| A piece of crunchy bread can make the simplest meal | | | | 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano leaves |
| - soup, stew, an omelet - into a fancy meal. Many | | | | 1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves |
| restaurants are serving frozen bread these days. This | | | | 1 teaspoon active dry yeast |
| bread is often under-baked or lacking in flavor. Instead | | | | Assemble ingredients in food processor. Pulse. Add 1 |
| of hearing a crunch when you bite into the bread you | | | | cup warm water and process on high for 1 1/2 |
| hear nothing. Even worse, the bread feels squishy in | | | | minutes. Place dough in bowl that has been coated |
| your mouth. | | | | with cooking spray. Cover with a towel and let dough |
| What a disappointment. | | | | rise until it almost reaches the top of the bowl. |
| The way to avoid disappointment is to bake your own | | | | Sprinkle a bread board with cornmeal. Turn dough out |
| bread. Your first reaction, I would wager, is that you | | | | onto board and cut in half with a serrated knife. Pull |
| don't have time to bake bread. Well, this recipe for | | | | and stretch each half into a long, thin loaf. (You may |
| French bread hardly takes any time at all and tastes | | | | have to roll the dough a bit.) Slash the tops of the |
| as good as bakery bread. If you have a food | | | | loaves with a sharp knife or scissor. Place loaves in a |
| processor you can have French bread in a flash. | | | | nonstick baguette pan. |
| Serve it straight from the oven and your family will say | | | | Put the pan on the top rack of a COLD oven. Put a |
| "Ahhhh." | | | | pan of ice cubes on the bottom rack. Set the oven |
| INGREDIENTS | | | | temperature to 450-475 degrees. Bake for 20 minutes |
| 2 cups bread flour | | | | until the tops are light brown and the bread sounds |
| 1/2 cup wheat flour | | | | hollow. A 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder may be |
| 1/2 teaspoon salt | | | | added to this recipe for even more flavor. |