French Bread (rapid Rise)

Total Time: 1 hr 25 mins Preparation Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients

• 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 packages fast rising yeast
• 2 cups hot water (125â°-130â°f)
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• cornmeal

Recipe

• 1 set aside 1 cup of flour.
• 2 in a large bowl, mix remaining flour, sugar, salt and yeast.
• 3 stir hot water into dry mixture.
• 4 mix in enough reserved flour to make a soft dough.
• 5 on lightly floured surface, knead dough until smooth and elastic (about 8-10 minutes).
• 6 cover dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.
• 7 divide dough in half.
• 8 roll half of dough into a 10x15 inch rectangle.
• 9 roll dough tightly (like a jelly roll), starting from the long side, and tapering the ends.
• 10 pinch ends and seam to seal.
• 11 place dough seam side down on greased baking sheet which has been sprinkled with cornmeal.
• 12 repeat with remaining half of dough.
• 13 cover dough and let rise in a warm draft-free place until doubled in size (about 35-40 minutes).
• 14 with a sharp knife or razor blade, make 4 diagonal cuts on the top of each loaf.
• 15 combine egg and 1 tablespoon water, brush on loaves.
• 16 bake in preheated 425°f oven for 25-30 minutes or until done.
• 17 remove from baking sheets and cool on wire racks.
• 18 note: if you want to make baguettes instead of loaves, you can roll the dough into a rope (by hand) to get the longer thinner shape.