Crusty French Bread with Garlic

This comforting loaf of homemade French bread has a crunchy outer crust and a moist, tender inner crumb fragrant with garlic. It was love at first bite, this bread has been a family-favorite ever since. Recipe is written for bread machines.

Recipe Ingredients:

For 2 Pound Loaf:
1 1/3 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
3 1/2 cups white bread flour
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped, or to taste

For 2 1/2 Pound Loaf:
1 2/3 cups water
2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
4 2/3 cups white bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped, or to taste

For 3 Pound Loaf:
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons water
3 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
6 cups white bread flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped, or to taste

Cooking Directions:

1. To Make the Dough: Add all the ingredients to bread machine pan in the order listed, or according to your bread machine manufacturer's directions. Select the Dough Cycle, and press the start button.
2. When done, immediately remove dough and place on a floured surface. Knead dough a few times, gathering it into a ball. Using a rolling pin, flatten dough into a rectangle, roughly the length of the baking pan, then roll the dough into a cylinder and place into greased bread pan, tucking the ends underneath. Gently press the dough to fill the pan. Cover with a damp cloth and place in a warm spot to rise, about 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Makes 1 loaf, or 12 to 18 servings dependant on size of loaf.

Tip: Unless your bread machine has retractable mixing/kneading paddle(s), remove them immediately after the last kneading. Doing so not only makes removing the bread from the pan easier, it also greatly reduces the size of the hole(s) left in the bottom of bread machine-baked breads.

Nutritional Information Per Serving (1/18 of recipe for 3 pound loaf): 171.5 calories; 4% calories from fat; 0.8g total fat; 0.0mg cholesterol; 314.6mg sodium; 57.9mg potassium; 34.6g carbohydrates; 1.2g fiber; 1.2g sugar; 33.4g net carbs; 5.7g protein.

Recipe and photograph by Hope Cantil; copyright © 1999; property of CooksRecipes.com. See Terms of Use.