One of our favorite appetizers can easily double as a meal because… we stuff ourselves on French Bread and tasty toppings.
The french bread recipe originally came with my KitchenAid mixer but you cannot PIN from an owners manual and since I do not have a recipe box, I could never find the recipe when I needed it. So, what better way to keep up with it than put the recipe in the blogosphere?
As for the garlic cream cheese, I could make it in my sleep.
Garlic Cream Cheese Spread
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 clove garlic, pressed
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate.
Serve with french bread or dinner rolls.
See? Super simple.
And while the garlic cream cheese spread over homemade french bread is enough to make you swoon, when you add a drop of basil pesto or marinara sauce, or maybe some chopped olives, and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese… oh my goodness.
Easy Stand-Mixer French Bread
- 2 packages (4 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
- 2 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- 7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cornmeal, for dusting
- 1 egg white
- 1 tablespoon cold water
Rinse your mixing bowl in hot water and dry completely to warm it. Dissolve the yeast in the 2 1/2 cups warm water in the bowl.
Add the salt, butter, and flour. Using the dough hook, mix at low speed for about 3 minutes.
Place dough in a grease bowl, turning once.Cover and allow to rise in a warm place about 1 hour or until doubled in size. Punch dough down and divide in half.
Place half of dough on a well-floured surface and roll into a rectangle (about 12 inches by 15 inches) and then roll the dough tightly from the longest side as if making a jelly roll. Tape towards the ends.
Dust baking sheets with cornmeal and place loaves on baking sheets. Cover and allow to rise again until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
With a serrated knife, make slits diagonally across each loaf. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven.
Mix together the egg white and cold water. Brush over the loaves and then return to oven for 5 minutes longer. Remove from baking sheets and cool on wired racks.
What a wonderful bread recipe. Pinning! The bread and spread sound like a match made in heaven…I could eat that til I got sick. =)
Thank you so very very much for sharing this recipe. I have been searching for over a year for a no fail great tasting French bread recipe and this fit the bill plus. Easy, easy and great tasting. Wish I could share my pics of how the bread came out of the oven for me WITHOUT any modifications. Thanks again.
Formerly,
Breadless in Evansville, IN.
Now Happy and full in Evansville, IN
This is wonderful news, Kelly! I am glad it worked so well for you. Makes me happy. 🙂 Feel free to email me your pics or share them to our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/frugalfamilyfavorites