This girl got a new toy!

You've likely heard the phrase - boys and their toys... Well, this girl got herself a toy... a Nutramill Mixer. It was on sale and I got a good deal and let's just say - it's amazing. We wanted to give it a good test drive, so I did a half recipe of this French Bread. I knew the recipe was a good one - but often my bread is heavy and dense - this was neither of those things. This bread was amazing. We just kept eating it, couldn’t stop. I used the 2nd half of the loaf to make French Toast... you know French Toast with French Bread? It was amazing. I usually make my French Toast with wheat sandwich bread - not anymore. As far as bread making goes, I've always used my Kitchenaid Mixer which is really good in most cases for what I made, but I think my kneading ability is pretty awful... and while the dough hook is there, it doesn't work at all like the Nutramill does. So we have more bread planned for our new mixer... it may just get it's own spot on the counter! Maybe...

French Bread
4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 cups warm water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
1 Tablespoon salt
4 to 5 cups flour

1. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water with the sugar for about 10 minutes.
2. Add oil and salt. Mix well. Add flour one cup at a time, kneading well in between. Knead until smooth and elastic but don’t add too much flour so the dough becomes dry.
3. Cover the dough with a dish towel and let rise until doubled in size, about one hour.
4. Punch dough down and cover to rise again for 30 minutes.
5. Remove dough from bowl and put onto countertop lightly dusted with flour. Separate dough in half and gently roll each half into a long skinny loaf. Lay carefully onto a french bread loaf pan, or onto a cookie sheet dusted with cornmeal. With a sharp knife, cut 3-4 diagonal skits into the top of each dough loaf.
6. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise a 3rd time, for 25 minutes. Then lightly brush with a mixture of egg white and 1 teaspoon water.
7. Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.