Easy French Bread Under 10 Minutes For 30 Cents

Easy French Bread Under 10 Minutes For 30 Cents

Bread is a staple food for good reason. Not only is it delicious, but it is versatile and filling. Any loaf of bread can be used for practically any purpose, breakfast, lunch or dinner, a sandwich or dessert. The possibilities are endless.

However, the idea of making bread can seem like a daunting task if you have never done so before. If that is the case this is a great place to start with easy bread in 10 minutes for 30 cents. It is a great recipe to have in any prepper’s arsenal as it uses cheap, inexpensive, and long-lasting non-perishable ingredients.

Over the past year, there have been countless bread recipes published online and circulating between friends. The global pandemic drove many people to try out baking their own goods for the first time. It also prompted many to join the prepper community as they realized how fragile the comfortable lives they led truly were. This recipe takes all the complications of bread and simplifies them to the bare minimum.

Not only that but depending on what kind of bread you’re making it can be a laborious and time-consuming process. There are really only ten minutes of active work involved in this recipe.

And as preppers, this is definitely a bonus, if we are living in an environment where manual labour is needed just to get by on a daily basis, there might not be the spare time to create a fancy artisanal loaf of bread.

However, this recipe looks just like the kind you would buy at that over-priced European bakery down the street.

Here is What You Will Need

  • 6-7 Cups of Flour
  • 2 ½ Cups of Warm Water
  • 3 tsp of Dry Active Yeast
  • 4 tsp of Sugar
  • 4 tsp of Salt

Optional

  • 1 Egg
  • 1 tbsp of Water

How to Make the Bread

The first thing you will want to do is gather all your ingredients together. This is a flexible recipe so you can use pretty much any kind of flour, sugar, yeast, and salt that is available to you.

Next, using a medium or large bowl, add the warm water. It is essential that the water is very warm in order to dissolve the sugar, but not too hot as that will kill the yeast.

A good way to test this is to put your finger in the water, if it is so hot that you can’t comfortably keep your finger there, then it is too hot for the yeast!

Add the sugar and stir until you can no longer see the granules and it is dissolved.

Once the sugar has dissolved, add the yeast. Let the yeast sit in the sugar and water for a few minutes until it starts foaming and bubbling on the surface. This is how you know that the yeast is active and ready to go!

After a few minutes, your bowl should look something like this photo. When that happens, it is time to add the flour. I would recommend starting with 4-5 cups of flour and slowly adding more if the dough appears too sticky. The dough should not be sticky, but it also should not be stiff.

When you are mixing the flour, add the salt. Salt and yeast are not friends, so it is important to add the salt last. I used pink salt and you can use any kind of salt. If you use table salt it is a good idea to put a bit less in or your bread might have a strong salty taste.

When all the ingredients are incorporated into a soft dough, lightly dust your counter with flour and turn the mixture out onto it. Knead the dough until it is slightly bouncy. Add more flour if the dough is sticky. I ended up using around six cups of flour in total.

You can tell your dough is ready if you press into it and the indents of your fingers are pushed back a little by the dough, the way a sponge pushes back.

Place the ball of dough back into the bowl and cover it with a tea towel. Let the dough rise for 20-30 minutes. This is what the dough should look like before and after:

BEFORE

AFTER

Lightly flour the surface of your counter again and turn the risen dough out onto it. Now use a rolling pin to gently roll the dough out until it is flat. It will end up covering quite a large area so make sure you have a large surface to do this on.

I didn’t have a rolling pin, so I used a metal water bottle and it worked well. You can use pretty much any cylindrical object.

Now you have a decision to make. You can roll the dough up into one giant loaf (that’s what I did) or you can split it into two medium-sized loaves. This is totally up to you.

However, the size of your oven or the heat source you are working with is important to consider. Roll the dough like you would a cinnamon bun and tuck the ends into themselves.

Now, cover the loaf once again and let it rise for 20-30 more minutes. While you are waiting for the dough to rise, pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Once the dough has risen, it is almost ready to be baked! However, if you like a loaf that is golden brown on the top, you also have the option to make an egg wash. I chose to do this. Simply beat an egg and mix it with the water then brush the mixture over the loaf.

The loaf is almost ready to go in the oven! But first, be sure to score the loaf. Simply take a knife and slice diagonally across the top of the bread. Not only does this look nice, but it gives the bread room to expand in the oven without cracking.

Now you’re ready! Pop the loaf into the oven for 20 minutes. You might need to cook it a little bit longer depending on how hot your oven gets. If you’re not sure your loaf is finished, one way to check is to knock on the bottom of the loaf. If it sounds hollow, you’re good to go!

Ta-da! Here is the final product. It is crispy and golden on the top, and soft on the inside. For only 30 cents this recipe made enough bread to feed an entire family!

It works great to slice and freeze it if you are looking to store some extra loaves, or for the loaf to last a long time. Enjoy!

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3 comments

Cold day, 34° in Southern North Carolina. This is the easiest, FULL PROOF and DELICIOUS recipe!
Thank you SO MUCH!!!

Kirk Lisuzzo

Excellent recipe, am going to try this today!!! We’ve been snowed in for 9 days & hubby does not want to drive yet !!!

Paula Owens

Looks delicious, I’m going to try this, thank you so much for sharing your recipe! 😊

Diane Shearer

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