I always thought it was a really complicated process to bake homemade bread. There are so many steps, bloom the yeast, stretch and pull, let it rise, knead the dough, punch it down, rise, knead, proof…it all sounds so complicated and time consuming. Honestly how does a busy working mom fit baking fresh bread into her busy schedule? Plus, the whole yeast thing was a complete mystery and the thought of trying to bake bread totally intimidated me for a very long time. I got to thinking about my grandmother who baked bread everyday back in the old country. Her kitchen had a dirt floor, no electricity or running water, and she prepared meals for 7 people daily using a wood burning stove to cook and bake everything. Surely baking bread couldn’t be all that difficult. If she could do it in her tiny rustic kitchen utilizing the most rudimentary equipment surely I could do it in my kitchen with all its modern appliances. So after years of tolerating tasteless, overpriced loaves of supermarket bread I finally pushed past my fear and began my bread baking journey with this easy technique.
How To Bake An Artisanal Loaf Of Crusty French Bread:
Several years ago I came across a book that promised you could bake your own bread in only 5 minutes a day. I was intrigued. I could spare five minutes in a day, so I checked out the book “The New Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day” from the library and I have been using the basic loaf recipe from that book ever since. I’ve baked up loaf after loaf of beautifully crusty French bread over the years using the simple method in that cookbook. It also gave me the confidence to try baking sourdough bread as well, but we will leave that for another day.
If you are new to bread baking, have had less than stellar results in the past, and feel totally intimidated with attempting to bake bread, this easy technique is perfect for beginners and will get you comfortable working with bread dough. It produces a loaf with a soft fluffy interior and a crusty crust with a delicious chew. Not only is it easy to make but the loaves taste a thousand times better than anything you can buy at the supermarket. GUARANTEED! Even though I often bake sourdough bread, I keep coming back to this easy to make method because it produces such good results with so little time and effort.
This technique produces a crunchy, crusty loaf with a soft interior that has a great chew. The dough actually makes better and better tasting bread the longer it hangs out in the fridge, the flavor gets more and more sour doughy tasting with each passing day.
Prepare the dough:
Pour lukewarm water into a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast, salt, and flour to the bowl and stir everything together until you have a shaggy looking dough and there are no dry patches. The dough will be very sticky and loose.
I recommend using bread flour for the best results. It produces a lighter, not as dense loaf of bread with more air holes. Using all purpose will work but produces a denser heavier loaf of bread. Both are delicious, but if your goal is a lighter, less dense loaf, use bread flour for the best results.
Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and allow the it to rise for 2 hours at room temperature. Set a timer and forget about it. It doesn’t get much easier than this!
The dough will increase in volume dramatically. If your kitchen is really cold it might take longer for the dough to rise.
Place the bowl, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator after the initial 2 hour rise.
You can use any portion of the dough after the initial 2 hour rise. Refrigerated dough is less sticky and easier to work with. Once refrigerated the dough will look like it shrinks back down, that is normal. Never punch down the dough!
Store the dough in the refrigerator loosely covered with plastic wrap and use it for up to 14 days pulling off pieces as needed. The dough acquires a more sour dough taste the longer it sits in the fridge.
To Bake Bread:
When you are ready to bake a loaf of bread, place a metal pan on the lower rack in your oven. Do not use a glass pan, it will crack when you add water. Place a baking stone or baking steel on the rack above it.
Preheat oven to 450℉.
Prepare a pizza peel by spreading a thin layer of cornmeal onto the surface. Be generous with the cornmeal. Set aside.
Remove dough from the fridge and dust some flour onto your hands.
Pull up a handful of dough (about the size of a grapefruit) and cut off a piece with kitchen shears, a serrated knife, or just pinch it off with your hands.
Hold the ball of dough in your hands and add more flour to them as needed so the dough doesn’t stick them. Gently stretch and turn the ball in your hands as you shape the loaf pulling the dough tight to form a smooth surface on the top of the ball. Don’t overwork the dough, this process should take less than a minute.
You want the top of the ball of dough to be smooth and taut like in the picture below.
Place the formed loaf onto the prepared pizza peel and allow the dough to rest for 40 minutes while the oven is preheating. The dough will spread out and relax during this time.
Just before putting the loaf in the oven, dust the top liberally with flour.
Slash the dough with a sharp knife or a bread lame. Make 3-5 cuts about a 1/2 inch deep along the top of the loaf.
Slide the loaf off the pizza peel and onto the preheated baking stone or baking steel in the oven.
Quickly but carefully pour 1 cup of water into the metal pan on the lower rack and close the oven door. This creates a steamy environment in the oven and produces that crunchy, crisp, crusty loaf with the soft fluffy insides.
Bake loaf for 30-35 minutes, or until the crust is richly browned and firm to the touch.
You may need to make some adjustments to the bake time depending on the size of your loaves. When removing the loaf it should audibly crackle or sing when it’s exposed to room temperature and it should sound hollow when you tap it with your fingers.
Cool for at least 2 hours on a wire rack before cutting into the loaf.
Slice loaf with a serrated knife and slather with soft butter to serve.
Or make this Herb Dipping Oil. Flavorful herbs, spices & fresh garlic in olive oil, create the perfect, can’t stop eating it, dipping sauce to go along with your freshly baked loaf of French bread.
