You know I bake bread a lot. For years I have been looking for a really good French Bread recipe and this is the best one I have found so far. And it is very easy!
In your mixer bowl, pour 3 cups of water. Add 1 T. rapid rise yeast, 1 T. salt and mix in 8 cups of flour just until there is no dry flour left.
Put the dough in a container with a cover and let it rest on the counter for 2 hours. Then place it in the refrigerator for 24 hours to 7 days.
When you are ready to make some bread, pull off 1/4 of the dough which is about 1 pound. Flatten it out to an oval and then roll it into a 16 inch baguette. Cover it with a damp towel and let it rise until it doubles in bulk. It takes about 1-1/2 hours to rise. Slash it on top a couple of times and bake it in a preheated 450 degree oven for 30 minutes. Spray it with water a couple times in the beginning of the baking period. Cool on a rack.
I saw this on a blog I follow called From Away:
http://www.fromaway.com/ It looked so good I had to make it right away. Roast some heads of garlic in some olive oil. Just drizzle them with olive oil and wrap them in foil and bake them at 375 for about an hour.
Slice a piece of bread, squeeze a garlic clove out of it's skin and spread it on the bread. Broil some brie and blue cheese in a small dish and spread it on top of the garlic. Add a slice of ripe pear. Excellent!
I found this giant Mrs. Claus blow mold at the thrift store for 4.99.
I finished the front..at least I think I did. I need to study it and see if I need to add more. I bought a new rug and the signs are from the dollar store.
I added more color to the urns.
I moved the iron door mat to the brick area.
At night it was very dark so I added spotlights.
Today I am adding some on the porch to illuminate the bottom of the door. This might not look like much from the outside but inside my house, it looks like a 16 wheeler is parked on my porch with it's headlights shining through the front door! Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation for sure!
Comments
Your house looks like Christmas come to life
But we don't use the front door much, anyway. :-)
Oh and in tomorrow's post, I'm linking to you. Since I'm speaking about doing Christmas decorating early! The possibility of doing so, anyway. :-)
The bread, the pear, the garlic, the olive oil....oh, oh, oh, would this about now.
Have not forgotten Bev.
The front door is really stunning. I have a feeling there will be tweaking going on for awhile. I do that..add this, change that. Yours looks wonderful but I can see why you wnat to illuminate the bottom of the door. :)