Making bread can be a difficult process sometimes, depending on the style of bread you are making, it can go south very quickly. There is after all a reason they call it The Art of Bread Making… it is truly an art. There is a specific technique to it, you need to know what texture you are looking for..and when a bread has been kneaded enough. Once you conquer that technique, you open up the doors to being a master bread maker.

But what if you just want a simple and delicious loaf of bread, that you don’t have to spend all day making? Well, that’s where this recipe comes in. What? Did you guys really think I was going to show you some intense and complicated recipe? Oh come on, you should know me better than that by now!

Here is a simple recipe for a french style loaf of bread that is elevated to something special by a simple braiding technique. It can be made into a simple loaf as well, the braid just adds a bit of finesse. For this quick recipe I do like to use a stand mixer, letting it do the hard work for me, but it’s not necessary. When I’m not in a rush, I actually do prefer to do it by hand. So use what method works best for you.

The Ingredients

2 Cups Warm Water
5 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Tbsp Honey
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
3 tsp Dry Active Yeast
1 tsp Salt

The Process

I like to always make a quick “starter” dough when making bread. It activates the yeast while also helping to make the whole process go a bit quicker and ending in a perfect texture.
I do this by adding the warm water to the bowl of a stand up mixer, add your honey, 2 cups of flour and combining. Then sprinkle your yeast over the top and let sit until your yeast activates, or until it starts to produce those lovely bubbles (about 5 minutes).

Once you see those bubbles, we will add in our oil, salt and 3 cups of flour.
Place bowl on mixer with dough hook attachment, and let the machine do the work for you. If the dough seems to wet, add in additional flour ¼ cup at a time until the dough comes together.
At this point I like to let the mixer knead the dough for about 2 minutes on low speed, then remove and place on a floured surface.

I then knead it by hand until it becomes a soft and smooth texture, bouncing back when pressed with your thumb. Cover with a towel and let rest until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

Because the technique of kneading bread is much easier to understand by seeing it done, here is a video by King Arthur Flour on how to properly knead dough.

Source

Once your dough has rested and doubled in size divide it into 3 equal pieces and work into rounds.

Then, roll those 3 rounds into 3 long tubes of dough and wet the ends with water, pressing them together.

Next start to braid the dough pieces together, one over the other. When finished wet the ends and press them together as well.

Next place on cookie sheet and brush an egg wash mixture over the dough.

Now when making bread I don’t use the traditional egg wash, you know egg white and some water. Why not? Well for one, I then have an egg yolk I have to do something with. More than that though is the combination of the whole egg with a splash of milk adds a beautiful golden color to the bread that I really enjoy.

Place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes until golden brown.

And there you go…impressive right? No one would ever guess this didn’t take you all day to make. Pair with your favorite dish, or just some butter… and enjoy!

We paired this bread with a recipe from @florio. He posted a detailed recipe for Homemade Tomato Sauce-Italian Recipe last week that we just had to try. It was delicious ! Thank you so much for sharing @florio, we really enjoyed it.