Nice bread for French Onion Soup or if you just want a crusty bread.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups room temperature water
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, or olive oil, plus more for baking
- 2 tablespoons dry milk
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
- 2 cups bread flour
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons medium-grind cornmeal, for baking
- 1 large egg white
- 1 tablespoon cold water
Directions
- Add the room temperature water, oil, dry milk, all-purpose flour, bread flour, sugar, salt, and yeast to the bread machine according to your manufacturer’s preferred order.
- Use the French bread setting on your machine but remove the dough after the last kneading cycle before the baking cycle begins. Or use the dough cycle, punch down the dough to let air escape, let it rise again (45 minutes to 1 hour), knead lightly, and let it rise again (another 45 minutes to 1 hour) before forming into loaves.
- Spray or lightly oil a large cookie sheet and sprinkle with the cornmeal.
- To form the loaves, transfer the dough (it will be soft) to a lightly floured board. Sprinkle with a little all-purpose flour.
- Cut the dough into 2 portions and roll each portion into a rectangle about 12 to 15 inches wide (add more flour as needed).
- Starting at the long end, roll up the dough, pinching the seams well. Repeat with the next roll.
- Place the loaves on the prepared cookie sheet; cover with a clean dishtowel and let rise another hour.
- While the loaves are rising, preheat the oven to 400 F. Place a pie plate on the lower rack of the oven and add about 1 inch of boiling water. Place the pan with the dough on the middle rack and bake the bread for 15 minutes.
- Lower the heat to 350 F and bake for another 25 minutes until golden brown.
- About 5 minutes before the loaves are done, mix the egg white with the cold water in a small bowl and brush the loaves with the egg wash.
- Once baked, remove from the oven and let cool.
Source: The Spruce Eats