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Bill's Sourdough French Bread

Bill's Sourdough French Bread is a breads recipe made with All Purpose Flour More If Needed, Yeast, Sugar, Salt, and Water Very Warm. Save it, add the ingredients to your shopping list, and cook it tonight.

Ingredients

• 6 cup
• 4 1/2 tsp
• 1 tbsp
• 1 tbsp
• 1 cup
• 2 cup
• 1 tbsp

Method (preview)

1. 1

   Combine 2 1/2 cups of the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl.

2. 2

   Add water, oil and starter and beat 3 minutes with an electric mixer.

3. 3

   Work in additional flour by hand until dough can be handled.

4. 4

   Amount will vary, depending on consistency of starter used.

5. 5

   Decant dough to a lightly floured board and knead until smooth, satiny and elastic, about 10 mintues,working in additional flour in small amounts as needed to keep dough from sticking to board or hands.

6. 6

   Place in a large, oiled bowl, turning once to coat dough ball; cooking spray works well for this.

7. 7

   Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

8. 8

   Punch dough down and divide into either 2 or 4 pieces, depending on size of loaves desired. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

9. 9

   Roll each piece out into a rectangle and roll up from long side, pinching seam closed and tapering ends.

10. 10

    Place loaves, seam side down, either in baguette pans or on a baking sheet which has been oiled and sprinkled with cornmeal.

11. 11

    Gash top 1/4 inch deep either along the length or diagonally every 2 or 3 inches.

12. 12

    Beat egg white with 1 tbsp water until frothy and brush loaves with it.

13. 13

    Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

14. 14

    Bake at 375F 20 mintues, then brush again with egg white and bake an additional 20 minutes.