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This is the BEST homemade French bread and is so easy to make! It’s soft, tasty, and comes out perfect every time.
Use this French Bread to make Easy French Toast, Easy Bruschetta, and even Homemade Croutons! Definitely a favorite bread recipe.
the best homemade French bread!
We love Homemade Bread and after my mom mastered this homemade French Bread recipe, we now love it too! We’ve officially added it to our go-to bread recipes because it’s amazing.
Why we love this recipe:
- It’s simple! With simple ingredients and easy steps, this recipe is no-fail!
- Made with pantry staples. All of the ingredients are ones you should have in the pantry or fridge, which means you can make it any time.
- Versatile. This french bread can be used to eat on its own, or use it to make Croutons, French Toast Casserole or serve it with your favorite soup recipe.
- Easy to store and freeze. Like most breads, this is easy to make ahead of time and freeze which is always a bonus!
French Bread Ingredients
- Rapid Rise Yeast – Active dry yeast, instant yeast and rapid rise yeast all work for this bread recipe.
- Warm Water – This is used to activate the yeast.
- Hot Water
- Vegetable Oil
- Sugar
- Salt
- All-Purpose Flour – Bread flour can also be used for this recipe.
- Egg
- Cornmeal – you can also use vegetable oil instead of cornmeal.
How to Make French Bread
- PREP. Prep baking sheets by lining with parchment paper and sprinkle with cornmeal. Preheat oven to 375°F.
- YEAST. Dissolve yeast in ½ cup warm water. In another bowl, combine hot water, sugar, salt, oil, and 3 cups of flour – stir. With the paddle attachment, mix the yeast and hot water/flour mixture until combined.
- DRY INGREDIENTS. Add remaining flour, one cup at a time, mixing after each cup. Once all flour is added, let sit for 10 minutes.
- To make without a stand mixer: Mix, then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it for about 8-10 minutes, until it becomes smooth and elastic.
- ROLL. Separate dough into 3 pieces. On a floured surface, roll each piece into a 9×12 rectangle. Roll it up like a jelly roll (long way).
- SCORE + BRUSH. Place dough on a prepared baking sheet (greased baking sheets work too, but we prefer the cornmeal method), seam side down. Score the bread across the top 3 or 4 times and brush with beaten egg wash.
- RISE + BAKE. Let dough rise, uncovered, for 30 minutes in a warm place. Bake at 375°F for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Why Do I score the top of french bread?
Scoring bread simply means using a sharp knife or razor blade to make slashes on top of the dough that is ready for the oven. The slashes help control the way the bread will expand while it bakes, otherwise, it will expand anywhere that the dough is weak, creating an odd shape.
make it extra crusty
You’re going to need to simulate a baker’s oven to create a crispy crust:
- PREP. Place a baking stone on the center rack. Preheat oven to 450ºF. Put a metal broiler pan on the lower rack (at least 4 inches below the baking stone).
- SCORE. Once risen, transfer the bread to a baking peel sprinkled with flour. Slash slits on the tops of the loaves and lightly spray the loaves with water.
- BAKE. Slide the loaves onto the preheated baking stone and add 1 cup of HOT water to the broiler tray. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F and bake for 20 minutes.
- SPRAY. After 10 minutes use the water bottle to spray the bread every 3 minutes for the remainder of the bake time.
- COOL! Use the baking peel to remove the bread from the oven and cool. The result – crusty French bread which is to die for!!
Recipe Tips
- Knead. You won’t need to hand knead this bread, but be sure to mix each cup of flour sufficiently. Use the paddle or dough hook attachment on a stand mixer and mix at medium speed. Mixing well will help activate the gluten to make an elastic dough which will then create a better structure to the bread.
- Special pan. Some recipes call for baking in French bread pans, but I simply use a regular cookie sheet or jelly roll pan.
Storing Tips
- STORE baked bread inside a plastic bag, bread box, or aluminum foil. The bread should last 2-3 days.
