I love a nice warm, fresh out of the oven loaf of bread.
It is the perfect addition to any meal as far as I’m concerned. The only downside to fresh, homemade bread is that it can take a bit of time. Proofing, rising, rolling, rising etc. Today’s recipe is a quick and easy one. It may not be quite as quick as the 30 Minute Roll recipe I have on my blog but it is pretty close. 
This recipe makes one nice size loaf or two smaller loaves. I usually make two. We enjoy one and I give the other one away. The dough is mixed up with a bread hook in your Kitchen aid or other mixer of choice. 
Then I just leave it in the bowl, cover it with a towel and let it rise until doubled – about 20 minutes or so depending on how warm my kitchen is. It’s pretty fast. 
At this point if I am in a generous, sharing mood I will divide the dough into two pieces so that I can make two loaves. If I’m not in a generous mood I roll it out in one big piece using my rolling pin. 
Be sure and flour your counter enough so that the dough doesn’t stick. Then roll it up jellyroll style and place the seam side down. 
With a sharp knife cut three slits into the bread. Be sure and only go about 1/4 inch deep. If you go too deep your bread may look a little funny after it rises the second time. (Ask me how I know this!)
Give the bread a nice little bath in an egg white wash (just add 1 Tbsp water to 1 egg white and mix together) Heat up a pan of water on the stove until it boils. Have your oven preheated to 300 degrees and TURN OFF. Then place the pan of boiling water onto the lower rack of your oven and place your loaf of bread on the rack above. Allow the bread to rise until double (about 20 minutes or so).
Please excuse my dirty oven. 
The steam that is given off from the water helps the loaf get that nice crust that a loaf of French bread has. Remove the pan of water from the oven and turn the oven onto 425 degrees. Bake bread for 10 minutes and then turn heat down to 375 degrees and bake for another 8 minutes or until golden brown. 
Enjoy a nice, warm loaf of home baked bread with dinner! 
Easy French Bread
recipe slightly adapted from Cooks.com
1/4 C warm water
2 1/2 tsp dry active yeast
1 tsp sugar
3 1/2 – 4 C flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 C plus 2 Tbsp warm water
1 egg white and 1 Tbsp water
Combine water, yeast and 1 tsp sugar in a bowl. Allow to stand until bubbly. Add in sugar, salt and water. Gradually add in flour, mix well and knead for 5 minutes. Let rise for 15 – 20 minutes in a warm place. If you want to make two smaller loaves, divide dough in half. Flour a surface and roll out the dough with a rolling pin. Then roll up the dough jelly roll style and turn ends under and place seam side down onto a greased cookie sheet. Cut 3 diagonal cuts into the loaf about 1/4 inch deep. Combine water and egg white and mix. Brush onto loaf. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Boil a pan of water. Pour water into a shallow dish and place on the lower rack in oven. TURN OFF OVEN. Place sheet with bread on the rack above the water. Let rise until double and then take out the pan of water. Turn oven onto 425 degrees and bake 10 minutes. Turn heat down to 375 and bake for 8 more minutes or until golden brown.
Latest posts by Leigh Anne (see all)
- Copycat Panera Asian Sesame Chicken Salad - May 21, 2013
- Cinnamon Butter Cookies - April 16, 2013
- Roasted Bacon Cheesy Potatoes - March 19, 2013
i love french bread and I think I should give this a try too.. Thank you for the recipe and the tips as well..
Thanks!! I am always looking for ways to do fresh bread a little faster – we’ll definitely be trying this!!
Just wondering where the “1 C plus 2 Tbsp warm water” fits into the recipe.
Ha! Never mind, I didn’t read it well enough:)
So this may be a stupid question… But I want to get clarification before I take on a project like this (I bake and all, but never have I attempted bread)….
My question is about this part of the directions here…
“Turn oven onto 425 degrees and bake 10 minutes.”
Do you leave the bread in the oven as it warms back up? If so, does the 10 minutes start immediately or does the 10 minutes start when the oven hits 425?
Hi Beth,
I just made my first loaf and I didn’t start the 10 minute time until the oven hit 425. I immediately reset it for 8 minutes when I turned the oven down to 375. This was a really good recipe. I hope yours turns out as well as mine did!!
Thanks a lot… I look forward to using this recipe, it looks yummy!
Thanks for helping Beth out!
Glad yours turned out – it’s become a favorite at our house.
I can’t wait to try this. It looks like a great recipe, thanks for sharing.
