The BEST Homemade French Bread Recipe - I Heart Naptime (2024)

FAQs

What makes French bread better? ›

In France, bakers pay careful attention to where their flour is made and which grains are used in the milling process. The result is usually softer, heartier, and tastier bread than can be found in other parts of the world. French flour tends to be made with a lower ash content than the flour from other countries.

French bread is wider and longer than a baguette, with a much softer crust. It doesn't require any special equipment to make and it's just as versatile as a baguette, but its soft outside makes it perfect for toast or garlic bread.

If you're looking to ramp up the taste of your favorite bread recipe, we recommend adding a bit of fat. A fat like butter, olive oil or coconut oil in small quantities will help your bread achieve a higher rise and it will also boost its flavor by tenfold.

To reach moist bread you need to make sure your bread is not over-proofed, be sure to hydrate it enough during the bake until it developed a thick crust, ingredients wise it's recommended to use whole grain flour, add special fruity ingredients to give your loaf more moisture and last let it cool down completely before ...

Secret #1: The Right Flour

The French typically use Type 55 flour for their baguettes, which has a lower protein content than All-Purpose flour (usually 11.5% protein). I know that's not found in your standard supermarket, but you can buy it online from King Arthur Flour.

Tips from our Bakers

We recommend our unbleached all-purpose flour for this recipe, as its protein level and other attributes closely mimic the flour used by French bread bakers. Feel free to use unbleached bread flour, if you like; there's no need to adjust the amount of liquid, the dough will simply be a bit stiffer.

Add Sugar

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

But almost as good as a proofing box is taking a Mason jar filled halfway up with water, microwaving it for two minutes, then putting your bowl of dough into the microwave with the jar to rise. The other thing you can do is place your lidded container or bowl of dough into a second, larger bowl of warm water.

To determine whether bread is of good quality, there are several factors and characteristics you can identify. For example the crust must be crisp and of a darker tone than the inside, a strong flavour and taste due to the flour, as well as a pleasant smell. What's also important is that the conservation is longer.

There's something magical about the bread you get at your local bakeries - they're always sooo soft and fluffy. Many of these breads, especially packaged ones, are made with a ton of chemical additives such as calcium propionate, amylase, and chlorine dioxide which help keep them soft, light, and fluffy for days.

Does letting bread rise longer make it fluffier? ›

Does Rising Bread Affect Its Texture? For a fluffy bread texture, the key is to let the bread rise long enough.

It adds nutritional value to baked goods. Mainly protein, calcium, and vitamin B12 which are all necessary for a heathy diet. But we don't only look for the nutritional benefits when using milk in our bread dough. The fat and lactose in milk help with tenderizing the crumb of the bread making it softer and sweeter.

What makes them taste different is the flour, primarily, and then the yeast, the quantity of salt and then, probably most importantly, the time taken to knead the dough, how long it is left to ferment. All of these factors as flavour, and cheap, industrially made breads, are made quickly. The French take their time.

High-Quality Ingredients: Traditional French recipes emphasize quality ingredients like rich butter, fine flour, and fresh cream. Culinary Heritage: French baking is deeply rooted in history and tradition, with each region boasting its unique specialties.

The baguette is recognisable by its long, narrow shape, a golden, crispy, shiny crust and its distinctive scoring, the baker's signature. The crumb can vary according to the production method used.

What's the secret to a proper crusty baguette? The long fermentation helps develop the dough and produce a nice crispy, crusty crust. Adding steam to the oven by adding water or ice to a preheated baking tray or pan will help develop that crust.