Maybe you'd like to take baking a loaf of French bread further. Well, here's my answer.
In fact, I'm planning on baking a loaf just like the one in the photo story below, for a family barby tomorrow. The whole process will take three to four hours so I'll need to start around 8.00am in order to serve it up with the barby lunch.
The first and last parts of the process are the same as in my recipe Baking French Bread. It's just the middle bit that's different. Mind you, this will be a bigger loaf so the baking time will be 35 minutes instead of 30 minutes.
Ingredients:
4 cups Bakers flour
2 cup water
4 heaped tspn yeast
1 heaped tspn salt
You'll also need a little cooking oil for non stick purposes.
Method:
Add the flour, yeast and salt to the bowl and mix.
Add the water and mix to a messy looking dough.
Empty the bowl contents onto the floured bench top.
Flour your hands.
Kneed the dough for about ten minutes or untill it gains a smooth texture, adding flour as you go to stop it sticking excessively to your hands and the bench top. It's enough kneeding when you can poke your finger into the dough and it springs back.
Oil the mixing bowl and place the dough in it, covering the bowl with cling wrap, and place in a warm spot to rise till it expands to about twice it's original volume. This will take an hour or two, mabe more, depending on the temperature.
Once risen, empty the dough onto the floured bench top and kneed again for about five minutes. This is known as knocking it down. The bread will quickly drop back to about it's original volume.
Roll the dough into a long sausage about twice the length of your baking tray. It should not be to thin or it will break when you lift it to it place on the baking tray.
Place one hand on either end of the roll. With one hand roll the sausage towards yourself and with the other roll it away so that it remains fairly straight but is quite twisted.
Carefully pick up the two ends and pinch them together. The loaf will twist a bit as you do this but you'll need to help it to twist a bit more.