French Bread

I am taking dinner to a friend, so a loaf of fresh bread was called for to go with the Chili Blanco (my Spanish-speaking children tell me that's the proper translation) I made yesterday and blogged about yesterday.  It does sound much more appealing than plain old white chili, don't you think?  Well, there is nothing plain about this chili except the color.  The flavor, like most soups, improves with a days' rest in the fridge.  But I definitely need to add a REALLY BIG green salad with this meal.  The bread and the chili...they're, well........BLANCO.  Good thing that they are both so tasty.

This french bread has a very nice crust and crumb.  It's just hefty enough to stand up to the chili.  (Let's not kid around here, this bread would be good with anything.   This recipe really is just that great).  The recipe for it is here.  I did change the recipe a bit for my altitude.  If you've  read my blog, you know that I live at 4,200 ft. above sea level.  This necessitates that I adjust the recipe because of the lower air pressure here.


Heres what I did:    Decreased the yeast to 2 teaspoons
                              Increased the water to 3 cups plus 2 tablespoons
                              Decreased the kosher salt to 1 tablespoon
 

The boules just after I formed them, resting on the cornmeal

 

After resting and being slashed just before baking
The loaves spread a bit.  This was soft dough and it raised quickly.  It spread right off the peel and kept going until both loaves touched, but it still had good oven spring and looked pretty after baking.  I bake my loaves until the crust is crackly and dark brown. 

Try this recipe.  It makes great bread.  Spread it with butter or jam or peanut butter or pesto or honey or hummus or................well, you get my drift.  

You can also eat it with Chili