The Best Homemade French Bread

One of my dear friends recently was flying solo with three kids since her husband was out of town for ten days.  I invited her and her kids over for dinner, assuming that she'd like a little adult interaction to break up the chaos, monotony, and overwhelming job of being alone with three kids for such a stretch.  She gladly came over.  I made this bread for them, and it was gobbled up in about three second flat.  There was pretty much a showdown for the last piece.  The kids had their knives out and were ready to defend their right to get the last slice of the greatly-desired bread.  Luckily, no blood or tears were shed.  It was a great dinner.

The next day, one of the kids that came over went up to my daughter and said, "You know, I learned two things about you last night.  First, you get a little crazy when playing Mario Party.  Second, you're mom crazy good at cooking."  Knuckles for that, Sam!

I've tried many recipes for French bread, but this one takes the cake!  It was so soft, and the texture was perfect.

When I make this, my son basically does a happy dance in the kitchen that looks more like a giraffe convulsing while on ice skates.  How's that for mental imagery!

The Best Homemade French Bread
source: bsrecipe.blogspot.com

Yield: 2 loaves

2 1/4 c warm water
2 T sugar
1 T yeast
1 T salt
2 T oil
5 1/2 - 6 flour

Directions:

Get the water temperature to about 100-110 degrees.  Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.  Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes to allow the yeast to proof (get all puffy).

Once the yeast is all puffy, pour it into your mixing bowl.  Add the salt, oil, and 3 c flour.  Use your hook attachment to mix well.  Add in the remaining 2 1/2- 3 c of flour.  Start with just 2 1/2 cups.  The dough should pull together and come off the sides but not be too sticky.  Add a little more flour at a time, as needed.

Do not remove the bowl or the hook attachment.  Leave it there for 10 minutes.  Turn on the mixer for 10 seconds to knock the dough back down.  Do that for the total of five times.  It'll take about an hour.

Divide the dough into two sections Roll each into a 9 x 13 rectangle.  Roll them up like you would with cinnamon rolls.  Pinch each edge to seal.

Sprinkle some cornmeal onto a cookie sheet.  Place each roll of dough onto the cookie sheet, seam side down.

Cut three gashes into the tops of the loaves.

Let these rise for 30 minutes.  Then, brush the top of each loaf with an egg wash (1 egg and 1 T water mixed well).

Bake in a 375 oven for 30 minutes.

Let it cool for a few minutes, slice, and slather some butter on that bad boy.  It'll blow your mind!

Santa Maria Garlic Bread

My husband makes a delicious tri-tip.  It's a recipe from BBQ USA, and it's an amazing tri-tip recipe with all the fixins.  One of the fixins is this garlic bread.  I think my dad ate half of it and my brother ate the other half.  As amazing as the meat is, I think they ate more bread than meat!  It's so simple to make, and it is delicious!

Santa Maria Garlic Bread
source: BBQ USA by Steven Raichlin (an amazing cookbook!)

1 loaf french bread
10 T butter
5 cloves garlic, minced
parsley

Slice the french bread in half horizontally.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Once it's melted, add the minced garlic and cook for another minute.  Remove from heat.  If you don't have time or don't want to use the stove, just mix in some minced garlic with the melted butter.

Brush the butter on both halves.  Don't be shy!  Drench that bad boy!  Use it all.

Place it under the broiler about six inches away from the source and bake for 2 minutes at a time.  Check on it frequently so it doesn't burn.  Once it's golden and starting to brown, take it out.

Let it cool slightly and slice.

Garlic Parmesan French Bread

My brother called me this past Saturday and asked if we wanted to go cosmic bowling with him, his girlfriend, and his son.  It was late, and we had already put in a full day.  We figured we'd give it a go.  The kids were great; the baby was content- even with the loud top 40 hits playing with the strobe lights a-flashing.  I was tired at first, but not twenty minutes into bowling, I was doing the Gangnam Style dance across the bowling lanes with my nephew.  As I looked down the lanes, I was relieved that we weren't the only ones partaking in this activity while the song was playing.  I was, however, the oldest one dancing like that by about 15 years.  Sigh.  Someday I may act my age, but not anytime soon!

I blame it on my love of cheese.  Cheese is keeping me child-like.  Kids love cheese.  String cheese.  Grilled Cheese.  Cheeseburgers.  Cut-up cheese.  Cheese sticks.  Cheese pizza.  Cheese bread.  Oh, cheese bread.  It is a glorious addition to any meal.  This garlic cheese bread was delicious,  I'm not sure if it was the layer of butter/oil/garlic on the bottom or the perfect golden browned crust.  Maybe it was a mixture of both.  Either way, this stuff is delicious.

