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Bread Recipes |
Fantastic Crusty French Bread Recipe
The Recipe
Here's one that's not officially a bread machine recipe but I bet it would work GREAT as long as you have a French Bread setting on your machine (this kind of dough does not get kneaded very much at all so I don't think a regular dough setting would work...) I also throw in a tablespoon of Italian Seasoning and a tablespoon of minced garlic, it's GREAT!!...
1 pkg. (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1-1/2 cups warm water (110-115°F), divided
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. shortening, melted
4 cups all-purpose flour
Cornmeal
In a mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup water. Add sugar, salt, shortening and remaining water; stir until dissolved. Add flour and stir until smooth (do not knead). Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled. Turn onto a floured surface. Divide in half; let rest for 10 minutes. Roll each half into a 10x8" rectangle. Roll up from a long side; pinch to seal. Place seam side down on greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal. Sprinkle the tops with cornmeal.
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The Heel of The Bread
The convenience of acquiring a good loaf of bread today is quite simple. You can buy it at the grocery store or the local bakery. Depending on where you live I would choose a good bakery over store bread. When you can take a slice of bread and roll it into a marble size ball, that, (in my opinion), is not bread. Most packaged bread from a grocery store contains so many chemical ingredients I shy away from it. The nearest decent bakery to me is 50-miles away so I bake my own from scratch.
There are quite a few things to consider before starting to bake bread. First of all I evaluate the weather. If the sun is shining that is a good sign. That usually means that the barometric pressure is high and should ensure a quick rise for bread. On a cloudy day it seems as though it takes forever for the bread dough to raise. I consider the humidity. If it is high that means I can use less flour than I would on a drier day. Next I look at the temperature. An 80-degree reading on the thermometer is what I feel to be perfect. If those components are present I am assured of a very good end result with my bread baking.
My grandmother's bread always turned out perfect. Thinking about it now I realize she basically lived in a sort of bubble. The wood stove was always burning. The water reservoir on the side of the stove provided just the right amount of moisture in the air, and the kitchen always stayed around 80-degrees all year round.
Whenever she took the loaves of bread from the oven, my grandfather always wanted the first slice from the loaf. He called it the heel. It took me quite a few years to figure out why he called it that because I called it the end piece. One day while walking barefoot on the sand by the lake I looked down at the prints my feet made. That is when it dawned on me. If you look at a footprint in the sand, the heel portion resembles the end slice from a loaf of bread. Needless to say, whenever I see that famous picture I am reminded of my grandparents and home made bread.
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