If you have not made a loaf of homemade bread before, this is a great place to start. Our Easy Homemade French Bread is foolproof and delicious.
Actually, making your own loaf of bread can be daunting! Lucky for you, this homemade French bread recipe is completely fail-proof and made with simple ingredients!
Make this fresh bread recipe to serve with any pasta dinner recipe!
Ingredient Notes:
- Water: The water temperature is very important. You will want to use very warm water (I just use the hot water from my kitchen sink), which is what helps activate the yeast
- Yeast: For this recipe, you will want to use dry active yeast
- Sugar: To make the yeast bread, use white sugar
- Salt: Kosher salt will do great in this recipe
- Oil: Use whatever vegetable oil or olive oil you have on hand
- Flour: All-purpose flour is perfect for this recipe; no need for bread flour
- Butter: Use softened unsalted butter when mixing up this recipe
How To Make Easy Homemade French Bread:
Make dough:
- In a large bowl, mix water, yeast, and sugar until the yeast is completely dissolved.
- Add in salt, oil, and flour. Stir with a large wooden spoon or mixer until it becomes too difficult, then knead for two minutes on a floured surface.
First dough rise:
- Spray a large bowl with non-stick cooking spray and place the dough in the bowl, and drape plastic wrap over the mixing bowl.
- Cover with a dish towel and let it rise until it doubles in size.
Shape the dough:
- Dump the dough out onto a floured surface. Cut in half and shape into a smooth, worm-like shape (or a bread loaf shape).
- Use a sharp knife and slice about ⅓ of the way down into the bread, opening up little cracks about 2″ apart. The cracks will separate more as they rise and bake.
Second dough rising:
- Place dough loaves on a greased baking sheet and let rise again until doubled (about 25-30 minutes).
Baking time:
- Bake at 375℉ for 20-30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when tapped.
- Remove bread from the oven and rub butter on top.
Expert Tips:
- I usually place the bread in my kitchen windowsill where there is sunlight and it’s a little warmer. I have found that on cooler days – like in the wintertime – it sometimes takes a little longer to double in size.
- Butter on top is optional, but it is delicious!
- This recipe doesn’t use egg wash, making it a great option for individuals who follow a vegan diet or those with egg and milk allergies.
- When using wheat flour, the bread may be a little flatter and heavier compared to using all-purpose flour due to the characteristics of wheat flour.
- It’s very important to give your bread enough time to rise. Without adequate rising time, your bread will be flat and dense, rather than fluffy and delicious. In this recipe, you will need to let your bread rise two separate times.
How to Make Bread Rise
We recommend letting your bread rise in the warmest room in your house. Keeping your bread in a warmer area will allow it to grow faster.
We like to stick ours right by the window so it gets a little sunlight. This will especially help if it’s cold outside.
Buying Active Dry Yeast
This was super intimidating to me for some reason. I was not quite sure what I was looking for, and I had no idea where to find it in the grocery store.
Active dry yeast is typically located in your grocery store on the baking aisle by the baking powder or baking soda.
You can buy yeast in small packets or a jar. If you think you might want to make this bread multiple times, or branch out to other kinds of baking, we’d recommend getting the jar.
Also, avoid getting the instant yeast for this recipe.
How to Work with Sticky Dough
Don’t let sticky dough scare you! It never hurts to add a little (no more than ¼ cup) of flour. Some days, dough is just stickier than others.
If you’ve added extra flour and are still dealing with dough that is sticking to your hands, spray a little non-stick cooking spray on your hands before you knead. The dough will slip right off and allow you to do your thing!
More bread recipes to make:
- Great Harvest Honey Whole Wheat Bread
- 30 Minute Dinner Rolls
- Homemade Bread Bowls
- Easy Homemade Naan Bread
- Make 6 Loaves of Bread in 1 Hour
French Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups very warm water, (I just use the hot water from my kitchen sink)
- 2 Tablespoons dry active yeast
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 Tablespoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil, or olive oil
- 6 cups flour
- 1 Tablespoon butter
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together water, yeast, and sugar until the yeast is completely dissolved.
- Add in salt, oil, and flour. Stir with a large wooden spoon or mixer until it becomes too difficult, then knead for two minutes on a floured surface.
- Spray a large bowl with non-stick cooking spray and place dough in the bowl. Cover with a dish towel and let it raise until it doubles in size (I usually place the bread in my kitchen window sill where there is sunlight and it's a little warmer. I have found that on cooler days – like in the winter time – it sometimes take a little longer to double in size).
- Dump dough out onto a floured surface. Cut in half and shape into a smooth, worm-like shape (or a bread loaf shape). If you want to get fancy and make your bread look the way that it does in the picture, use a sharp knife and slice about ⅓ of the way down into the bread, opening up little cracks about 2" apart. The cracks will separate more as they rise and bake.
- Place dough loaves on a greased cookie sheet and let rise again until doubled (about 25-30 minutes).
- Bake at 375℉ for 20-30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when tapped.
- Remove bread from oven and rub butter on top.
- Makes two loaves of french bread.
Notes
Nutrition
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.How to Make Homemade Garlic Bread:
One of our favorite things to make with our easy homemade french bread is garlic bread. It’s the perfect side dish to almost any meal.
To make this garlic bread, we love spreading our Homemade Garlic Butter on a few 1 inch slices.
Here’s how we do it:
- Preheat broiler on oven to high heat,
- Please 6 pieces of french bread onto cookie sheet.
- Spread garlic butter on each slice of bread.
- Broil for 3 minutes, or until top of bread begins to be toasted.
Questions & Reviews