Quick And Easy French Bread You Can Make
This is my quick and easy French bread you can make at the last minute for any meal. It’s very simple to make, it’s moist in the center and a little crispy on the outside. This recipe is an old family recipe, and my four daughters would sell the bread door to door to make a little spending money when they were younger.
Easy French Bread
We sold it at church bazaars and at school functions. We got orders ahead of time when people were having spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. It’s a favorite bread when taking dinner to neighbors with a pot of chicken noodle soup.
The original recipe from almost 40+ years ago calls for shortening. I use butter these days, but most any oil could be substituted. Here’s the deal with this recipe, it says it makes three loaves. You could make two larger loaves or make the three skinny loaves I made with a pan I have had for years.
Mix By Hand or With a Mixer
You can make this bread dough in a large bowl or use a Bosch bread mixer as I did. As you know, I love pictures to visualize what I am going to make, so today here are my pictures for this bread.
The thing I like about this recipe is that it doesn’t need eggs. If you have chickens that produce eggs that is great, but I rarely buy eggs these days because I am trying to eat less dairy. So let’s get started with this easy French bread recipe.
Just so you know, I dump everything in my Bosch and start mixing. Yep, I start it on low and work up to high, it’s easy to make this recipe, I promise. It’s actually a no-fail recipe that anyone can make. You can actually make French bread rolls with the same recipe.
Just mold them differently and cut the cooking time according to how big you make the rolls. You can make these loaves on a greased cookie sheet as well. You may remember, I worked at a fabulous Kitchen store and I loved to buy the fancy kitchen tools because I enjoy cooking and baking almost everything.
- 2-1/2 cups hot water
- 4 teaspoons SAF instant yeast
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon shortening or melted butter
- 6 cups bread flour
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I dump everything in a bowl or my Bosch bread mixer and mix the bread dough for about 6-8 minutes. I then cut the dough with a dough cutter into two sections. I roll out the two pieces of dough into a rectangle shape and roll up into a tube shape and place them on a greased cookie sheet or French bread/baguette pan. Grease some plastic wrap and cover the dough and let rise until double in size. Just before placing the loaves in the oven to bake, remove the plastic wrap and use a sharp knife to slice a few shallow cuts on the diagonal on the top of the dough. Preheat the oven to (400°F) = (204°C) and bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown. Lightly brush the baked loaves with butter on the tops and serve while warm.
Step One-Instructions:
I dump everything in a bowl or my Bosch bread mixer and mix the dough about 6-8 minutes.
Step Two:
I then cut the dough with a dough cutter into three sections. OXO Good Grips Multi-purpose Stainless Steel Scraper & Chopper
Step Three:
I roll out the three pieces of dough into a rectangle shape and roll up into a tube shape and place on a greased cookie sheet or French bread/baguette pan as shown: Chicago Metallic Commercial II Non-Stick Perforated Baguette Pan
Grease some plastic wrap and cover the dough and let rise until double in size. Just before placing the loaves in the oven to bake, use a sharp knife to slice a few shallow cuts on the diagonal on the top of the dough. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown. Lightly brush the baked loaves with butter on the tops and serve while warm.
Hi, Linda! I just wanted to say this is a great bread recipe… plus it’s quick and easy. What more could you ask for? The only thing I do differently is I use my double french bread loaf pan. It’s, also, Chicago Metallic Commercial II. I love it and I’m sure the baguette pan is just as wonderful. I hope you’re having a great day! Big hugs, Mare
Hi Mare, oh my goodness, NOW I need to get the double Chicago Metallic Commercial pan! I haven’t seen that one! Between the two of us, we could bake any loaf of bread in the world, any size we would like to bake! Hugs! Linda
I got mine on Amazon several years ago. I just checked and they still have them. They even cost less than when I bought mine!
Hi Mare, I think they are cheaper now because they have been on the market for a while now! Yay! Linda
About how long does it take to rise? Looks wonderful!
Hi Melissa, I can usually make this French bread start to finish in one hour. Call me old fashioned but it was overcast outside and it took much longer to rise. Is it an old wives tale? I don’t know but I never make bread unless it’s a sunny day. I made homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner with friends and I didn’t want to make dinner rolls so I made this recipe. I make it all the time it’s a fluffy bread and goes well with just about any meal. Linda
I wonder if I could add some vinegar to make it a bit “sour dough”?
Hi Dana, I’m not sure about adding vinegar to make it a bit sourdough. I would try it! Linda
I have a lot of all purpose flour that I have stocked up that I need to use. Do you think it would work for this recipe?
Hi Jessica, yes, I used it for years before I could buy bread flour. Linda
The recipe states for 2 loaves bout the instructions state 3. I guess it depends how big you want your loaves.
Thanks. Baking now 2 big loaves.
Hi Robin, thank you for pointing that out. It can be 2 larger loaves or 3 smaller loaves. It depends on your pans. Linda
Thanks for the reply. I made 2 loaves and just shaped and baked on a cookie sheet. Turned out delicious. So soft with a nice crumb. I have a proofing box and boy did they rise. I used convection bake so lowered the heat to 380 but I think the 400 degrees would have made the crust a bit crispier like we enjoy. Thanks for sharing. This recipe is a keeper. Quick and easy.
Hi Robin, thank you for the 5 stars, my friend! I’m so glad you liked the recipe! We use that recipe all the time!!! Linda