French Loaf

There’s nothing quite like the smell of fresh bread baking in the oven.

I made this French loaf bread on Sunday to go with our chicken soup with yogurt dumplings and homemade butter. I wanted something simple that would work well with the soup, and this recipe fit the bill perfectly.

My daughter helped me get things started, measuring out the flour and checking the temperature of the water before everything went into the mixer. It’s an easy bread with just four ingredients, and I was honestly pretty proud when these came out of the oven.

Two fresh loaves for the week and warm bread on the table for dinner. Success used to look a bit differently to me, but now, this is the bar. The bread baked up beautifully golden brown and tasted just as good as it looked.

There’s something about bread baking in the oven on a Sunday afternoon that makes the whole house feel cozy. While the soup simmered on the stove and the kids wandered in and out of the kitchen asking when dinner would be ready, these loaves were rising on the counter. By the time they came out of the oven the house smelled incredible.

Child’s hands pouring flour into a mixing bowl while helping make homemade French bread from scratch.

Why I Love This Recipe

This is such a great bread recipe for beginners. It’s straightforward, doesn’t require many ingredients, and the whole process took under 2½ hours including two rises.

I also love that the author includes a video showing how to shape the loaves. If you’re new to bread making, it’s really helpful to see how the dough should look as you roll it and score it.

The crust baked up lightly crisp on the outside while the inside stayed soft and fluffy. It was perfect for tearing off a warm piece and swiping it through the broth from the soup with a little homemade butter. Simple food, but one of those dinners that just feels like home.

Shaped homemade French bread dough loaves scored and ready to bake on a sheet pan.

Recipe Credit

Cookbook open to a homemade French bread recipe with measured ingredients on the kitchen counter.

This recipe comes from Rachel Farnsworth’s cookbook Stay At Home Chef and can be found here.

I recommend watching her video before starting so you can see how the shaping works:

Notes From My Kitchen

I followed the recipe exactly as written. Because my house stays pretty cool in the winter, I let the second rise go a little longer – just under an hour.
I didn’t have a loaf pan, so my loaves came out a little shorter and fatter than a traditional French loaf, but they still turned out perfectly.
The loaves baked up beautifully right around the 35 minute mark.
This bread paired perfectly with my chicken soup with yogurt dumplings and homemade butter. It’s so simple and delicious that I can see this becoming a regular for weeknight meals and even sandwiches.