French Bread

Jeff's gone for the week.  I have 3 hungry kiddos to kept fed, but 3 kiddos who don't necessarily like what I fix for dinner when dad's around.  So, Friday I raided my local Small-Mart (walmart's grocery-only store) and their entire frozen food section.  (I very nearly took a picture of my shopping cart for a "what-not-to-eat" post ;)  One of the things I grabbed was a bag of meatballs.  I figured the kids love them and I could do a number of things with them that I would enjoy and that the kids would still eat.  Meatballs were sounding mighty good today and so was some fresh bread.  I decied that a spaghetti and meatball dinner would hit the spot.  But for it to be a real spaghetti dinner, there must be a green salad with ranch and french bread.  I called my mom and found out it is surprisingly easy to make a loaf of french bread.  Here's her super easy recipe:

French Bread
1/2 cup warm water

2 T. yeast

2 c. hot water

3 T. sugar

1/3 c. oil

6 c. unsifted flour

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 c. warm water.  Combine remaining ingredients (use only 3 c. of flour to start with).  Add yeast mixture.  Stir with heavy spoon (well-blended).  Let dough rest for 10 minutes and then beat down.  Repeat this step for a total of 5 times (about 50 minutes).  Turn out on to floured surface.  Knead just enough to cover dough with flour.  Divide into 2 pieces.  Roll out 1st section with rolling pin into a rectangle.  Start on one side and roll (as you would for cinnamon rolls).  Transfer loaf to greased pan, seam side down, and tuck ends under.  Repeat with 2nd section of dough.  Let raise for 30 minutes. Cut 3 slashes across the top of each loaf (careful to not deflate your dough).  Beat 1 egg and brush across the tops for a shiny, crusty top.  Bake at 400 degrees on the middle rack for 30 minutes.

This was SUCH an easy recipe.  We may be having fresh bread at our home more often now!