Breadsticks anyone?

My Grandma Temple is the queen of homemade bread.  As a kid I remember her and my mom making bread.  It would seem to take forever to rise, and then we had to wait again!  Learning to make bread was one of those “watch and learn” experiences.  I don’t remember being taught the recipe, but rather the techniques.  Now years later I do have her recipe which makes the best bread and cinnamon rolls EVER.  Her recipe involves eggs and scalded milk which doesn’t fit into my everyday life.  It also makes A LOT of bread.  Instead, for daily (not special holidays) consumption, I make French bread.  It uses just water, flour, salt, sugar and yeast – all stuff I have on hand. 

I was thinking of making some bread (French bread) today.  I love to make bread, but was trying to decide if I wanted to go through with the effort.  Not the effort to make it, but the effort to stay away from it.  Good bread is a horrendous temptation for me and does not play well into my eating plan.  Just then, Michael walked into the kitchen.  “I was thinking of making some French bread, what do you think?”  He said nothing, but instead smiled a sly sneaky grin.  That, my friends, is enough motivation to make some bread.

I have made this recipe hundreds of times.  It makes two loaves.  I have used the loaves to make garlic bread, French toast and simply for sandwiches and toasting.  But here is my plan and we will see how it works out.  I want to make one loaf and then make breadsticks with the rest of it. 

So here we go – French bread.  I promise, it is easy and I have found some ways to make it foolproof.  Let’s start with the two most important tools.

I have a big “A” bowl made by Tupperware.  It allows room for the dough to rise and for me to mix in without making too big a mess.  I also have a candy thermometer.  The biggest part of making bread is getting the liquid the right temp for the yeast. 

  

Step 1 – Making the dough.

In your big “A” bowl, add

• 2 Tbsp of active dry yeast.

I buy a jar of it and keep it in the fridge.   

 

Heat 2 cups of water in a Pyrex measuring cup in the microwave.  You will want it to be between 110° and 115° F.  I tend to overheat it and wait for it to cool down to this range.

 Add the water to the yeast.  Mix it until it is dissolved.   

Now add:

• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar

Mix.  The smell coming off the yeast is heavenly!  Darn, why does bread have to be so amazing!   

Now add two cups of flour.  Mix well.   

Now add another 2 cups of flour to make the dough pull from the edges of the bowl and hold together. 

Step 2 – Kneading the Dough

I was always confused by how long I should knead the dough.  My standard cookbook of reference (Fannie Farmer) states until it is elastic.  I don’t know about you but that isn’t good enough for me.  Elastic like a waistband or elastic like well chewed bubble gum?  And how exactly does that feel?  There is a whole science to why bread is kneaded and how the yeast activates, but instead of delving into all that we will move on.  With this dough we will knead it for six to eight minutes, easy enough.

Flour your counter or cutting board.  With the amount shown here on my board, I did not have to add any more to keep the dough from sticking.  As I kneaded the dough, it picked up the flour.  I would pause and smooth out the flour on the board to cover the center again.   

 

Continue kneading the dough until six or eight minutes have passed or your arms fall off – whichever comes first. 

Now form the dough into a ball.  I flip it around to make sure it is all sticking together and round.

Step 3 – Letting the dough rise.

 

Rinse out your big “A” bowl and dry it.  Now take a little bit of oil and oil the inside of the bowl.  This will assure your bread doesn’t stick while it is rising.  Plop your dough into the bottom of the bowl.  Now flip it over.  The top of the bread dough will now be oiled which will keep it from drying out as it rises. 

 

Cover your dough with a dish towel (not the terry cloth kind, the old fashioned type) and place on the counter.  Let it rise for 1 hour.  My sister-in-law Cathy gave me these beautiful dishtowels for Christmas.  I love them and use them all the time in the kitchen.  They do not give off lint, so they are great when handling food and dishes.

Here is the hard part for me.  I have to leave my cutting board out with the flour on it.  I will need it when the bread is done rising, just an hour.  I could clean it, but then I would have to flour it up again to make the loaves.  This OCD girl has a hard time with this one! 

Step 4 – Preparing your loaves.

After an hour, your dough will look like this:

 Flour your cutting board or counter again and take out the dough.  Punch down the dough (fun, huh) and plop it out.  Divide the dough into two pieces. 

Shape them into loaves, about a foot long.  Oil a cookie sheet and place your loaves on it.  If your loaves have a seam (a part where the dough is separating), place this side down on the cookie sheet.  Take a serrated knife and slash across the tops of your loaves as shown.

I am only going to make one loaf this time and attempt to make breadsticks.  So I am taking the second half of the dough and rolling out individual sticks.

I divided the dough into eight pieces, then sixteen. 

I took each piece and rolled them between my palms.  They were not all the same size, not even close.  I am okay with it!

 

Cover with the same towel and let rise for only thirty minutes.  While the bread is rising, turn on your oven and preheat it to 450°.  NOW, I can clean up the mess! 

After the thirty minutes, your loaves will look like this!

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown.  When they come out of the oven they will be super hard and crusty.  

If you prefer a softer loaf, throw the same dishtowel over the loaves while they cool.  This will allow the crust to soften.  I can’t help but squeeze them a little as I walk through the kitchen! 

Breadstsick results – I heated up a little bit of butter and put in some fresh minced garlic.  I toasted the garlic in the butter and then poured it over my breadsticks as they came out of the oven.  I then covered them with a dishtowel to allow them to soften up a bit.  We all tried a bite and decided they were great!  I am thinking next time I might try to stuff them with some cheese or top them with Parmesan. 

Warning - this bread makes really great toast.  Be sure to save some for the next morning.  Good toast and a cup of coffee makes me think of my mom - she loves her toast in the morning! 

Super Warning - this bread makes superb french toast.  The bread has a good body to it which helps it hold up when cooking.  It is a really good way to use up the bread after a day or two.  This bread isn't meant to last a week - no oils or preservatives.  So you HAVE to make some french toast, don't you?