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Monday, March 18, 2019

French Bread


Let's break bread together for tea time!  Isn't the potted rose plant that my neighbor gifted me for my birthday, so pretty?  The sweet cherub is hoping for Spring to arrive soon!


 

My friend, Colleen, gave me this March Royal Albert trio set, and I think it's such a pretty one.  


 I had four of my grandchildren over during Spring break and I was one  happy Nana!!! It was so nice to see these cousins together in my home.    We went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch, which is always a favorite. However,  before we went to lunch, we prepared the dough for the French Bread, and let is rise while we were gone.   Here they are rolling out their dough to make their twisted green and white St. Patrick's Day breads to take home. 

 Here are their finished loaves!   They took nibbles of their bread because it was hard to resist that warm bread from the oven, especially with Irish butter.  



Yield: 2 -3 large, or 4-8 small size loavesAuthor: Kitty

French Bread

This bread is a cinch to make because it's done in the food processor. I often use this recipe for pizza dough, or I'll use the French Bread for French Bread pizza. I hope you'll try it.

ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 1 T. yeast
  • 1 T. sugar
  • 4 1/4 cup flour
  • 1 1/2 t. salt
  • 1 T. butter
  • 1 cup ice water

instructions:

  1. Mix sugar & warm water together in a small bowl. Sprinkle on the yeast & let proof for about 5 minutes.
  2. Put flour, salt & butter in food processor & mix with the plastic blade. Pour the warm water mixture down the food tube while running & let run until well mixed.
  3. While running, slowly pour the ice water down the tube & let the processor run (and knead) until the mixture balls up. After it balls up, let it run another 45 seconds.
  4. Put dough in a greased bowl, cover loosely & let rise several hours until it has quit rising. Punch down on a clean, dry counter & roll out into a rectangle about 12 x 16 inches. Now you can either cut it lengthwise into 2, for larger loaves, or 3 for baguette size loaves. You can also make 6-8 sub-style "hard" rolls. Cut 4-6 slits slits on the diagonal on the top. Cover & let rise until double.
  5. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. I usually moisten the top of the bread. If you want a very shiny crust, you can brush with a beaten egg white. You can sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds, if you wish. Bake about 15-20 minutes, or until golden.
  6. Let cool on wire racks.
  7. Makes 2-3 large loaves, or 6-8 small loaves (these are great for meatball or Italian subs)
Created using The Recipes Generator

The kids also make bunnies from socks, which turned out so cute!  They love doing crafty things.  

 I had lunch with my daughter, and her three boys.  Cissy was busy with friends. 

I had my two youngest grands over for a Saturday visit.  Don't these sweet sisters look cute in their St. Patrick's Day outfits?  

Thank you for your visit!  xo
I am sharing this with these lovely parties:

27 comments:

  1. Those boys all belong to your daughter?? She doesn’t look old enough!! 🥰. She’s a beauty and your grandchildren are adorable! Our youngest grandchild is now 19 and in the Air Force... I really miss those days of cooking and playing with them...Hope you had a fun St Patrick’s Day...
    Hughugs

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  2. Lovin' the green bread for St. Pat's Kitty! Looks like everyone is having a great time-enjoy:@)

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  3. Every time I see your grandchildren together I am struck at their resemblance. How wonderful you were able to share fun times with them all. Gosh your grandsons are growing tall, Kitty.

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  4. We will have to give this a try! We make pizza dough in our bread machine regularly. Occasionally we buy french bread to make pizza but I never thought to make our own french bread!

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  5. Oh those beautiful (and handsome) grands! Your daughter is so pretty and very proud of her fine looking boys. What a great group! Is Cissy the only daughter? I imagine her brothers take good care of her.

