Bundted French Bread

Ah….the smell of homemade bread in the house.  Nothing better than digging the jowls into hot bread out of the oven.  French bread is easy to make but on the tough side.  Day old French bread makes the perfect crouton toasted in the oven or wonderful French toast.

Today I am including two recipes using French bread.

To make French bread I use my kitchen aid mixer, but this can be done by bread machine or hand.  Make sure your bread machine favors the volume of this recipe.

• Dissolve 2 1/4 teas yeast into 1 1/4 C warm water (not too warm around 105 – 115 degrees F) using the kitchen aid mixer bowl
• Add a tablespoon honey
• Add 3 1/2 C All purpose flour
• 1 T butter room temperature

Turn mixer and incorporate ingredients using the dough hook.  Once all is incorporated, dough will be wet.  In the kitchen aid mixer bowl, I use olive oil to coat the dough ball to keep as much moisture from escaping but enough to keep the yeast bubbles going.  It may take a couple tablespoons.  Put in a warm, draft free place for an hour or until doubled in bulk.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Punch dough down, remove from bowl and using a bit of flour, roll dough into a log.  Spray canola oil inside bundt pan.  I use a bundt stone, but cast iron or aluminum will work.  Lay log into bundt pan.

Pinch ends of log together and allow second rise of about 45 minutes.  Bake in bundt pan for 25 minutes.  Once bread is out, let cool for 10 minutes and then invert bread on rack to finish the cooling process.

I made sandwiches from this bread and because I baked it in the bundt pan it was softer, chewier, and very filling.

Make a sandwich with whatever toppings you desire.

If you see in the slices above, I reserved some bundt goodness for the next recipe.  I failed to take pictures as French toast is not very photogenic.

French toast is so much better when you use French bread.  Because you are using a nice stable, hearty bread, it will not fall apart in the batter and you will have French toast success every time.

Combine the following in a mixing bowl

• 2 beaten eggs
• 1/2 C milk
• 1/4 teas vanilla (the secret ingredient)
• 1/8 ground cinamon

Dunk bread slices in batter and fry bread in a hot skillet with about an inch of oil.  Toast will turn nicely brown, flip and repeat for the other size.  Drizzle with maple syrup or confectioners sugar.

Enjoy!