Garlic Parmesan French Bread

source: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/garlic-bread-recipe/index.html

4  cloves garlic, minced

2 T butter

2 T olive oil

1 loaf French bread, split lengthwise

3 T grated Parmesan or mozzarella (or a combination of both)

parsley

Place garlic, butter, and oil in a small microwave-safe bowl.  Cook for 1 minute.  Set aside.

Pre-heat the broiler on low.  Put the bread, cut side up, on a cookie sheet.  Place in under the broiler for 2-3 minutes or until it is golden brown.  Take the bread out, and brush it with the butter/olive oil mixture.  Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese and parsley on top.  Put back under the broiler for 30 seconds.

Cut it into chunks.

Parmesan Party Cheese Straws

Partyin'! Partyin'! Yeah!  What says "party" more that Parmesan Party Cheese Straws?  Well, there are a few things: a pinata of a Summer Wheatley, silly string, and a cardboard cutout of John Wayne. 

These cheese sticks would be a great addition to a party though.  They turn out slightly crispy, yet chewy at the same time.  You could do a myriad of flavors if you feel like getting creative.  They are simple to make, they look neat (they kind of remind me of those happy-thought provoking twisty slides at playgrounds), and they're good.  The best part is that you don't have to make the dough or let them rise.  Breadsticks in a flash!  Who can complain about that?  Not me, my friends, not me. 

 Parmesan Party Cheese Straws
source: America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed
2 oz. of Parmesan or Asiago cheese (1 cup)
1/4 t salt
1/8 t pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Let's turn up the heat!

Once the puff pastry sheet is thawed, sprinkle it with the Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.

 Place plastic wrap over the dough and use a rolling pan to roll the dough into a ten inch square.  Rolling it out will press the cheese into the dough so it won't flee the scene when you start to twist them.

 Here is a close-up picture of the rolled-out dough.  It kind of looks like a negative picture of the night sky, minus the shreds of cheese.

 Using a pizza cutter, make about 12-13 strips.  They should be under an inch thick. 

 Grab one strip at each end and twist in opposite directions.  You can see below how they should look once they are twisted.  It's like twisting streamers at a party.  See?  The party just keeps on happening.

 Bake them for a whopping ten minutes or until they are starting to turn golden brown.  Cool for a few minutes before serving.

Now, just because they are called "Party Straws," it doesn't mean that you can only have them at a party.  For example, I made soup the other night to go along with these crispy morsels.  They were quite delightful alongside a bowl of soup. 

Cheesy Garlic Bread

As I was typing the title of this post, I realized that this was my second post that starts with "Cheesy, Garlic."  Ha!  I've got issues.  At least my issues taste good!  This bread is out of this world.  I love, love, loved it!  It is definitely cheesy and garlicky!  This bread is pretty easy to whip up, and it goes great with any Italian dinner or any other dinner for that matter.

Cheesy Garlic Bread

source: Worldwide Ward Cookbook- Secret Recipes

1/2 c butter, softened

3/4 c mayonnaise

1 bunch green onions, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 c Monterey Jack cheese

 1 loaf French bread, halved

Preheat oven to 350.

Add all ingredients except the bread in a bowl and stir to combine.  Spread the mixture over the tops of the halved French bread.

 Here is the finished product before it goes into the oven. 

 Put the bread in the oven for 8 minutes.  Set the oven to broil.  Watch the bread closely and remove it when the top is bubbly and starting to brown. 

 Remove the bread.  Let it cool slightly and cut into pieces. 

Let the drooling begin.  This bread is wonderful.

creamy garlic french bread

I'm always looking for new ways to dress up French bread. A couple years back, I found this recipe that used a cream cheese mixture to put on slices of bread and broil it. I couldn't remember where it was in my collection of cookbooks and magazines, so I threw some things together and came up with this. Yum! It was a tasty addition to the meal. I really need to get a little tripod. Sorry about the blurriness.

Creamy Garlic French Bread:

3 oz cream cheese, softened
2 T sour cream
2 T Parmesan cheese
1 T mayonnaise
1 1/2 t dried parsley
1 T green onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 slices French bread

Preheat the broiler on high.

Soften the cream cheese in the microwave. I do it at 50% power in 30 second intervals until it can be stirred. Add the remaining ingredients. Spread it onto the bread and place on a cookie sheet.

Broil it about 4 inches from the heat source for 2-3 minutes or until the cheese mixture begins to brown. Serve it up!


I was thrilled with the way this turned out. It's a good change from plain ol' french bread with butter. I think I need to go to therapy though. As I have been posting these recipes, almost all of them include cream, cheese, sugar, or something fried. I have issues, but dang, this food is tasty. I guess when people say, "hey! Where did you get your thighs?" I can refer them to my blog. :)