Homemade French Bread

My mother-in-law has a lot of great recipes.  They are especially great, because they are easy. My husband always tells me that her theory is that the directions of a recipe shouldn't be any longer than the ingredients list. This recipe is one of her short, simple recipes.  It's nice to be able to have fresh homemade bread that doesn't take a lot of work, especially if you have a stand mixer and don't have to knead by hand.  Now, I'm sure some of you are still intimidated by this recipe because its bread and I know some people just have problems getting bread to work. The only advice I can give you is to make sure your warm water isn't too hot.  If your water is too hot, it will burn your yeast and the yeast wont rise. Therefore, the bread wont rise. Also, you want to add enough flour that the dough feels moist and sticky to the touch, but doesn't stay stuck on your finger. If you add too much flour your bread might turn out a little tough instead of soft and fluffy. I don't know if any of that made any sense. It's kind of hard to describe texture, especially when I'm no expert on bread making.

Homemade French Bread

Yield: two loaves

• 3 c warm water
• 2 tablespoons dry yeast
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons oil (I used olive oil, but canola and vegetable oil work just fine too)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 7-8 cups flour
• 1 egg (optional)

Mix water, yeast, sugar, oil, and salt. Add flour and knead well. Let dough rise for 50 minutes, punching down every 10-15 minutes. Shape dough into 2 loaves on a large cookies sheet. Using a flat edge knife cut four angled slits into the top of each loaf. Beat egg with a little bit of water, and lightly brush egg over the loaves. Let loaves rise again.  Bake at 400F for 25-40 minutes.  If desired lightly brush a 2 tablespoons melted butter over loaves just after removing them from the oven.