French Bread Loaves with Fresh Milled Flour
French Bread Loaves are the best thing to have in the freezer for an easy weeknight meal, and these are made with fresh milled flour (even better)! This recipe makes 2 large loaves or 3 medium loaves, your choice. You can make french bread pizza, buffalo chicken open-faced sandwiches (shown below) or an oven baked sub sandwich with your favorite deli meat and cheese. I also like to serve slices of french bread with butter as an accompaniment to soup, pasta or any main dish of your choice.
This may be the easiest bread that I make. There are only a few ingredients and after a couple rises, these french bread loaves are ready to bake and always turn out perfectly.
Topping
Before you put the french bread loaves in the oven, you can top them with cheddar, Italian herbs, garlic powder, everything bagel seasoning, a combination of these or something I haven’t even mentioned. The possibilities are endless. Think about what you will use the bread for to best determine if you should add any toppings and what they should be.
Steps
These french bread loaves with fresh milled flour require a double rise, but it’s quite fast with instant yeast. The first rise will take 45 minutes to 1 hour and the second rise is usually only 30 to 45 minutes. When you’re rolling up the loaves, tug lightly to build a little tension in the loaf.
French Bread Loaf with Fresh Milled Flour
Ingredients
- 635 grams hard white wheat berries
- 500 grams water
- 1 tablespoon (21 grams) honey
- 3 1/2 teaspoons (12 grams) instant yeast
- 2 1/2 teaspoons (13 grams) fine sea salt
- olive oil for coating the proofing vessel
Instructions
- Mill the wheat berries, set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the water and honey. Briefly whisk to combine. Add the flour to the bowl, with the dough hook, mix until no dry flour remains. Let mixture sit for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, add the yeast and salt to the flour mixture, knead on speed #2 (if you’re using a Kitchenaid stand mixer) for 11-12 minutes, until the dough passes the windowpane test. While it’s kneading, add a little bit of oil to a clear, straight sided proofing vessel. Move the kneaded dough to the oiled proofing vessel and let rise until the dough has doubled in size, which usually takes 45 minutes to 1 hour. While the dough rises, line a large metal baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside.
- Lightly punch the dough down and transfer to a clean surface, you can use a little flour if you’re concerned about it sticking. Divide the dough into two equal pieces (or three depending on how big you want the loaves to be) and roll out into a rectangle, approximately 10 x 14 inches. Roll into a log from the short end, pinch to seal the seam and gently pinch and tuck the ends under. Carefully transfer loaves to the prepared baking sheet. Cut three slits in the top of each french bread loaf. Cover gently with a towel and let rise another 30 minutes, until puffy. After 30 minutes, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, until golden brown and the internal temperature is at least 190 degrees. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.