DIY Experiment: Martha's French Bread

With the state of the economy as it is, many of us are seeking ways to save a few pennies. Given my affinity for all things foodie, I thought I'd try my hand at baking my own bread. It's easy to do and, with only four ingredients, it's easy on the pocketbook. The practice had pretty much eluded me for years--my fear of yeast used to prevent me from experimenting with the art of breadmaking. However, recent successes with pizza dough had steeled my confidence enough to give it a shot. Despite a few learning moments, my experiment taught me a new baking technique, filled the house with a delicious aroma, and resulted in tasty homemade bread, fresh from the oven.

I used a variation of "Homemade French Bread" from The Martha Stewart Cookbook, one of my standbys for classic recipes. While Martha's original recipe calls for all-purpose flour, she suggests a whole-wheat version using half whole-wheat flour and half all-purpose flour. The resulting bread had a crisp, chewy crust and dense crumb. Stuffed with a sharp, white cheddar gifted by my mother after a trip to Wisconsin, one of the baguettes made for a simple, yet satisfying dinner for Todd and me the evening of its baking.

Unfortunately, being only two in the household, we had more bread than was possible to consume before going bad. Next time, I'll package it up and send it off to friends and family. After all that hard work, it was shameful to let so much go to waste.

Also, another note: Despite Martha's recommendation of a 50/50 balance of white to wheat flour, I found that the texture did suffer some due to the heartier crumb caused by the protein in the whole-wheat. It prevents the formation of gluten, which typically gives "lift" to baked goods. According to Cooks' Illustrated magazine, in any baking recipe that calls for all-purpose flour, do not replace with more than 25% wheat flour, or texture will suffer. Mental note for next time.

HOMEMADE FRENCH BREAD

1 ounce fresh yeast or 2 packages of active dry yeast

2-3/4 cups warm water

7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (see note, above)

4-1/4 teaspoons salt

Proof the yeast in 1/4 cup of the warm water.

Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the remaining water and mix well. Add the yeast mixture. Blend into dough.

Turn onto a floured board and knead until dough is smooth and elastic. If you have a heavy-duty mixer with a dough hook, this whole procedure will take only 4-5 minutes.

Put kneaded dough in a covered bowl and let rise until doubled in bulk. Punch dough down and let rise a second time until doubled. Turn onto a floured board and shape as desired (I split the dough in half, and made three baguettes and just over a dozen rolls).

Let rise for a final time, covered with plastic wrap, until doubled in size. Long loaves must be slashed along the top with a sharp razor (be sure to slash BEFORE the final rise, which I failed to do, resulting in a less-than-visually-perfect baguette).

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.

Bake for about 25 minutes, spraying the loaves with water 3-4 times during baking (this was my favorite part; the steam helps to create the crisp, chewy crust). Loaves are done when golden brown and crispy.

This recipe costs only a few cents and makes a LOT of bread--hopefully, you won't have trouble finding a home for your extras.