Bread Machine French Bread

French bread is so fast and easy to make using a bread machine.

My husband loves French bread. We have a Lidl grocery store near us, and it has a great bakery in it, and every time I go he asks me to bring home a baguette.

This recipe isn’t as complicated or complex as a traditional baguette, but it’s fast, easy and yields really fantastic results using the same ingredients.

Traditional baguettes are made from just flour, water, yeast and salt. Together they produce the most lovely, crusty bread with that wonderful chewiness.

This is the quick and dirty version. By using the dough cycle on the bread machine, you can chuck in all the ingredients and walk away. Once the dough has finished proofing, all that’s left is to shape the loaves, let them rise, and in a relatively short amount of time you have great bread to serve with dinner.

Bread Machine French Bread

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Prep Time 2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Course Side Dish, Snack

Servings 16

Ingredients

  

• 1 1/3 cups water lukewarm
• 3 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast one packet
• one egg mixed with one tablespoon water optional egg wash

Instructions

 

• Place the ingredients in your bread machine in the order listed in your manual and set for the dough cycle.
• Once the cycle has completed, divide the dough into two equal portions. Shape each portion into an oval, flattening the dough. Tightly roll the dough, beginning at one of the longer sides, until you have a shape that resembles a torpedo. Pinch the seams together and place seam side down onto a baking pan lined with parchment or silpat. Make sure to leave a few inches between the loaves as they need space to rise. Cover lightly with greased plastic wrap and let rise for one hour.
• As soon as you set the bread aside to rise, place a rimmed baking sheet on the lowest rack of your oven and set the other rack in the middle. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
• Once the loaves are done rising, brush them with the egg wash (if desired) and score them with a sharp knife, about half an inch down.
• Toss about a half a cup of ice cubes onto the baking pan on the bottom rack and quickly place the loaves in the oven. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, rotate the pan, and bake for an additional 8 to 10 minutes or until loaves are golden brown.
• Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing and serving.