    You do such fun things with your grands. They must adore you! Until I learn how to play basketball or baseball, I’m afraid my grands are not interested in baking or crafting. 😌

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  6. Oh what fun! I bet they loved making french bread and what a fun idea for St. Pat's! So glad you could spend time with your grands, they are all adorable!
    Jenna

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  7. Oh I love the pictures of your precious family. Girl, I know that you had to be in Hog hraven as they say with all those precious grandbabies! Your daughter is beautiful and takes after her beautiful mama no doubt. The bread sounds yummy. I keep saying that I am going to make some fresh bread and have not gotten around to it. Maybe now that I am feeling better I can start whipping out the King Arthur. LOL! Hugs and blessings, Cindy

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  8. Your cup runneth over with love of family, Kitty! I'm so glad you got to spend some time with them during spring break. Mine are on spring break this week but one is flying up to ON tonight. Your bread looks so good. I used to make bread years ago but haven't been able to the last number of years. We sure miss it. Hope you have a wonderful week. Hugs, Sandi

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  9. Oh that bread looks so yummy, and your recipe sounds incredibly easy to make! What a fun "twist" to make twisted St. Patrick's Day bread with it, love this idea! The kids looked positively thrilled to be spending such fun times in the kitchen with you! And those rabbit socks turned out darling! Precious moments spent with all your family really are a blessing to your heart I'm sure! Have a blessed and lovely week Kitty :)

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  10. Kitty, I know your grands have to love their time with you cooking and crafting, what a wonderful Nana you are! Your grands are growing up so fast. The green and white loaves look so festive for St. Patrick's Day and I can only imagine how wonderful they are fresh from the oven. I love your pretty March Royal Albert teacup too. ♥

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  11. Hi Kitty! I love your table, so sweet and cheerful with the green cloth,the pretty angel and that divine trio.Your bread looks great too!How adorable your family is...A real treasure!Hugs!

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  12. Aw, they are all so precious! And, you are the model grandmother, sweet friend! So thankful you are able to spend such fun, happy times with them! God bless you! Praying for you. :)

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  13. You have such lovely grandchildren and your daughter is just so pretty like you! You all must have had so much fun making the bread and crafting the sweet sock bunnies.
    Thanks for sharing at Cooking and Crafting with J & J.
    Enjoy the week.
    Julie xo

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  14. Your vignette is lovely Kitty. I love these mini roses and have one in my kitchen now that I'll transplant later. Such a sweet teacup for March. How nice to have four of the grands at one time to enjoy all being together. Love the bread! Happy Spring.......

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  15. Look at the smiles on all those faces...what a fun times! The green and white bread looks so fun and no doubt had to be just as delicious. Happy Spring to you, dear Kitty!

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  16. You really do such wonderful things with your Grands, Kitty! I can imagine how delicious the French bread was warm from the oven with good butter :) My goodness the two oldest boys must be really tall!

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  17. Kitty, love the sweet family photos. Bread is one of my favorite things to make, and it really delights me to see you getting the grands involved in it!

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  18. You make the bread making process sound so easy! Even though I’ve been working at it for a minute, it’s still intimidating for me. I’ve gotten cinnamon rolls down pretty good, but I guess it’s one step at a time. To make French bread from scratch? I’d be on Cloud 9!!!!!!! I’m glad you had a fun and loving weekend with your family!

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  19. A lovely post, many thanks for sharing your recipe.
    Loved the photographs of your grand-children.

    All the best Jan

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  20. Well the bread looks wonderful but those pics of the grands and the fun you had are adorable! What a fun day you all had! The birds are singing here, the Robins have returned and the days are longer . . . all happy things for me!!

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  21. I love seeing all those happy smiling face.... French Bread is truly one of my favorites and I've never thought of making my own load... so thanks for the recipe. You always make the most of family gatherings ... It's so special to have them around.... ENJOY your day ....HUGS

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  22. You MADE French bread?! Well, I am duly impressed! I tend to avoid such things fearing a poor outcome, but yours looks wonderful.

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  23. How fun to have grands over...all mine are so big now, it's hard to get them together..They have boyfriends and girlfriends that scoot me aside most of the time...boo
    The great grands are all too little to "do" things with right now...but...they are growing...:)

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  24. Those photos are just cute all the way around!
    Those grands did a fabulous job with their French bread.

    Happy for you that you got to enjoy having them during their spring break.
    We will have our oldest daughters three boys this week. 😊

    Have a beautiful week ♡

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  25. Hi Kitty,
    What a fun project for your Spring Breakers, looks like you had a house full. Our Spring Breakers are much older now and sometimes I miss the days when they were younger and we could do fun projects. Your french bread looks delicious and a great recipe. Hope you are enjoying the spring weather we are having, and didn't get to much hail in the storm, we had some hail but not very much, no damage. Thanks for sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday and have a good week!
    Miz Helen

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