Everything French Bread (Adjusted for High-Altitude)

Is there anything better than the smell of freshly baked bread? One of my favorite things to do on the weekends is to start a loaf of this french bread first thing in the morning while sipping on my first cup of coffee for the day. The process is simple but intriciate, it requires all of your senses and relies a lot on your sense of when it feels and looks right in each step of the process.

I, like many, began baking at the beginning of the pandemic. I was abou 5 months pregnant, nesting and trying to fill my time so that the racing anxiety and fears wouldn't be in the drivers seat. I fell in love with the Great British Baking Show and especially appreciated "bread week". Making bread is a science but also a feeling. I searched around for different recipes, some tailored to high-altitude, some not. There was plenty of trial and error and I even tried to make a gluten-free loaf (that's for another post, hysterical though).

After playing around with different recipes and making tweaks here and there, I have found the recipe for the perfect table bread. Now, I am going to show you the steps for an everything seasoned bread but this loaf is absolutely divine just on it's on with a little bit of coarse salt on top. Really, you can add any type of seasonings you'd like to mix it up. This one has been a fave of my family.

For those of you that are not in a high-altitude environment, you will need to play with some adjustments. With any type of bread making it comes down to the look and feel of the dough throughout the process. I would first begin making tweaks with the amount of water, reducing by a tablespoon at a time.

Something else I love about this bread is that it doesn't require adding steam to the oven because you can bake it directly in a dutch oven with lid.

'Everything' French Bread:

Ingredients:

2 tsp dry active yeast (I like Red Star, I buy it in bulk from Amazon. 1 bag lasted me an entire year, just keep it in the fridge).

1 tsp sugar

1 1/4 cups warm (not hot) water (think about the temperature of bath water for a baby)

2.5 cups bread flour (I like King Arthur)

3 tbsp everything seasoning

2 tsp kosher salt (I use coarse but you can do fine if you prefer)

1. In a small bowl, combine water, yeast and sugar. Let the yeast proof about 5 minutes. The yeast will be foamy and bubbly when it is ready to use.

2. Directly in your stand mixer, or a bowl if you're feeling like taking some aggression out and hand-kneading, sift the flour and add the salt.

3. Add the yeast mixture to the flour and salt, using the dough hook attachment or by hand, begin kneading the dough.

4. Once the dough is roughly combined, add 2 tbsp of everything seasoning.

5. Continuing kneading. In a stand mixer, it will take about 10 - 15 minutes to reach the right consistency. You are looking for a smooth, slightly tacky dough.

6. Form the dough into a rough ball and place into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until doubled in size, about 60 - 90 minutes.

7. Once doubled in size, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 2-3 minutes by hand. Shape the dough into a ball and place it on a sheet of parchment paper. Let rise again until doubled in size, about 60 minutes.

8. Place the dutch oven in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees.

9. Score the dough down the center, just lightly slicing the top, and top with coarse salt and about a tbsp of everything seasoning.

10. Very carefully remove the dutch oven from the oven, remove the lid and gently place the dough on the parchment in the dutch oven. Place the lid and put back in the oven.

11. Bake at 450 degrees for 25 minutes then reduce to 400 degrees for 15-20. The crust should be dark golden brown and the bread should sound hollow when you wrap your fingers on it.

12. Remove dutch oven from the oven, carefully take the bread on the parchment paper out of the dutch oven. Allow the bread to rest until cooled. This is by far the hardest part because it is going to smell so good!!! But part of the baking process is still happening when you remove it from the oven so let it be.