I’ll be honest, I never expected bread to be the thing I enjoy baking—but it 100% is, and I can’t help it, especially when I realized it’s NOT that hard (and that overproofing, miscalculating, and all that jazz doesn’t actually fudge up your bread as much as they make it out to be).
AKA I’m a lazy-girl breadmaker; it started with my lazy girl sandwich bread recipe for the bread machine, and today it’s bringing you this delicious French Herb Bread Recipe you can make in just 2 hours (which in bread time, is pretty quick).
Now, I’m not one for dragging things on, so let’s get straight into it:
How to Bake a Herb-Seasoned French Bread Loaf in Just 2 Hours!
Herb Seasoned 2-Hour French Bread
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Warm Water (I like to turn the sink to "hot" and just use that)
- 2 Tbsp Sugar
- 2 1/4 Tsp Instant Yeast
- 3 Tbsp Room Temp Salted Butter
- 5 1/2 Cups Bread Flour (You may need a bit more if your mix is a little wet)
- 1 Tbsp Kosher Salt
- 1 Egg (For egg wash)
- 2 Tbsp Italian Seasoning (I made my own to taste)
Instructions
- If you haven't already, pull your butter out to soften. Put in ziploc and place in hot water if you're in a rush.
- Mix your 2 cups of warm water, 2 tablespoons sugar, and 2 1/4 teaspoons of instant yeast in a small bowl. Let rest for 3-5 minutes until you see something foamy start forming on the top.
- While it's resting, mix your bread flour, seasoning, and salt in another, large bowl. Pour in your water mixture once it's foamy and mix until stuff starts to stick together and get chunky in the bowl.
- Hand knead or use a stand mixer with a kneading attachment and knead the dough for 10 minutes. I've gotten a perfectly smooth dough ball AND a bumpy one, they both taste the same to me (hence why I recommend just hitting the 10 mintues and calling it done). You can also pop this sucker in your bread machine for knead + rise!
- Let dough rest covered with a clean towel or shirt for about an hour, or until the dough is about doubled in size.
- Once dough is done resting, put on counter or cutting board and divide into two. Hand flatten into a rectangle that's about 5 x 10 inches. Roll up like a swiss roll, pinch the seam it makes closed, and tuck the ends under so it makes a rounded end (this gets easier with practice!!).
- Let your new loaves rest and raise for about 30 minutes. Once done, brush with egg wash, cut lines diagonally even 2-3 inches, and bake in the oven at 415 F for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, cover with foil and bake for another 10 minutes!
- Let rest for 5 ish minutes after it's out of the oven before cutting!
Mixing Your Herbs for The Seasoning in Your Bread
You kind of have two options when it comes to the herbs in your bread—season to taste, or throw in about 2 tbsps of a pre-mixed seasoning! Both are delicious in my personal opinion; it really just depends on how much effort you want to put in (and what you have on hand).
These are the seasonings/seasoning mix I usually use:
Peep the little seasonings stashed in the jars I bought last year? 10/10 recommend organizing your spice drawer! It makes a huge difference in how much space you have to stash stuff.
(and it’s not lost on me that I chose Italian seasoning for French bread)
How to Save (and Use) Your Herb-acious French Bread
Just like my original French Bread, I love making garlic butter bread that gets saved in the freezer with this herb French bread!
I don’t like making sandwiches with this one, though, because of the texture of the spices, but it’s still really good for toast, bruschetta bites, and more!
But, that’s it for today!! Don’t forget to check out my other bread recipes, like my Bread Machine Garlic Cheese Bread!
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