Julia Child's Homemade French Bread Recipe - Barbara Bakes

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How To Make French Bread

Step 1: If you want to have French bread for dinner, you need to start this recipe first thing in the morning. The recipe requires two long rises to develop a flavorful dough.

A collage of four pictures showing the ingredients for French bread and mixing the dough with a stand mixer and dough hook.

Step 2: The dough itself is a simple combination of flour, water, salt and yeast. Start by mixing the dry ingredients together for just a few seconds in the stand mixer. Then, slowly stream in the water with the mixer running.

Pro Tip: I simplified Julia’s original recipe to use a stand mixer. I rarely knead dough by hand because the mixer makes it so easy, but if you don’t have a mixer, you can mix the dough by hand.

Step 3: Once a shaggy dough forms, switch to the dough hook attachment. Let the machine knead the dough for about 5 minutes on medium speed. The dough is done kneading when it’s smooth, elastic, and can be stretched easily, but it is still slightly sticky. See below for the telltale signs of a well-kneaded dough.

A collage of pictures showing French bread dough before rising, after rising, and after kneading on a floured pastry mat.

Step 4: Remove the dough from the mixing bowl, grease the bowl with cooking spray, return the dough to the bowl, cover and let rise for 3 hours. The dough should increase by 3 ½ times.

Step 5: Gently remove the dough from the bowl and fold it over a couple of times to redistribute the gases. It should be light and pillowy soft.

A collage of pictures of the dough after the second rise, and the dough divided into three sections.

Step 6: Let it rise for a second time until it grows 2 to 3 times in size, about 1½ to 2 hours. After the second rise, the dough is ready to be shaped before its final rise, before baking it in the oven.

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