Joy the Baker

French Bread with Julia Child

by 50 Comments

Baking bread from scratch always makes me stop and really appreciate baking. This French Bread, a classic recipe from Julia Child, is like being in a sometimes difficult, but always rewarding, 9 hour relationship. You have to figure out what this bread needs from you, and the bread might not tell you in a language you understand. Is it too sticky? Does it need more flour? Is it too dry? Does it need more water? Does it need time alone? Should you break up? What it comes down to is feel, intuition, and love. Yes, you must put yourself out there and love your bread. Put it all on the line, and dedicate yourself to a loaf. It might sound silly, but it’s critical. French bread is made up of 4 ingredients- flour, salt, water and yeast. None of these ingredients are a taste treat on their own. They come together, into what I think is one of the most fundamental and simple pleasures. I think what makes these 4 ingredients join so beautifully is the secret 5th ingredient. Yes- it’s love.

This French Bread was the February selection for Daring Bakers. Thank you Sara and Breakchick Mary! This recipe certainly put the Daring in Daring Bakers. It’s a 9 hour commitment, and not for the faint of heart. But the product is a light, flavorful, soft and crusty French Bread. And the whole house smells like fresh baked bread, which is just priceless. If you’re afraid of commitment, or don’t know how to fall in love, this multi pages recipe and bread making experience just might teach you a thing or two. And that’s no joke.

 Would you like the recipe?  Well here it is!

French Bread with homegrown avocado slices and sea salt.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Supriya Kutty

    I always buy this from the shop, and yet not tried at home just because the fear of failure but This recipe sounds amazing and you have explained it beautifully, I am really excited to try this first time, thanks for sharing

    Reply

  3. Clara

    ok.)
    first: your blog’s awesome!
    second: i’d really like to go for this french bread but i’m not sure i found the recipe. there are lots of different kinds of bread at the linked page — one (photo looked sorta like yours) takes you 3 days?! that’s not it, i suppose. HELP, pleeease.
    thanks, clara

    Reply

  5. Leah

    I made the julia child french bread recipe today…1st loaf is in the oven and looks very pretty…I just moved and only have 2 dish towels here and no washing machine yet, so I didn’t want to flour one of my dish towels…so I floured paper towels. I figured it would probably work…but there was an unexpexted surprise! The texture pattern on the paper towel was transferedto the bread, so that it almost looked like I used a doily on the bread to make a flour pattern. And the pattern is still there after most of the baking…it looks really neat!

    Reply

  8. Vanessa

    Hi Joy,

    I tried getting the recipe for this bread, but the link would not work, is there anyways you can repost? I would love to make it!

    Reply

  9. sheila

    hi Joy, I’ve been reading your blog and trying your recipes for quite some time now, but this is the first time I’ve commented on any of your blogs. I don’t know why I haven’t written before now, but I decided it’s about time.

    First, I want to tell you how much I love your blog. Your recipes are always interesting and look scrumptious, and when I try out your recipes at home, I’m never disappointed because they’re as yummy as you describe and as mouth-watering as the photographs make them look.

    Secondly, you write in such a way that makes me feel like I’ve known you for years…like an old friend from high school or something. Your seem like a genuinely sweet person who loves baking and food as much as I do. :)

    Finally, I feel like you could be my sister or a kindred spirit because what you said about baking with love is exactly how I feel. In fact, I was going to blog about it, but I felt like you took the words right out of my mouth.

    I love baking bread…it’s my passion. I truly believe that love is the key. I DO love my bread. I feel such joy in making it, kneading it, and feeling it. I don’t ever bake if I have any negativity around me. If I’m in a bad mood, I get myself in good mood before I bake because negative vibes do affect the bread.

    I know this is going to sound weird, but I call my dough my “baby,” and even funnier is that my sweet husband refers to it the same way. :)

    The love that’s within my bread, your bread, and the bread of passionate bakers around the world is one of the most beautiful things in life. I truly believe if all the world leaders were bakers, and they baked bread together, exchanged recipes, and shared their loaves and rolls with each other, the world would be a much more peaceful and loving place to live. :)

    Thanks for not only sharing your recipes and photos, but also for adding to the good karma in this world. :) Cheers! sheila

    P.S. I hope you don’t mind that I tried some of your recipes and blogged about it, giving you credit and linking to your website. If it’s not okay, just let me know and I’ll delete the post. :)

    Reply

  18. Linda

    I agree with you Joy, making bread from scratch is simply amazing. It’s such a pleasurable thing to do and I absolutely love it because I love to use my hands. The end product is always rewarding too.

    I’ve even gotten my boyfriend onto the baking bread bug (he makes better bread than me now!) and we plan on having an outdoor wood-fire oven made when we get our own place. Homemade bread everyday, yum!

    Also, freshly toasted sourdough bread with avocado, lemon juice and pepper is my favourite brunch dish. Try it :)

    Reply

  19. JennyBakes

    That delicate relationship with the bread is why I refuse to let my mixer do any kneading for me – I have to FEEL it to understand it, hehe.

    Great job on this challenge!

    Reply

  22. Joanna in the kitchen

    Wooow. It looks great with your very own, homegrown avocado. Marvelous. I used to bake baguettes quite often in the past so I know that baking bread is in fact time and effort consuming but still worth every single minute of my time and all my devotion.

    Reply

  30. Jaime

    i love how you describe the “relationship” involved in making bread! your bread looks beautiful….and homegrown avocados? i need a plane ticket to go out there! :)

    Reply

  42. lynette

    in addition to being afraid of whipped egg whites… i also hv a phobia of yeast!!the only difference is that i an now work with the whites… i still keep the door shut on the yeast…

    yur bread looks gorgeous!! i hope one day be able to knead such a work of art!!

    Reply

  43. laurie

    Beautiful bread Joy! And I love the post. Its so true. My bread needed more of me, and I could not commit. In the end, it was me who let down my bread, not the other way around. DAMN YOU BREAD!

    Reply

  45. Warda

    I love the crumb of your bread. It turned out so light. This challenge was indeed about love and commitment.
    You have a wonderful blog. I don’t why I have never seen it before.

    Reply

  46. Stephanie

    Hmmmm…I can be a bit of a commitment-phobe, so maybe this recipe is just what I need. So I have made a date with my flour for next weekend. I’ll let you know the results on my blog!

    Reply

  47. Deeba

    WOW Joy…what a pretty loaf & a wonderful write-up. You’re spot on with the secret ingredient! I think love, with whatever you have a passion for, makes the world go round.And the 9 hour commitment shows the sprirt here! Loved your post…& am also smitten by the coffee coffee cake. Makes me crumble too! Wish I’d got here earlier! Thanks a ton for stopping by (& once before as well). Lol Deeba

    Reply

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