Wow – this was such an easy recipe! My bread is already in the oven for supper. Thanks, Leigh Anne!
Hope you enjoyed it Kelly!!
I made this recipe today to have with a big pot of veggie beef soup and it was outstanding!! There was not a crumb of it left after my daughter and hubby “fought” over the last chunk ;-) I did add two heaping tablespoons of flax seed to it but other than that I did as directed and now have a new favorite bread recipe. Thanks so much!!
A bread addict :)
So glad everyone liked it!!
Another possibly silly question:
You say to mix the dough up in your kitchen aid. Does the kitchen aid do the 5 minute kneading for you or you take it out and knead it by hand?
Not silly! But yes, let that Kitchen aid do the kneading for you!
Just wondering, if I were going to make two loaves, and freeze the other, would it freeze well?
oops, I meant freeze one of the two loaves
I just made the French bread this morning and mine was done as soon as the oven got to 425 degrees. I made 2 small loaves and left them in the oven while it preheated. I checked the temperature and it was 200 degrees internally so I took them out. I haven’t tasted them yet but I am wondering if anyone else had this happen.
I’m wondering the same as some others, and still not sure after reading the comments too. Do you leave the dough in the oven while it preheats to 425?
Sorry for the confusion – I do leave it in the oven as it heats
Love this recipe. It makes the perfect bread. I’m going to modify it slightly to make sandwich rolls.
Thanks for the recipe. I am going to make 4 full loves tonight with my garlic infused flour. I am a bread making junkie. Very small eater so I give most away. But I love making breads. (I have a huge tupperware tub which I keep bread flour in that I have finely chopped a lot of garlic in. I use it for breads like this.)
Love the idea of infusing the flower with garlic! Will definitely have to try it.
wait, why does it have two different water measurements?
The first water measurement is for you to dissolve the yeast in and the other is to add into the dough.
Thanks! the bread was great!!!! i think i’m gonna put a little more salt into the recipe next time due to the slight lack of flavor… Great recipe! :)
I just made this bread and it turned out pretty good. I like the taste and texture. I will change my cooking time next time though. I kept the bread in the oven while warming to 425 and then cooked for 10 minutes. Once I went to turn down the oven I checked the brad and it was VERY brown and had to take it out before I cooked it the last 8 min.
Made this last night to accompany and big bowl of homemade chili. This bread recipe is a definite winner! We will make it all the time now. Thanks for sharing!
Made this last night to go along my vegetable soup. Didn’t plan ahead and I needed a quick recipe! This was quick and easy recipe/directions to follow. This was my first time making bread from scratch. I had some flower left over inside after I rolled the dough (in the rolled part). I will have to work on that next time. Loved the bread and it’s all gone now. Thanks so much. I will be making this again.
I just made this last night and it was delicious! My hubby took some to work today…. He loves it!
I found this recipe on pinterest and I had to try it. My father-in-law’s birthday is tomorrow and I planned on bringing an assortment of crostini and decided to make my own bread this time. I quartered the dough and made 4 loaves and they came out PERFECTLY!! Thank you so much for sharing this fabulous and super simple recipe!
I am making this bread now for the third time this week! I used Brown Sugar instead of regular and added a TB more. My family loves this bread!
Thank you for the recipe! I wanted something simple to make for the family before I left for orchestra rehearsal, and this certainly hit the spot. The Hubster and our girl are now demanding that I make it more often :)
I’m also thinking of sweetening it up a little bit for our orchestra concert potluck in 2 weeks. I know it’s going to be good!
I made this last night but added 2 1/2 cup flour and 1 cup of WWF. Knowing that the whole wheat might make it dense I added 1 Tbs of vital wheat gluten to give it that extra oomph.
Everything was fine until I shaped and let it rise it in the oven w/ the shallow pan of water. It rose at up to 30 mins and proceeded to “deflate”. What happened? Any thoughts?
I want to try this again for sure and with just white flour!
I don’t usually make bread,but this turned out wonderful!
Made this last night- my husband LOVED it!
My notes:
-we didn’t have regular flour, so I used bread flour…. it tasted just fine to me! :)
-I left the loaves in the oven when I heated it to 425 (after allowing it to rise). This took 10 minutes in my oven to even reach 425, and the bread was almost baked already. So- I DID NOT bake it for an additional 10 minutes at 425. I turned it down to 375 immediately and only needed about 4 more minutes.
This bread was much more dense than what I was expecting, but we loved it! I will be sure to coat the ends better with the egg white wash next time as I have a few “floury” spots.