For good consistent results you will want to invest in a few items if you don’t already have them. A Baking Stone or Pizza Steel like this one is a must. I prefer a pizza steel. It’s made of cast iron, manufactured in the good ole US of A, and it will last you a lifetime. I’ve had to replace several baking stones over the years. They invariably crack over time, but this baby made of cast iron will probably out live me! Great for baking bread and for pizza too!
A Pizza Peel like this one makes it oh so easy to transfer your loaves of bread into the hot oven to bake. I prefer a natural wood one like this one, but a metal one would work just as well.
Stirring the dough together with a Danish Dough Whisk makes it quick and easy to combine all the ingredients but you can use a long handled wooden spoon if you don’t have one. If you plan on baking lots of bread this is a handy tool to have in your arsenal. I use mine all the time. This one is made of stainless steel and that means it can go in the dishwasher unlike the wooden handled ones.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. If you click on any of the links embedded in this post to make a purchase I will earn a small commission from Amazon. I will only recommend products I have purchased and used that I can vouch for their quality from my own personal experience. I so appreciate any purchases you decide to make. It helps fund the expenses associated with the blog and costs you nothing extra. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for supporting me so I can continue to create new content to share with you.
Every loaf I pull out of the oven is unique. But the one thing they all have in common? They’re easy to bake up and they taste AMAZING!!! Crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. Who needs dinner when you can slather each piece with some soft creamy butter and wash it all down with a glass of your favorite wine? If you’ve been hesitant to try baking bread, it’s finally time let go of your fear and give this easy method a try. You will be pulling beautiful tasty loaves out of your oven too. You can do this! I promise!!!
Crusty French Bread
Equipment
- large mixing bowl
- Danish dough whisk or wooden spoon
- plastic wrap
- baking stone or baking steel
- shallow metal pan NOT GLASS
Ingredients
- 3 cups lukewarm water
- 1 tbsp active dry yeast
- 1 tbsp Kosher salt
- 6½ cups bread flour, scoop and sweep
- cornmeal
Instructions
To prepare the dough:
- Pour lukewarm water into a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast, salt, and flour to the bowl and stir everything together until you have a shaggy looking dough and there are no dry patches. The dough will be very sticky and loose.
- Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise for 2 hours at room temperature. The dough will increase in volume dramatically. If your kitchen is really cold it might take longer for the dough to rise.
- You can use any portion of the dough after the initial 2 hour rise.
- Place bowl, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator after the initial 2 hour rise.
- Refrigerated dough is less sticky and easier to work with. Once refrigerated the dough will look like it shrinks back down, that is normal. Never punch down the dough!
- Store the dough in the refrigerator loosely covered with plastic wrap and use it for up to 14 days pulling off pieces as needed. The dough acquires a more sour dough taste the longer it sits in the fridge.
To Bake Bread:
- Place a metal pan on the lowest rack in your oven. DO NOT USE A GLASS PAN, it will crack when you add water. Place a baking stone or baking steel on the rack above it.
- Preheat oven to 450℉.
- Prepare a pizza peel by spreading a thin layer of cornmeal onto the surface. Be generous with the cornmeal. Set aside.
- Remove dough from the fridge and dust some flour onto your hands. Pull up a handful of dough (about the size of a grapefruit) and cut off with kitchen shears or a serrated knife, or just pinch it off with your hands.
- Hold the ball of dough in your hands and add more flour to them as needed so the dough doesn’t stick to your hands. Gently stretch and turn the ball in your hands as you shape the loaf pulling the dough tight to form a smooth surface on the top of the ball. Don’t overwork the dough, this process should take less than a minute.
- Place the formed loaf onto the prepared pizza peel and allow the dough to rest for 40 minutes while the oven is preheating. The dough will relax, spread, and flatten.
- Slide the loaf off the pizza peel and onto the preheated baking stone or steel in the oven.
- Quickly but carefully pour 1 cup of water into the metal pan on the lower rack and close the oven door.
- Bake loaf for 30-35 minutes, or until the crust is richly browned and firm to the touch.
- You may need to make some adjustments to the bake time depending on the size of your loaf. When removing the loaf it should audibly crackle or sing when initially exposed to room temperature and it should sound hollow when you tap it with your fingers.
- Cool for at least 2 hours on a wire rack before cutting into the loaf. Cutting into it while it's still hot will result in an unpleasant, gummy texture.
- Once fully cooled, slice and slather with soft butter to serve.
This post was originally published January 2019 and republished with updated photos, recipe notes, and new content August 2025.
Did You Make This?
Be sure to snap a pic and tag it #naturewayblog I love, love, love hearing from my readers! Please, don’t forget to leave a comment and a review below, and be sure to follow me on INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST, TELEGRAM or TWITTER for all the latest happening here at Nature Way!
May I ask a small favor? If you enjoyed this blogpost would you be so kind and like the page? Just click the “like” button down at the very bottom, at the end of the post. It lets me know what you are enjoying the most. It also helps me focus my attention on creating content that will be most meaningful and beneficial to you, my readers. And don’t forget to subscribe:
When you sign up you’ll never miss out on all the latest that’s happening here at Nature Way. I promise to never spam you, ever! Cross my heart. Thank you and God bless!
“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31
Remember…Jesus ❤️’s you!
1 thought on “Crusty French Bread”