French or Italian Bread

Name: French or Italian Bread
Prep time: 3 h
Total time: 3 h
Yield: Makes 4 small baguettes, 3 larger baguettes, 2 round loaves, or 1 huge round loaf
Ingredients: 2 teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt; 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more as needed; 2 teaspoons instant active dry yeast, such as SAF; 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more as needed; 2 teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt; 2 teaspoons instant active dry yeast, such as SAF

Preparation info

Makes
4
small baguettes, 3 larger baguettes, 2 round loaves, or 1 huge round loaf

Difficulty
Easy
Ready in
3 hr

Appears in

The Best Recipes in the World

By Mark Bittman

Published 2005

About

The basic European bread, which requires more patience than work. It’s eminently flexible, because at any time you can refrigerate the dough and retard the process for hours, even overnight. Many people, in fact, believe that the slower you go with bread, the better. So it’s not only acceptable but preferable to make the dough at night, leave it in a cool place to rise for 8 or 10 hours, then proceed with the recipe, taking all day—if you like—to finish it. So, this recipe is written as if

Ingredients

Bread
Vegan

Ingredients

Method