What? Quick French bread that’s also easy? It sounds too good to be true, I know, but I’m here to tell you it’s not only possible… I’ve done it!
I’ve seen this recipe (and others that are very similar) popping up all over Pinterest lately and I was curious. My bread making tends to be of the laziest kind – using a bread machine. I use a bread machine because I really don’t have time to kneed the dough properly, so I let the machine do it for me. There are just too many other tasks on my To Do list and this is one I can happily delegate. So I do.
There are times though, when time is limited and that’s where this quick French bread recipe comes into it’s own. It takes under an hour to make, from start to finish. ONE HOUR! Plus, a good sized loaf cost me around $1.50 to make, and I used bread flour which is more expensive than plain, all purpose flour.
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Quick French Bread Details
You can see the full quick French bread recipe here but I needed to tweak it a bit as I’m in a metric measurement part of the world. I used the same quantities as the original version, just in their metric versions, that is, I used one metric tablespoon (20ml) as a direct substitute for one imperial tablespoon (16ml). Plus, I only used about 3 cups of flour but our cups are 250ml. So… that’s just a really long winded way of saying I didn’t follow the Quick French Bread recipe exactly. Thankfully, it appears to be very forgiving and the loaf has turned out beautifully.
The End Result?
I’ve just devoured a slice (ok, it was really TWO slices… with butter) and somehow, I managed to wait until it had cooled before tucking into it. Amazing! The crust and texture are much like a traditional baguette. A good crunch to the crust and a dense chewy texture. I’m definitely sold. I didn’t think a bread that could go from separate ingredients to finished product in an hour could possibly be this good. Another example of how simple ingredients (flour, honey, salt and yeast) can combine to create tasty and frugal food.
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When you can make bread this good, this quickly, why would you buy the mass produced product at the grocery store?
Do you bake your own bread? Have you tried this recipe yet?