Homemade French Bread

What is the secret of French bread, you ask? Let me show you! You will be surprised at how easy this French bread recipe is! Just follow my step-by-step instructions or watch my how-to video to make your own long loaves of this crusty bread!

Jump to:

• Why You'll Love This Recipe
• Ingredient Notes
• How to Make
• Recipe FAQs and Expert Tips
• Recipes to Serve with French Bread
• Homemade French Bread Recipe

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!
• Nothing better than fresh homemade bread made in your own kitchen!

Ingredient Notes

• Flour - All-purpose flour, not bread flour, and never self-rising flour.
• Yeast - Active dry yeast, rapid-rise yeast, and instant yeast are the same thing.
• Olive Oil - Canola oil, coconut oil, or vegetable oil may be substituted for the olive oil.

How to Make

• Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water in the bowl of your stand mixer. I use a 6-quart stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment 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 6 cups of flour to the yeast mixture.
• 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 pictures 10 and 11, very smooth and elastic-y, and the sides of the bowl should be completely clean.
• Remove the dough hook and cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel to rise to room temperature. 
• 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 to double its size, dump it out on a lightly floured surface.
• Divide it in half.
• Shape each half of the bread dough into a long loaf, being sure to pinch the seams shut.

• Each loaf of bread should be about 12 inches long log.
• Place each loaf on a French bread pan seam side down 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 with a sharp knife 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, crispy crust you want.
• Bake the loaves of bread at 375 for 20-25 minutes.
• Loaves should be golden brown and sound hollow when thumped.
• Cool for at least ten minutes before eating.

Recipe FAQs and Expert Tips

Recipes to Serve with French Bread

• Best Clam Chowder
• Best Potato Bacon Soup
• Chicken Cordon Bleu Soup
• Hearty Homemade Corn Chowder
• Beer Cheese Soup

Have you tried this recipe? If so, leave me a rating and a comment below! And don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter to get my latest recipes sent right to your email! You can also follow me on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram