Rochelle’s French Bread

This is an easy dough to handle for an easy bread with a fine texture.

6 cups All-Purpose Flour

2 tablespoons Active Dry Yeast

1 ½ teaspoons salt

2 cups warm water

Cornmeal

1 Egg White, slightly beaten

1 tablespoon water

In a large mixing bowl stir together 2 cups flour, yeast, and salt. Add 2 cups warm water and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for half a minute, scraping down the bowl constantly. Beat for an additional 3 minutes on high speed. Use a wooden spoon and add the remaining flour. Turn dough onto a floured counter and kneed to make a stiff dough that will be smooth and elastic. About 10 minutes. Place dough ball in a slightly oiled bowl turning to coat all sides with the oil. Cover and let rise until double in size or about 1 hour. Punch dough down and turn out on a lightly floured counter and cut in half, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Spray a baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Roll one of the dough halves into a rectangle and tightly roll along the long side, pinch the ends to form a taper. Place on the cornmeal covered pan seam side down and repeat with the second half of the dough. In a small bowl stir together the egg white and 1 tablespoon of water. Brush the loaves with the egg whites and cover and let rise until double in size about 1 hour. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. After the dough has doubled in size use a sharp knife and make 3 or 4 cuts about ¼ inch deep across the loaves. Bake for 20 minutes. Brush tops with the remaining egg white mixture and bake an additional 20 minutes. Bread will sound hollow when tapped. Remove to a wire cooling rack.

Note: You can divide the dough into 4 parts to make French baguettes for sandwiches if you do you will need to reduce the second cooking time down to about 10 minutes.