The first time I made this bread was years and years ago. The original recipe comes from the Lawler Iowa Church Cookbook.
I am always intrigued by recipes that do something I’ve done before.
For this French bread, I combined the first three ingredients to make a paste/dough,
Then that ball goes into water.
That sits for a bit and then ends up looking like this…
I added the next ingredients and got this…
I shaped it into a ball…and let it rise.
Then I shaped it into two loaves…
I got my pan at the thrift store, but there are many options for French bread pans HERE.
My bread didn’t come out as big as it usually does. I didn’t let it rise very long as everyone was chomping at the bit to eat. I put it in the oven after only about five minutes of rising. It should have been longer.
I butter the top of the loaves after they come out of the oven.
The bread was good, even though we cut into it before it had cooled.
This is a long-time family favorite…I make it often.
Looks very good!
I really must try making this bread. I have never made bread which one puts in water to rise. That is so different and I wonder why it’s done like that. I want to try this.
Did you use packaged dry yeast or a yeast cake to make this? Yeast cakes are hard to find.
I used yeast from a jar. I always refrigerate mine.
I’m making dinner for the family today and was thinking about making bread since it is a cool day here in OK. This will be great!! I’ll make sure to let mine rise the whole time to get a nice-sized bread for the family, but yours look great!! I’ll be on the lookout for the French bread loaf pans at my local thrift store!