Vive le New Year!

We went over to friends' for a French-themed NYE dinner party last night. I "signed up" to bring soup and bread... I'll try to update this later to include the outcome of the soup.

I'd never tried to make French bread at home before. No-knead bread is so easy, I usually stick with that, but I wanted to try it today. I started with Amanda Hesser's recipe from The Essential New York Times Cookbook for "An Honest Loaf of French Bread." It seemed like a fair compromise between my usually lazy bread-making practices and the all-out 30 minutes of kneading that Julia Child's baguette recipe requires.

Anyway, here's my version of the French bread recipe... you can see the results above.

1 1/8 t yeast (I used instant because that's what I had in the pantry... if you use normal yeast, proof it in 1/4 c lukewarm water)
1 1/4 c water
2 T unsalted butter
3 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 t salt 

Combine water and butter in a small saucepan and heat on super-low heat until the butter melts ~95-110 degrees, if you have a thermometer. Combine the yeast, flour and salt in food processor and pulse a few times to mix. Add the warm butter-water and blend for ~10 seconds until the dough forms into a ball and starts to pull away from the sides.

 Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead quickly a few times with floured hands to shape it into a ball. Place in a greased bowl and cover to rise for 30-40 mins until doubled in size. This works best in a warm spot.

 Turn out onto floured surface again and knead briefly. Return to the bowl for another nap (till doubled in size) ~30-60 mins.

 Turn out and roll into a ball. Let rest for 5 mins. Flatten into a rectangular shape and roll it up into a cylinder. Put it on a baking sheet lined with parchment, seam-side-down with the ends folded under. Cover with a kitchen towel and let her nap again, about 15-30 mins.

As the dough does the final rise, heat the oven to 450. Just before placing in the oven, spray a sharp knife with oil and cut 3 diagonal slashes in the dough. Throw 4 ice cubes in the bottom of the oven and bake for 5 mins. Add another 4 ice cubes, and bake for 10 mins. Reduce the oven heat to 400 and bake for 15-20 mins longer, until the crust is nice and brown. That's 30-35 minutes in the oven total.

Cool on a rack for at least 10 mins. Yum!