HGE 2 (Mallark Family French Bread)

Disclaimer: I have never baked bread before this.

One of my favorite foods, ever since I was a kid, is French Bread. I love the crunch of the crust. So much so that I would steal both ends of the bread for maximum crust crunchiness. So, of course, the Mallark Family French Bread would be my next endeavor.

Since, I have never baked bread before, I decided to follow the instructions in the book but also I did some research on YouTube. Enter: Julia Child

So, from the book I got the instructions and the formula for the bread. From Julia I got the technique. Here's what I got:



As you can see, I mixed all the ingredients in a large bowl, as per the instructions in the book. Those of you who have baked bread before will see my error right away. Those who don't, worry not. I will explain later.

Here's a pic of the rolled dough, rising and looking very much like bread! Note that I do not have a baking linen or whatever Julia called it, so I I used a nice pillow case I had (newly washed) and coated it in flour and it works just fine. One thing I did notice tho, was that the bread was not rising as much as what the book said or the video showed...

In this next pic, I have the bread in the oven and have been spritzing it with water for the first 6-8 minutes of baking as per the instructions of Julia Child. The book recommends doing this in addition to putting a hand full of ice cubes in a pan below the bread. I didn't think my oven would like that so I opted for just the spritzing.



Here's the finished product. A bit on the puny side, length wise, but man they felt heavy... Which brings me to the error of my ways. I had not "activated" the yeast before mixing it with the flour. Apparently, you have to dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup or warm water before you put it in with everything else. Something that the book FAILED TO TELL ME! I guess this might be common knowledge, but no. I didn't know. So i had bricks for bread.

It tasted good. but man were they solid!

So I decided on Christmas eve to make another batch at my parent's place. With my new found knowledge on the mysteries of yeast, I was able to make the dough rise! Here are a couple of pics of the finished products:






The house smelled amazing and the bread tasted awesome. The honey and butter glaze added a nice sweetness to the crunchy crust that normal French bread does not have. The inside was soft but not as airy as regular french bread. If you want more air pockets in the bread, I'd let the dough rise 2 times like what Julia Child recommends.

I loved baking the bread, and also loved the finished product so much that I will be making this bread again and again. In fact, I bought a bunch of yeast packets and 2 more bags of flour! I know my sister and my parents will be expecting a couple of loaves from the next batch.

As for the first batch... The Bricks? The two that I took to my parent's place were put to great use. The doggie got a couple of new chew toys!