An Attempt at French Bread

With the new semester fast approaching, and a new resolution to cook simpler dishes at school so I can focus on my schoolwork, it was only natural to cook up something special this week. With the help of a friend, I tried a French bread recipe that had an amazingly crunchy crust, and an oomph-y flavor that could never be mistaken for store-bought bread. However, I found that between the two of us, we had quite a few misconceptions about bread.
First of all, bread does not need to rise over night in order to double in size. We left the dough rising over night, and found that it would not rise much on the second rising. Second, if the proportions of kneading and rising are off - you end up with really dense bread that separates from the crust. So much has to do with the baker's knowledge of whether the bread looks/ feels/ acts the right way. Many of the people who reviewed the recipe said that using 5 cups of flour instead of 6 cups resulting in more airy bread, and after all the instructions only say to stir in as much flour as possible.
Either way - with tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil leaves it made a most gourmet treat!

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