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Tulip's Mother's French Landlady's Bread Recipe

This no fuss recipe is what a French housewife actually made. To make the recipe even easier, my mother, who is in her 80s, uses a food processor to mix the dough. Just be careful not to over work it. I get better results with the spoon. If you over work it, you don’t get the air pockets.
Print Recipe
Course: Breads
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1/2 c scalded milk
  • 1 c water
  • 1 1/2 T sugar
  • 1-1/2 T butter
  • 1/4 c additional warm water
  • 1 pkg yeast
  • 4 c flour
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 T sugar

Method
 

  1. Add 1 c water, butter and sugar to scalded milk.
  2. Cool to lukewarm.
  3. Add 1/4 c water and yeast. Rest 10 minutes.
  4. Add flour salt and sugar. Beat 100 strokes with wooden spoon.
  5. Let rise 2 hours.
  6. Cut into 2 and shape into loaves.
  7. Put loaves on greased sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Slash tops and let rise 30 minutes or more.
  8. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes then at 350 for 30 minutes more.

Notes

It is not as good as what you get with a poolish, but adding steam during the bake gets the flaky crust. It is also easy easy easy, so worth it. I use it as a canvas - so easy to change to a honey wheat or oatmeal etc. I also think of it as truly authentic.
My favorite variation is sub 1 cup oatmeal for 1 cup flour and replace the sugar with brown sugar. Put the oatmeal in a bowl with the butter and brown sugar. Pour the scalded milk over the oatmeal and let cool to lukewarm. Then continue as normal.