New Orleans Style French Bread

How to Make Authentic New Orleans Style French Bread
By Amrita Chuasiriporn, eHow Contributor

Like many New Orleans recipes, New Orleans style french bread very has its own character. With a soft, pillowy crumb inside to absorb the po'boy gravy most commonly heaped into it, and a light, crispy crust that shatters like ice when you bite into it: It truly is one of a kind.Difficulty:Moderate
Instructions


Things You'll Need
Lukewarm water
Sugar
Yeast
Vegetable shortening
Bread flour
Salt
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Large mixing bowl
Parchment paper
Sheet pans
Stand mixer with dough hook
Clean dish towels or plastic wrap
Cooling racks
Oven mitts or thick, dry kitchen towels


1
Pour 2 cups lukewarm water into the bowl of your mixer. Pour in 1 tablespoon sugar and 2 tablespoons yeast. Stir lightly to combine and allow to sit and bubble, undisturbed, for 15 minutes.

2
Mix in 2 tablespoons of vegetable shortening, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and 1 cup of flour. Start the mixer, with dough hook attached, on its lowest setting. Add 1 cup of flour after the first cup of flour is absorbed; repeat until you have added 5 cups total, increasing and decreasing mixer speed as the dough indicates.

3
Mix in 1 tablespoon salt, then begin sprinkling in a tiny bit of flour at a time, just until a ball of dough starts to form in the middle of the bowl. Continue mixing until a smooth ball of dough with an elastic texture is clinging to your dough hook.

4
Remove mixing bowl full of dough from mixer and knead by hand, dusting your hands with flour before proceeding. Knead for about 10 minutes to increase the elasticity of the dough, then form into a ball and return it to the bowl.

5
Cover the ball with a clean dish towel or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place, free from draft, for about 1.5 hours.
6
Knock the air out of the dough. This is also called "punching down" - though actual punching is rarely necessary. Divide into 4 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball of its own, cover, and allow to rise for 15 minutes. Shape each ball into a 16" x 3" loaf. Place on parchment-lined baking sheets, cover, and let rise for another 1.5 hours.

7
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, then bake bread for approximately 30 minutes. Tap each loaf on the bottom with your knuckles; when it sounds hollow, it is done. Cool each loaf completely on cooling racks before serving.
Tips & Warnings

Your dough will tell you at what speed you should be operating your mixer. When you are first adding new ingredients to a mix, start at a low speed so that those new ingredients do not slosh out of the bowl and make a big mess. As the dough begins to come together and form a ball in the middle of your bowl, increase the mixer speed because the dough will be resisting more strongly now. If you start to hear your mixer's motor struggle under the strength of the dough, increase the speed slightly until the dough hook moves with ease again.


If you use kitchen towels to handle hot pans or pull hot racks out of your oven, always make sure they are completely dry. Heat will go straight through wet towels to your skin, causing you extreme discomfort or injury. Even if a towel is only slightly damp, do not use it.


For added flavor, add 2 cups of flour to the water/sugar/yeast mixture after the 15 minute bubbling period. Stir it in, then cover and allow to sit at room temperature overnight before proceeding with the recipe; in bread-baking terminology, this is called a sponge. If you do this, only stir 3 cups of flour into the dough when mixing with the dough hook, not 5.


For a crunchier crust, beat 2 to 3 egg whites with 1/2 c. milk and brush on the crusts of the loaves just before baking.