Sunday was cold, dreary, snowy, sleety, icy….need I say more?
What was needed was a good bowl of potato soup and a crusty piece of bread.
This is a great bread when you don’t have a lot of time to knead and shape. And, it is delicious.
French Peasant Bread
slightly adapted from Jambalaya (Junior League of New Orleans)2 c. warm water (105 and 110°F)
1 T. sugar
2 T. fine sea salt
2 T. yeast
2 t. Balsamic vinegar
4 c. all-purpose flour
olive oil
more flour for dustingCombine warm water with sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Attach paddle and mix yeast mixture until dissolved. Stir in Balsamic and flour. Beat until dough comes together—dough will be sticky.
Oil a large mixing bowl and scrape dough in, cover with a clean towel, and let rise in a warm area for 45 minutes.
Slightly oil a silpat or parchment paper lined LARGE baking sheet.
Punch dough down and shape into a round.
Like my new clean silicon pad?
Place on oiled silpat. Let rise, uncovered, for 45 more minutes.
Loaf will double in size and flatten out a bit leaving some craggy craters.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Dust the top of the round loaf with flour. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 and bake 20 minutes more.
Bread will flatten out a bit and be crusty.
Nice and brown and crusty.
(If you don’t have a very large baking sheet, divide the dough and make two loaves.)
The addition of the Balsamic gives it just a bit of sour dough taste. This bread is perfect to sop up soup or to serve with pasta.
I love the texture of this bread.
Stay tuned for the potato soup (another peasant-like dish).
A very beautiful artisan bread, Debra. I too love the crumb.
That means a lot from you, Angie.
This bread looks soft yet crusty on the outside and delicious 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thanks, Uru. I love the soft texture inside the crunchy exterior.
Nothing beats fresh homemade bread and this sounds faaaabulous. I just made my first sourdough and I feel like a rock star!
I have yet to do a real sour dough. Another snow day and I may conquer that.
This is a lovely loaf of bread Debra! I just printed the recipe! I can always use an easy tasty bread recipe!
This is super easy. Thanks, Katerina.
You just reminded me, Debra, I haven’t seen my Jambalaya cookbook around here lately. when and if the snow ever thaws, I will need to check in the shed. I LOVE that book!
Your bread looks absolutely heavenly:) Whiff, I think I can smell it form here:) You don’t know me long enough to know I have a terrible yeastaphobia. I am trying to conquer it though, one day:) There really isn’t anything in this world that beats a loaf of home made bread. Thank goodness my daughter is the bread maker in the family. I’ll be sending this recipe off to her in Idaho. Who knows, maybe she’ll bake it for me when I visit in May! Thanks for sharing, Debra…
I guess b/c I grew up making bread that I don’t have a yeast phobia. I have a friend that will not ever make bread because she is scared of yeast. Hope you dins your cookbook and make this bread soon
I wish my bread would turn out as lovely as yours!
This is a fool-proof recipe. Even when the shape is off or it flattens out a bit more, it is still wonderful. Really—you can’t screw this up. 🙂
What a beautiful bread! If you had a bakery I’d stop on by.. every single day. 🙂
If I had a bakery, I would give you a free sample every day. (And, I would go into debt b/c I would happily hand out freebies to all my foodie friends.)
such a comforting bread! love it!
Thanks, guys. Bread and soup—it doesn’t get anymore comforting than that.
I am making this tomorrow! I love the idea of the vinegar–I have been making bread for about 100 years and this is a new idea. I learn something new every day! Have a great day.
Come on, Cindy. I doubt it has been 100 years! LOL
I love this! There’s nothing like sopping soup up with bread. Well, sopping soup up with home made bread is better so strike that first sentence. 🙂
Soup sopping or sopping soup…either way, it is delicious!
There is NOTHING better than a crusty bread with soup. I love simple breads. This is my next bread.
Hope you try it. Thanks.
Homemade bread is such a treat. I love the aroma while it bakes.Lovely texture.
I wish I could bottle the aroma of baking bread!
I need to break out the yeast again. What a yummy looking loaf!
Break it on out and try this, Liz. Hope you do!
Love the balsamic vinegar trick! We’re so going to try that. This looks so terrific — thanks.
Hope you and Mrs. KR try it!
Balsamic in a bread? That sounds quite delicious. You bread turned out fabulous! Need to check out that cookbook.
It’s a good one. Lots of authentic recipes.
Pinning this one, it reminds me of a foccacia and the vinegar has my interest piqued!
Let me know what you think, Rhonda.