Thursday, February 11, 2010

Flat French Bread


I wanted to share a recipe that comes from my days in college. (I still have the original hand written recipe, as seen in the photo above.) I've adjusted it a little but it is still basically the same yummy bread that I remember. My roommate introduced the recipe to me and we often made it on Sunday afternoons. It is one of those recipes that you can't fail at . . . and that I often make when guests come for dinner. It is always a hit and most don't go home without asking for the recipe (maybe that is just a polite thing to do but it always makes me feel good).

Flat French Bread

1 1/2 T yeast
2 cups warm water
1 T sugar
2 t salt
4 to 4 1/2 cups white flour (I like to use unbleached white flour.)
4 to 8 T melted butter

Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water in a large mixing bowl. Stir in salt. Add flour and stir* until dough is no longer sticky adding additional flour as needed. Let rise in a greased bowl until double in bulk about one hour.

*I pretty much did this all by hand during my college days but now that I have a KitchenAid I like to kneed it in the machine. But it rises without a whole lot of kneeding so the mixer is not necessary.

Press dough into a well-greased 9X13 pan. (I have found that using shortening to grease the pan makes a wonderful crust! But however you choose to grease it will work fine, just be sure to grease the pan!)

So here comes the part that probably makes the bread so tasty . . . pour 4 to 8 tablespoons of melted butter over the dough. (Depending how much your conscience allows you to use!) Sprinkle with sesame seeds, parmesan cheese, minced garlic, or rosemary.

Bake at 400 degrees until golden, about 20 - 25 minutes.



I used butter and minced garlic on this batch. We ate almost the whole pan for dinner!
I think it has something to do with the white flour and butter!

5 comments:

  1. Is this pretty easy to make? I only ask because I have a habit of ruining any recipe that involves baking.

    Maybe that's why my husband doesn't ask me to make bread anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, it is so easy to make. Like I said I made it as a college student and at that time bread making was not my forte. Now I love to make bread and have managed to figure out how to make 100% whole wheat that actually rises and tastes good.

    Try it and let me know if it works out for you! But baking does require practice!

    Thanks for visiting my blog!

    ReplyDelete
  3. mmm I love this bread :] And I think it is easy to make. I usually mess everything up when I am cooking or baking, but I can make this bread, no problem :]

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is Tricia. I am on Karissa's account. :) We are having that tonight with our dinner. It is one of our favorites too! We like putting parmesan on ours but have used garlic too!

    Happy Valentines Day!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Judi! How do you make this 100% whole wheat? Or where you talking about your other bread (which I also love!) This is one of my favorite bread recipes...I make this a lot when I have guests coming for dinner and I never have any left! One time, I invited a guy (and he brought his roommates too) and I will always remember them fighting over the last crumb (literally!)! :) Emily

    ReplyDelete