Homemade French Bread

I have always wanted to make French Bread. It is a pretty simple bread to make, with only 4 ingredients. I was making Chicken Pesto Pasta, using my homemade Almond Pesto for dinner,  so I thought that this would be perfect to make along with dinner. I decided to baked bread, even though I had a busy cleaning day today because the actual work to make bread is not that long ( I received a wonderful KitchenAid Mixer for my wedding). So, I threw the ingredients in the bowl, allowed the kitchenaid to do the kneading and I let it rise. In the end, I made a nice loaf of bread that was soft on the inside but had a nice crust. It was perfect for mopping up any remaining Pesto sauce and tomorrow, will be great for making Paninis.

Homemade French Bread

Ingredients:

3 cups of flour

1 cup of warm water

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

3 teaspoons of active dry yeast

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients and knead until you have a soft, elastic dough.
2. Allow dough to rest for 15 minutes and then knead again.
3. Place dough in a greased bowl and cover. Let dough rise for 2 hours.
4. Punch down dough and roll out into a rectangle.
5. Using the longer side of the rectangle, roll dough and place on baking sheet, seam side down and ends tucked under loaf.
6. Allow dough to rise for 2 hours.
7. Bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes

Soft inside with a toasty crust!

Enjoy!