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Classic French white bread

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This is the recipe for classic, everyday French bread raised with yeast. French bakers call this "pain courant".

It is quicker and easier to make than leavened bread or new leavened bread, so ideal for a beginner.

174,2684.6/5 for 59 ratings

Grade this recipe:

1 2 3 4 5

Last modified on: June 6^th 2017

For 4 loaves, you will need:

• 1 3 lb + 6.9 oz plain white flour (French Type 65)
• 2 1 lb + 5.8 oz water
• 3 0.9 oz fine (or table) salt
• 4 0.5 oz yeast
• 5 3.5 oz Soured dough (optional)

Change those ingredients for: 2 loaves 4 loaves 8 loaves 12 loaves

Change measures: Metric Metric weight Metric volumes

How long does it take?

Time required for this recipe:

Preparation	Resting	Cooking	Start to finish
40 min.	2 hours 30 min.	40 min.	3 hours 50 min.

Keeping: A few days in a cloth bag.

At what time?

• When will I finish if I start the recipe at a certain time?
  When should I start for the recipe to be ready at a certain time?

Work this out...

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Step by step recipe

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Stage 1 - 5 min.

Put into a food-processor bowl: 3 lb + 6.9 oz plain white flour (French Type 65), 0.9 oz fine (or table) salt, 0.5 oz yeast and, if possible, 3.5 oz Soured dough.

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Stage 2

In bread-making, the water temperature is always important. It's not a fixed value, but related to 3 other temperatures: 1) the temperature of your flour, 2) the room temperature in your kitchen, and 3) the basic temperature of this recipe, which is 48-52°C.

You can calculate the temperature of the water for this recipe in one click, using this small calculator.

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Stage 3 - 3 min.

Add 1 lb + 5.8 oz water at the right temperature, then knead on the slowest speed until the ingredients are well mixed (about 3 minutes).

Note: For the best way to knead, see: A few tips for effective kneading at home.

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Stage 4 - 15 min.

Knead a little faster (the next speed up) for around 15 minutes, until the dough temperature reaches 24°C (75°F).

You could also chech the dough by trying the window-pane test.

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Stage 5 - 2 min.

Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured worktop.

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Stage 6 - 15 min.

Gather the dough into a ball and transfer to a large, clean bowl. Cover with a sheet of plastic.

Leave to rest for 15 minutes.

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Stage 7 - 5 min.

After this time, tip the dough onto a lightly floured worktop and cut into pieces of about 500g each.

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Stage 8

You can weigh each piece to check, as it is not easy to do this by eye.

Note: using the quantities stated, you can expect to obtain 1750 g of dough, to divide up as you choose.

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Stage 9 - 5 min.

Form each piece of dough into a ball.

As the gesture for doing this is difficult to describe, you can see it in the short video on the right.

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Stage 10 - 15 min.

Place the balls of dough on the floured worktop, dust the tops with flour and cover with a sheet of plastic.

Leave to rest for 15 minutes. This allows the dough to "relax".

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Stage 11 - 5 min.

Shape the loaves.

As the gesture for doing this is difficult to describe, you can see how it is done in the short video on the right.

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Stage 12 - 2 hours

Place each loaf in a banneton (French raising basket), dusting the bottom generously with flour first.

Cover with a sheet of plastic and leave to rise for 2 hours.

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Stage 13 - 40 min.

Preheat the oven to 240°C (460°F).

Turn the loaves over onto the peel (for a wood-fired oven) or onto a baking sheet (for a conventional oven), slash the tops and bake...

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Stage 14

...for 30 to 40 minutes.

Note: As when baking any bread, you should ensure that the oven is filled with steam for the first 15 minutes of baking. This page shows you how; it really is the secret of golden-brown, crusty loaves..

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Stage 15

You will notice how the holes in the bread are regular in size. This comes from the action of the yeast which, unlike leaven, produces even bubbles.

Remarks

You might also like to take a look at this page about making your own bread.

Nutritional information

Whole recipe
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
3,779 Kcal or 15,822 Kj	111 gr	798 gr	16 gr
189 %	43 %	75 %	2 %

Per 100 g
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
216 Kcal or 904 Kj	6 gr	46 gr	1 gr
11 %	2 %	4 %	<1 %

Per loaves
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
945 Kcal or 3,957 Kj	28 gr	199 gr	4 gr
47 %	11 %	19 %	1 %

% are calculated relative to a Recommended Dietary Intake or RDI of 2000 k-calories or 8400 k-joules by day for a woman (change to a man).

How much will it cost?

• For 4 loaves : 2.17 €
• Per loaves : 0.54 €

Note : These prices are only approximate

Change currency:

Source

After Thomas Marie (of the INBP French National Bakery Institute).

More recipes?

This recipe uses (among others)

	Plain white flour (French Type 65): You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Mustard baps, Poitevin twist, Roscoff loaf, Mixed seed grissini, Cretan Bread, ... All
	Water: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Tomato foccacia, Pizza dough, Quick orange marmalade, Chocolate eclairs, Gingerbread, ... All
	Fine (or table) salt: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Old style brioche, Chocolate sweetcrust pastry, Naan, New leavened bread, Small cheese and bacon rolls , ... All
	Yeast: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Chocolate rolls (petits pains), Franche-Comté sticks, Bacon rolls, Cretan Bread, Loaf for "les filles'", ... All

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