- FREEZE. Once the bread has been baked let it cool, wrap in parchment paper, and then foil. This easy French bread recipe can last for up to 3 months in the freezer. When you’re ready to eat, remove from the freezer and thaw.
- To reheat place in oven, preheated to 400°F, for 4-5 minutes or until warm.
Uses + Pairings
This French bread recipe can be used to make pizza, bruschetta, or slather on some garlic butter for a side of garlic bread- the possibilities are endless!
Here are some of our favorites we make using the French bread:
It also pairs well with:
Pairs well with:
French Bread Recipe
This is the BEST homemade French bread and is so easy to make! It's soft, tasty, and comes out perfect every time.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup cornmeal
- 2 tablespoons rapid rise yeast
- ½ cup warm water 110–115°F
- 2 cups hot water
- 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 6 cups all-purpose flour divided
- 1 egg beaten
Instructions
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle evenly with cornmeal. (Greased baking sheets work too, but we prefer the cornmeal method.)
- In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine hot water, oil, sugar, salt, and 3 cups of the flour. Mix together with the paddle attachment.
- Add yeast mixture and mix to combine.
- Add remaining 3 cups of flour 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Once all of the flour is added, let dough rest for 10 minutes.
- Place dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into three pieces. Roll each piece into a 9-x-12-inch rectangle. Roll each rectangle up from the long edge like a jelly roll.
- Place each dough roll on a prepared baking sheet, seam side down.
- Score the bread across the top 3 or 4 times, and brush each loaf with beaten egg for a crisp and shiny crust. Let dough rise, uncovered, for 30 minutes in a warm place.
- Toward the end of the rise, preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Bake on the middle rack for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Video
Notes
Make ahead of time. To freeze baked loaves, let the bread cool and wrap in parchment paper, then aluminum foil. It can last for up to 3 months in the freezer. When you are ready to eat, remove from the freezer and thaw at room temperature. To reheat, preheated the oven to 400°F and bake for 4–5 minutes, or until warm.
Use it up. This recipe is a great bread for some of our other recipes, including Bruschetta, French Toast Casserole, French Toast, and Cheesy Garlic Bread.
Nutrition
Serving: 1loaf, Calories: 1037kcal, Carbohydrates: 214g, Protein: 30g, Fat: 5g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 1g, Trans Fat: 0.01g, Cholesterol: 55mg, Sodium: 2363mg, Potassium: 357mg, Fiber: 9g, Sugar: 13g, Vitamin A: 79IU, Vitamin C: 0.01mg, Calcium: 55mg, Iron: 12mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This is total french bread perfection, so soft and fluffy and delicious!
Nothing better then home bread. So delicious
This is by far the best bread!! My family loves it! We’ve used it for sandwiches, garlic bread, just some warm homemade bread with butter…the list goes on!
This is perfection! Seriously delicious!
Thanks for sharing the crusty bread tip. It is alot simpler than i thought it would be.
The best bread recipe I’ve ever found. I have added this to my permanent collection of recipes that I will use forever! Absolutely nothing needs to be modified about the recipe, unless you want to add various herbs to get a different flavor. It actually is perfect for normal sandwich bread slices, so I bake two loaves in bread pans for 30 minutes instead of 25 (at the same temperature). I wish that the nutrition information catered more to “per slice” since I don’t eat an entire loaf in one sitting.
Thank you for sharing all that!! Yes, you can add herbs to give it more flavor, but you are right, it is perfect on it’s own!
Wow!! This bread was so oooh good! Definitely wi be making this going forward. I will not be buying French bread from the store! Thank you for sharing this! It’s amazing!
I am glad to share! Yeah, we never have to buy it anymore 🙂
This was so good! Thanks for the recipes and the video!
This bread is totally intimidating to me. but it worked out well. My family thought so too as it was gone quickly. I think with some practice it will get even better. I loved the first comment below about shaping it differently.
This was the best bread ever!! Right out of the oven, with some butter…heavenly!! It was gone in minutes! I will be making it again soon, so I could make sandwiches, garlic bread, bruschetta…so many recipes!