Pain Français

We're off for one last weekend in Paris.

I couldn't resist sharing with you

the recipe I love most and make most:

Pain Français.

If you are not a baker,

you are thinking,

Non, non, non!

Pain? Non!

Trop difficile!

Shhh! Come here. Now I'm going to let you in on a secret:

Baking bread is the easiest thing you will ever do. Shhh!

Any book on baking will have great ideas to help you.

I used this book, Baking, by James Peterson.

Here's all it takes to make two wonderful loaves of French bread:

6 cups flour

.75 ounce active dry yeast

1 1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups warm water

That's it.

Just flour, yeast, salt, water.

What could be easier?

I stir some of the flour with some of the water and the yeast

and let it sit until it bubbles a little (an hour?)

Then I stir in more of the flour and water

and add the salt.

I knead it for about ten minutes.

It will feel smooth when it is just right.

I let it rise until it doubles,

punch it down, and knead it again.

After it has risen again,

I roll it out into long lovely loaves and

let it rise for a little on the baking pan.

Then I pop it into the oven at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

(Sometimes I slash the tops of the loaves

before I put it in the oven,

and sometimes I place a glass bowl of water on the bottom rung of the oven

to give the bread a beautiful crust.)

Then it is out of the oven

and I slice enough for our meal,

and add lots of butter.

Yum!

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend.You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.