Monday, September 3, 2007

French Peasant Bread

From the Ivory Family Favorites Cookbook

1 package dry yeast
2 c warm water
1 T sugar
2 t salt
4 c flour
oil
corn meal
melted butter

Place yeast, water, sugar and salt in warm bowl and stir until dissolved. Add flour and stir until blended. Do not knead. Cover and let rise one hour or until doubled in size. Flour hands, removed dough from bowl and place in 2 rounds on an oiled cookie sheet sprinkled with corn meal. Let rise an additional hour. Brush the top with melted butter and bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 375 and cook an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven and brush again with butter. Serve warm.

This is our favorite bread, and it's so easy!

Tips: I use a large rubber scraper to divide the dough in the bowl and scoop it out, the dough is very sticky. I spray the pan with Pam because it's faster and healthier than oil. I usually use about 2 T butter. Sometimes I like to substitute 1/4 c whole wheat flour for white, gives it a nice flavor and texture. It also works great to halve or half again this recipe, depending on the crowd size.

5 comments:

Stephanie and Paul said...

mmmm...i've had this bread and it really is great!

Erika Sullivan said...

So, I am definitely a bread novice, and tried this bread tonight but I really screwed it up. Where did I go wrong? I followed the recipe to the letter, but I think I needed a little more flour, because the dough was TOO sticky and not manageable at all...and because of that it pooled and didn't really stay in round loaves. And then, when it rose the second time, when I brushed it with butter, it totally fell! So I ended up with some sort of flatbread, which is still good, but not what it's supposed to be. Any advice?

Erika Sullivan said...

So I tried this recipe again last night, and this time it worked! I ended up putting in a lot more flour than it called for, I'm not even sure how much, just enough for the consistency to be right and for it to be manageable to shape it into loaves. It rose perfectly and baked perfectly...so yummy! I'm so glad I got it right this time! Thanks for the great recipe!

Unknown said...

I also made this bread and had to add more flour to get the consistency right- it's so easy and yummy, yummy, yummy!

Jason Komut said...

Humidity will play a major role in how much moisture the bread will have. Someone in a muggy Florida summer will have to add more flour (or less water) than someone in a cold winter up north. Also temperature will play a role as yeast activity could be stunted in a cold environment. This is useful to know if you want to start the yeast process say the night before and have everything almost ready to bake when you get home from work.