Yes, another bread post. What can I say…I am a bread loving fool!!! I typically bake a crusty French bread loaf. It has a good crunchy crust with a great chew. It’s is my go-to, no fail bread recipe. It’s a simple no-knead recipe that’s very easy to make, especially if you are new to baking bread.
Sometimes a softer loaf is a nice option and this bread recipe from Jamielyn Nye @ I Heart Naptime is an easy to make soft loaf that’s absolutely delicious! I ran across the recipe quite a while ago but never got around to making it because her recipe makes two loaves of bread.
I admit we are bread loving fools in this house but polishing off two loaves of bread between just three of us is never going to happen. I mean, how many croutons can a person make? Polishing off just one loaf in a day is a challenge, but two?!?!? Let’s face it, bread is best when it’s freshly baked.
My bestie Veronica, hosted a birthday party recently and she served this bread at the party. One bite and I just knew I had to make some at home. It’s light and airy, with a soft outer crust. It’s very different from my usual crusty French bread loaves. It has a lovely mild yeasty flavor and it smells absolutely divine as it bakes.
It’s very similar to the freshly baked loaves of French bread that you can purchase at your local grocery store bakery, only a thousand times better!!!
So I took another look at Jamielyn’s recipe to see if I could halve it, to bake just one loaf. I am so glad that I did!!! It turned out phenomenal!!! From start to finish it took me about 90 minutes to bake up a fresh loaf of this bread. Easy to make and totally do able even if you are a newbie to bread baking.
We slathered the bread with garlic butter and it was TO DIE FOR DELICIOUS!
If you want to bake up two loaves of this bread, head on over to I Heart Naptime for the original full recipe. If you want to bake just one loaf, keep reading for the step by step instructions for how I did it.
Gather together the ingredients.
Dissolve 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar in a cup of warm water. Keep the temperature of the water to no more than 110 degrees. Any hotter than that and you will kill the yeast.
Add 2 teaspoons yeast to sugar water.
Stir to combine.
Let sugar/yeast water rest for about five minutes until it gets foamy.
The addition of a little bit of sugar to the water will feed the yeast and get it nice and foamy like this.
While the yeast proofs, add 2 1/2 cups of flour to a large bowl. I used the scoop and sweep method to measure out the flour.
Add 1 1/2 teaspoons salt to the flour in the bowl and stir to combine.
Pour in proofed yeast/sugar water and stir with a spatula to combine the ingredients.
Once ingredients start to come together into a dough, begin kneading the dough with your hands.
Add more four, a few tablespoons at a time, until you get a dough that is no longer sticking to your hands. I ended up using just under 3 cups of flour.
Knead dough until you have a soft, smooth, supple dough. I kneaded the dough for about 8 minutes.
Form dough into a smooth ball.
Coat dough ball with olive oil and place back in the bowl. Cover and allow dough to proof for 15 minutes. Proofing the dough means to let it rest so that it can rise.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
After dough has proofed for 15 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and roll dough out into a long rectangle using a rolling pin. Roll dough into a cylinder.
Tuck ends under the loaf and pinch dough together to form an evenly shaped loaf and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Cover loaf with a cloth dishtowel and let the loaf rest for 45 minutes.
The loaf will puff up and rise as it rests. After 45 minutes it will look swollen.
Cut three diagonal slits, about a 1/2 deep into the top of the loaf using a serrated knife.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Bake loaf for 20-25 minutes.
Cool loaf on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes before slicing into it, if you can resist.
TIP: Cutting into a hot, out of the oven loaf will result in a gummy texture. Try to resist the urge to slice into it as soon as it comes out of the oven. Waiting a good 30 minutes is ideal.
My kitchen smells soooooo good!!!
Soft French Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1½ tsp sugar
- 2½-3 cups all purpose flour
- 1½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp olive oil
Instructions
- Add sugar to warm water and stir until sugar dissolves.
- Add yeast to sugar water and stir to combine. Allow to sit for 5 minutes until yeast is foamy.
- In a large bowl add 2½ cups flour and salt, stir to combine.
- Add yeast water to the bowl and stir with a spatula.
- Once dough starts to come together use you hands to knead the dough.
- Add more flour a little at a time, until dough is no longer sticky.
- Knead dough for 8-10 minutes until dough is smooth, soft and supple.
- Kneading the dough can be done in a stand mixer with the dough hook attachement if desired.
- Form dough into a ball and coat with olive oil.
- Cover dough with a dish cloth and allow dough to rest for 15 minutes. Dough should double in size.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough into a long cylinder shape. Tuck ends under and pinch dough together to form a long loaf of bread.
- Place formed loaf on a cookie sheet lined with a sheet of parchment paper. cover with a dish cloth and allow loaf to rise for 45 minutes.
- While loaf rises, preheat oven to 400°.
- Bake loaf for 20-23 minutes.
- Brush loaf with melted butter when it comes out of the oven if desired.
- Allow loaf to cool on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes before slicing.
Did You Make This?
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