a flavorful carne guisada, a slow-cooked beef stew from Puerto Rico.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 5 mins |
| Servings: | 16 |
| Yield: | 2 loaves |
Ingredients
- 2 cups sourdough starter
- 10 tablespoons water
- 1 ½ teaspoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 4 cups all-purpose flour, or more if needed
- 2 teaspoons cornmeal
- 2 cups boiling water
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- Place the sourdough starter, water, olive oil, salt, sugar, yeast, and flour in that order into the pan of a bread machine, set the machine on the dough cycle, and start the machine.
- After the machine has finished its cycle, turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead several times; mix in more flour if the dough is very sticky. Cut the dough in half, and roll each piece of dough out into a rectangle about 8 by 12 inches and 1/2-inch thick. Roll the rectangles into loaves the long way, pinch the seams, and taper and pinch the ends of the loaves.
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, and sprinkle paper with cornmeal. Place the loaves gently onto the prepared baking sheets, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes.
- Place a large baking stone onto the center rack of oven, and place a baking dish onto a lower rack. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Carefully pour boiling water into the baking dish.
- Remove plastic wrap from loaves, and slash several 1/2-inch deep cuts into each loaf with a sharp knife. Whisk egg yolk and milk together in a small bowl until thoroughly mixed, and brush the loaves with the egg yolk mixture.
- Place the loaves into the preheated oven on top of the baking stone, and quickly spray the inside of the oven 4 or 5 times with a water-filled spray bottle. Shut oven door; wait 1 minute, and spray again; repeat twice more, spraying the oven 4 times with water at 1-minute intervals.
- Bake about 15 minutes, and remove the water-filled baking dish. Continue to bake until the bread is browned and the loaves make a hollow sound when thumped, about 15 more minutes. Remove bread to cool on racks.
- The sourdough starter is a large amount, so be sure to make it ahead of time if you don’t have enough.
- The bread machine, baking stone, and spraying of the oven are all optional and serve to make a more perfect loaf of French bread.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 173 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 34 g |
| Cholesterol | 13 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Saturated Fat | 0 g |
| Sodium | 155 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 1 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
So I am one of those people whom love buying French bread at Walmart for $1.00 or the Pillsbury Brand for $2 or $3 something. So I decided that I wanted to learn how to make French Bread on my own. So I went to my favorite recipe website: AllRecipes.com and typed in the search “French Bread” and saw this recipe and thought I would give it a try. I watched the video and followed the recipe to the core. The only three things I did differently was : first, I do not own a stand mixer so I had to make the dough by hand.; I did add the 6 cups of flour one cup at a time. My dough became very crumbly and would not hold together. So I had to add a 1/2 cup of water a quarter of a cup at a time. The dough finally took hold and shape. Second, the only warm dry place to let the dough rise (the first time) was outside on my park bench where it was warm and dry. So I had put my mixing bowl out on the bench for 20 to 30 minutes covered and let it rise and it did rise. I brought it inside where I punched it down and made two big dough balls (just like in the video). I rolled each ball out into a rectangle and rolled each rectangle up just like the video. I covered them and let them rise again. Third, instead of placing one bread diagonally on the flat baking sheet, I put both breads on the flat baking sheet vertically side by side each other and brushed them both with the egg wash. I did use parchment paper on the flat baking sheet instead of the corn meal.
I was really pleased how this bread turned out. I did put plastic wrap on the bread as rising, but the plastic wrap, stuck to the dough. I think next time I will use a tea towel. I am also pondering making one loaf out of this so the slices will be bigger.
I used Bread Flour instead of AP flour. I replaced some of that with a Tblsp of gluten, diastatic malt, and potato flour. I also added 2 teaspoons dough conditioner.
Love this recipe
I already had the starter ready as I’ve been making sourdough every couple of weeks. This recipe was great. I didn’t have a bread machine but my kitchen aid dough hook did a fantastic job for this recipe. Made a small loaf as a garlic bread to go with my stew and will make a normal loaf for the week. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Sam – this bread was awesome- thanks for sharing. I don’t have a bread maker so I used my hand held mixer with dough hooks. Perhaps my starter is not as liquid as some so I had to increase the water to make the mixture less dry. So fast & easy to make & tasty too. The whole family loved it. Looks like a professional loaf thanks to your instructions.
I followed this recipe exactly and while they turned out well the outside did not turn out golden brown and crusty. It also needs more than 1 tsp. of salt considering there’s 4 cups of flour. I think 2 tsp would give it a better flavor. I believe that baking at 400 degrees might give my loaves that crusty exterior. The interior of the loaf is very nice and soft so I will stick with 4 stars and make a few changes next go round.
This bread may be the best bread I’ve ever made. Beautiful crunchy crust, moist and tender inside. My starter is dryer than some so I added about 3 more tablespoons of water to make the dough the perfect consistency.
Great Bread
hamburger bread
It tastes pretty nice, thanks for ur recipe.
Didn’t make any changes. The Sourdough French bread came out great! The texture was fine the crust had a real nice crunch to it . Used the wash and spray method when baking. Will make this again. It was sooo good.
Attention All home bread makers. I have tried many many recipes for bread and my bread ALWAYS turned thick and dense, never fluffy or airy. I FOUND THE SECRET. Add 1 small EGG, the whole egg, and 1 Tablespoon butter to the mix as you make the bread. The egg will make the bread rise and fluff up just like it should. No amount of extra yeast or backing powder or anything will do the trick. 1 EGG and 1 Tablespoon of butter. The dough will be softer and wetter, no problem, it will be fantastically airy and light.
This recipe is wonderful and it does not say that it is a baguette. It is just plain old sourdough french bread. Very easy to make and tastes wonderful.
A baguette must be crispy on the outside and chewy inside. This was not a baguette.
I had the starter made already, and kneading is difficult for me so I was intrigued by this recipe, which starts out in the bread machine……I was NOT disappointed!!!!!! I’d give it more stars if I could – easy and turned out beautifully. I did note that the cooking time says 15 minutes, but actually it’s fifteen minutes, remove water pan, then additional 15 minutes. Thank you, Sam for giving me a homemade bread I don’t have to knead for 10 or more minutes.
I really liked this! my husband just bought me a bread machine, but I tsill use this when I want to feel like Ive made something all by myself. 🙂 Thank you!!
I just made this recipe and it was perfect. the outside crunchy and the inside beautifully moist. I used 2 cups of whole wheat flour with 2 cups of white flour. I also did not use egg whites or dairy milk, instead I brushed on homemade almond milk. This was delicious! Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe.
For a Starter, just type sour dough starter in the search and it will bring a few up so you can pick the one you would like. This recipe was simple to make. It tastes wonderful!
turned out great
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/sourdough-starter/detail.aspx