes the hard part, you have to let it rise. Well, first, you have to grease a bowl with flour or oil, and then add the dough. Cover the dough, and put in a warm spot. Not hot, because then you'll bake the dough in your bowl and that is NOT a fun time. Trust me. We put our dough in the oven with the light on for an hour and a half. At the end of that time, your dough should be doubled in size and have a good amount of resistance when you touch it. That's all that gluten, good structure, great bread.

Next comes the best part of making bread. The punch! Complete with sound effects. Though, those didn't come across super well in the photograph. Sorry, you'll have to use your imagination.

Leave the bread to rest again after punching. And as tempting as it is, you only need to punch the dough down once. After punching it and letting it rest for a bit, it should look like what we have below.



 Then it's time to cut, roll and shape your loaves. You can do what we did, and just take the chunks out as you go... We ended up with two awesomely huge loaves and three smaller ones. Or you could do the mathematically sensible thing and divide it up in to the amount of loaves that you want. Four would be reasonable for the amount of dough that you have.
Roll the sections out to about a 1 inch thickness. Lightly flour the surface you are using to roll as well as the rolling pin. Otherwise your dough will stick a little bit.
It is amusing to roll out the dough at this stage because there is so much air left in the dough and the air bubbles pop as you roll. Go easy on the dough though, because you do want there to be some of that air left when you roll it up and bake 'em.

 Roll the sections up like a jelly roll and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
They have to rise, again.
The waiting is the hardest part.

 Mom rolled one loaf out, and I did the other four. I got better at it as I went along. Though my brother begs to differ.
Imma just let the following pictures speak for themselves. Mostly because they just look awesome. And also because you don't need me to comment on too much else.
The loaves WERE Nannie approved, and we went through one of the larger loaves in less than half an hour. So I think it is safe to say that the bread turned out well. :)
Actual recipe at the bottom of the post!

Three out of five!

The finished product!

Easy French Bread (4 loaves!)

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup lard
• 3 tsp salt
• 4 cups boiling water
• 1 cup cold water
• 3 pkg dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 14 cups flour

1. Combine 1/4 cup sugar, fat, salt and boiling water; cool to lukewarm. (Ten minutes) Whisk to dissolve lard. Add cold water after the ten minutes. 
2. While this is cooling, add 1 tsp sugar and 1 cup warm water to bowl. Then add yeast. Let rise ten minutes.
3. Add yeast mixture to sugar/lard/water mixture. 
4. Stir in flour and knead for ten minutes. Add flour underneath as needed while kneading so it is not sticky.
5. Place in to greased bowl and let rise until double (approximately 1.5 - 2 hours).
6. Punch down and let rest for 30 minutes. 
7. Divide dough on floured board. Roll each piece to (approximate...) 12 x 15-inch rectangle. 
8. Roll up, starting at the 15-inch side. 
9. Place on greased baking sheet, or one covered with parchment paper.  Slash diagonal lines on top with a sharp knife. Three is sufficient.
10. Let rise until double. 
11. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees F. 
12. For a crustier loaf, place a pan of hot water on bottom rack of oven.

Optional: mix 1 egg (beaten) with 2 tbsp milk. Brush on loaves before baking

Optional: sprinkle with poppy seeds or sesame seeds before baking.