In addition to the two batches of bread I had planned on baking yesterday, I baked a batch of French bread. The young lady from church of whom I’ve spoken before gave me her recipe and I was anxious to try it out. I modified it a little so I could make some substitutions and add a sponge stage to the recipe.
Herbed Whole Wheat French Bread
makes 4 loaves
- 6 to 6 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 1/2 cups warm water
- 4 teaspoons yeast
- 5 tablespoons gluten flour
- 1 1/2 tablespoons agave (or honey)
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- scant 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
Combine 3 cups of the whole wheat flour, all the yeast and all the water in mixing bowl. With just a few strokes, mix until blended. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit for approximately 30 minutes in a warm, draft-free place, until bubbly and doubled in size. Punch down by turning on mixer on low for a few seconds.
Add 1 cup whole wheat flour, gluten flour, agave, salt, oil and spices. Begin mixing on low speed. Add the rest of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough pulls away from sides of mixing bowl, while increasing speed to dough setting. Stop adding flour when dough is springy but not sticky. Knead for approximately 5 minutes on dough setting or until dough forms a ball around the dough hook.
Remove bowl from mixer. Coat mixing bowl with olive oil or olive oil spray, while you lift dough up. Rotate dough around so it gets coated on all sides, top and bottom, with the oil coating the bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in a draft-free, warm place. Let rise until doubled.
Punch down dough. Divide into 4 portions. Shape each piece into a long loaf gently tapered at ends. Place 2 loaves on each of 2 oiled cookie sheets. Make diagonal cuts 1/4″ deep several times down each loaf. Put in draft-free, warm place to rise until more than doubled. Turn oven on to 375 degrees and put a pan of water on lower rack. Place cookie sheets with loaves on the upper rack and bake loaves for 25 to 30 minutes, until browned and hollow-sounding. Optional: brush loaves with melted butter or egg white. Remove from pans and let cool on racks.
It worked! I have been having so much fun making new recipes lately that I just may try this on a day when we don’t have other bread in the meal. Wahooo! “Cooking my way through the Passionate Vegetarian and Wardeh’s Recipes.” LOL Whatcha think?
Happy cooking! – Robin
Wardeh it sounds delicious! And it sounds very similar to my herb bread recipe
Here is what I do with mine though;
I don’t add the herbs to the dough.
I gently flatten the dough after the first rise and then sprinkle it with the herbs and coarse salt and pepper. then I roll it up tightly and allow it to rise again. After baking, it has a swirl of herbs inside the loaf! Sometimes the swirls separate, but with practice you can get the swirls to all stay together for a lovely loaf.
Love
Sylvia
Oh, thank you for this lovely idea Sylvia! I will do it your way next time. This was my first time with herbs, so I just guessed which ones to use. My little friend didn’t specify which. What herbs do you use?
Robin, I will try to find the book you’ve mentioned. Are there any recipes for millet in there? I am looking for millet recipes. Thanks for stopping by!
I use basil, oregano, thyme, parsley and rosemary. I use mostly oregano and basil and smaller amounts of the others. I use garlic, but I know you don’t use garlic, and I use onion powder. The coarse salt makes a world of difference.
I also make a bread that has just dill weed parsley and onion powder.
The dill and onion sounds wonderful. I love dill. Thanks for the suggestions!
[...] 4 loaves of herbed french bread [...]
[...] loaves herbed whole wheat french bread (I use Wardeh’s recipe, but I leave out the sweetener, and I use a different herb mixture, [...]