It takes only 45 minutes total from the time I dump in the flour and yeast to the time I slather fresh butter on a warm slice.
If I'm not in a hurry, making no-knead bread is the way to go. But then I wanted to play around a little to make smaller loaves. And ended up with something resembling ciabatta. Not bad but I was trying to make French bread.
So I used the French bread recipe that came with my bread machine. Instead of leaving it in the machine to bake, I took the dough out and made two loaves.
None of which came out anywhere near my favorite Vietnamese French bread with its fluffy inside and buttery crust.
So after all this bread baking, I realized that I'll stick to buying four loaves for $1 at Banh Mi & Che Cali. Because, really, hardly anyone bakes their own bread. Even in France they line up every morning to buy baguettes.
*****
1 year ago today, I started crocheting a scarf that still isn't completed.
Haha, I see what you meant...
ReplyDeleteIf you wanna give French bread another try, add some rice flour! I heard that's what makes it Vietnamese. ;P Of course, buying it hot and fresh from all those bakeries is pretty sweet. Too bad I only have like...2 Vietnamese bakeries around here! Bah! lol
Christine,
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised you have two VNese bakeries in Ohio at all! One of these days when I have the time, I'll start experimenting and see if I can come up with a recipe for VNese French bread. I dunno though...I'm not really a baker.