Ingredients
1 1/2 cup warm water
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup sourdough starter
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
5 cup all-purpose flour (or 6)
1 water for tops of loaves
Directions
Warm a large bowl. Pour 1 1/2 cups warm water into warmed bowl.
Sprinkle yeast over water. Set aside to soften 5 minutes. Stir in
sourdough starter, sugar and salt. Beat in 3 cups flour until
blended. Cover with a cloth and set in a warm place free from drafts.
Let rise 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until doubled in size. Lightly grease a
large baking sheet; set aside. Stir down dough. Stir in enough
remaining flour to make a medium stiff dough. Turn out onto a
lightly floured surface. Knead dough 8 to 10 minutes or until smooth
and elastic. Add more flour if necessary. Shape kneaded dough into
two 10x3 1/2" loaves. Pull out ends of each to make them narrower
than center of loaf. Or shape into 2 round loaves. Place on prepared
baking sheet. Cover with a cloth and set in a warm place free from
drafts. Let rise 1 to 2 hours or until almost doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 400F. Pour water 1" deep into a 12x 71/2" baking
pan. Place in bottom of preheating oven. Use a pastry brush to brush
tops of loaves with water. Use a very sharp knife to cut diagonal
slashes across tops of loaves. Bake in preheated oven 45 minutes or
until crust is golden brown and loaves sound hollow when tapped with
your fingers. After 30 minutes, if loaves are golden brown, cover
with a tent of foil to prevent further browning. Remove from baking
sheet. Cool on a rack. Makes 2 loaves.
Servings: 4 servings
San Francisco-Style French Bread Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Bread; Breads; French
The History of Recipes
It is possible to read the history of `recipes` back into the far past, in truth as far back into history as early Egypt, and maybe further still. Interesting though that maybe, generally, these early recipes were just very basic pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for preparing food.
In fact, the most ancient recipe discovered, according to experts in ancient history is a collection of clay tablets in Sumerian describing the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made those who drank it feel blissful. Later on, in The time of the roman empire 25BC a man called Apicius created a number of scripts which described recipes enjoyed by wealthy roman citizens. In his publication, he recounts how the roman meals were divided into appetizers, main course and afters, something we still use today. Aspicius also informs us how the Roman chefs were skilled in the use of a wide range of aromatic flavours, including a few that will be familiar to modern cooks such as bay, rue and parsley. Later, we have a couple of interesting cookery books which appeared in the 14th Century : a book entitled `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary titled `Curye on Inglish`. Amusingly, these two books are not about the curry that is familiar to us all today, but instead descriptions of the types of meals eaten by the upper classes of those days. Later, in the fifteenth century, knights returning from the crusades brought us many new foods and herbs from the holy land, including basil and rosemary. These new spices and herbs created a torrent in manuscripts on cooking, most of which are kept safe in private collections. The arrival of television brings us celebrity chefs and the demand for the accompanying recipe books. Which pretty much brings us to the present day and the invention of the internet, allowing us all to access massive numbers of recipes just like those on our site. |
We hope you enjoy this San Francisco Style French Bread recipe.
