Wish you could make a classic loaf of crusty French bread at home? You can! And it's actually pretty easy. Follow my step by step instructions with pictures and enjoy a hot loaf of this soft bread with a crusty crust from your own kitchen with salad or a big bowl of soup!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Tastes better than what you can buy at the store.
- Has a golden brown, chewy, crusty crust with a light, fluffy center.
- Can be made into Bread Bowls for soup.
Ingredient Notes
- Flour - all purpose, not bread flour and never self rising flour.
- Yeast - Active dry and instant are the same thing.
Step by Step Instructions
- Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water in your mixing bowl. I use a 6 quart stand mixer fitted with a dough hook to make this bread, but it can be made by hand as well.
- Let it sit for about 5 minutes to let the yeast get foamy.
- Add the olive oil, salt and flour.
- As you can see in picture 8 it looks like there is too much flour, but don't worry, it will all mix in.
- After all the flour is mixed in your dough should look like picture 9, a shaggy ball of dough that cleans the sides of the mixing bowl.
- Knead at a medium speed for 5 minutes, or by hand for 10 minutes. The dough should end up like picture 10 and 11, very smooth, elastic-y and the sides of the bowl should be completely clean.
- Remove the dough hook and cover the bowl with a clean dish towel to rise.
- Over the next hour, about every 10 minutes or so, knead the dough in the bowl about 3 times. This is going to create that chewy crust. It doesn't have to be exactly every ten minutes, but you need to have kneaded the dough at least 4 times over that hour.
- After the hour just let the dough rise until doubled. This should take about 30 minutes.
- Once the dough has risen double it's size, dump it out on a lightly floured surface.
- Divide it in half.
- Shape each half into a long loaf being sure to pinch the seams shut.
- Each loaf should be about 12 inches long.
- Place each loaf on a french bread pan if you have one or a baking sheet lightly sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
- Cover to let rise until doubled.
- While the loaves are rising, place an empty aluminum (never glass) baking sheet on the very bottom rack of your oven.
- Make sure the other rack is in the center of your oven.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Slash each loaf before baking.
- After placing the bread on the center oven rack to bake, before closing the oven door, throw a ½ cup of water onto the now super hot baking sheet you placed on the bottom oven rack and quickly close the oven door.
- This creates steam that sets that crusty, chewy crust you want.
- Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.
- Loaves should be golden brown and sound hollow when thumped.
- Cool at least ten minutes before eating.
Recipe FAQs and Expert Tips
We like pasta served with either a tomato sauce or an Alfredo Sauce or perhaps with some Lasagna. Soups like Creamy Chicken Noodle or Broccoli Cheese go well with french bread. For a little bit lighter meal try some salads like Chicken Pasta Caesar Salad or Salmon Piccata Salad.
It's best the first 24 hours after it's baked and still good the second day. After that it starts to go a little dry.
You can make some Garlic Bread! Or you can make some fantastic French Bread Pizza! You can even make this amazing S'more French Bread Casserole!
Yes, just make sure it's completely cool before preparing and placing in the freezer.
A baguette is much longer and thinner than the average loaf of french bread. The outer crust is usually a bit tougher as well.
Related Bread Recipes
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Homemade French Bread Recipe
- Prep Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 55 minutes
- Yield: 2 Loaves 1x
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: French
Description
Wish you could make a classic loaf of crusty French bread at home? You can! And it's actually pretty easy. Follow my step by step instructions with pictures and enjoy a hot loaf of this soft bread with a crusty crust from your own kitchen!
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups Warm Water
- ¼ cup Sugar
- 2 Tbs Active Dry Yeast
- ¼ cup Olive Oil
- 3 tsp Salt
- 6 cups All Purpose Flour
Instructions
- Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer. (You can make this bread by hand too, it will just take some muscle).
- Let stand about 5 minutes until foamy.
- Mix in the oil, salt, and flour using a dough hook.
- Once all the flour is mixed in, and it may take a minute to work all the flour in, knead at a medium speed for 5 minutes (10 minutes by hand).
- Cover dough with a dish towel and set in a warm place.
- Over the next hour, knead the dough about 3 times approximately every 10 minutes. It doesn't have to be exactly every 10 minutes, just make sure to have kneaded the dough at least 4 times over the next hour.
- After that hour let the dough rise until doubled. This will take about 30 minutes.
- Dump dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough in half.
- Shape each half into a long loaf pinching the seams shut. Each loaf should end up about 12 inches long.
- Place each loaf on a french bread pan or on a lightly greased baking sheet or french bread pan.
- Cover the french bread loaves and set in a warm place to rise until doubled.
- Cover to let rise until doubled.
- While the loaves are rising, place an empty aluminum (never glass) baking sheet on the very bottom rack of your oven.
- Make sure the other rack is in the center of your oven.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Slash each loaf before baking.
- After placing the bread on the center oven rack to bake, before closing the oven door, throw a ½ cup of water onto the now super hot baking sheet you placed on the bottom oven rack and quickly close the oven door.
- This creates steam that sets that crusty, chewy crust you want.
- Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.
- Loaves should be golden brown and sound hollow when thumped.
- Cool at least ten minutes before eating.
Notes
- I use a 6 quart stand mixer to make this bread, but you can make it by hand as well.
- Click HERE to see how to make Bread Bowls with this recipe.
Keywords: french bread, crusty french bread, homemade french bread, soft french bread
Any nutritional analysis on this Site is based on an estimate, calculated by Nurtifox plugin (or other third-party source) from the individual ingredients in each recipe. Variations may occur for various reasons, including product availability and food preparation. We make no representation or warranty of the accuracy of this information.
Deena
I don't have a stand up mixer I'm doing it by hand.
The dough is very dry.
And kinda crumbley
It workable
Is this normal? How do I correct it
Mindee
Yes, that's very normal. It's going to take a bit of muscle to knead in all the flour.
Sara Welch
This was such a light and fluffy bread and much easier than I expected! Definitely a new favorite and way better than the store bought version!
★★★★★
Angela
The BEST recipe for French bread! I am obsessed with how easy this was and it turned out so delicious. My go-to recipe from now on. Thanks so much for sharing!
★★★★★
EA Stewart
I love how easy this recipe is! Perfect with an end-of-summer salad right now, and a warm bowl of soup in the fall!
★★★★★