Making Bread - I can check this off my bucket list

I've never made bread before.
I've never made bread that was not made in a bread maker.
So basically, never.

But I really wanted to. But I also didn't want to have to wait multiple days for rising and all those types of things. Basically I'm representing my generation in my desire for a lazy person's bread.

Good thing I recently became enamored of Amanda's blog, Fake Ginger! She has a recipe for French bread that she claimed was very easy. And hey, she wasn't lying.

It fit my requirements:
-Made 2 loaves [which wasn't a specific requirement, but I did want a sizable recipe]
-Was not expensive, because it only had like 5 or 6 ingredients, and all of them are things that are used frequently in baking.
-Did not required a loaf pan [big deal, because uh, I don't own one]
-Quick! Took maybe an hour and 15 minutes, including cooking time


Verdict by me: DELICIOUS.
Verdict by the boyfriend: ... ... [oh, yeah, his mouth is full so I guess we know his opinion?]



French Bread
[my tips are in parentheses and italics]

1/2 cup warm water for yeast
2 teaspoons yeast [I used one packet of Flesichmann's; they sell them in little handy squares that coincidentally was just the amount that I needed]
2 cup hot water
3 tablespoon sugar
3 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons shortening
6 cup flour

Dissolve yeast in the warm water.

Mix all the other ingredients, but only use 3 cups of the flour. Save the other 3 for later.

Add yeast and mix.

Add remaining 3 cups flour, stir well.

Let the dough rest for about 10 minutes.

[At this point the dough was thick and it was hard to stir, so I started using my hands and sort of just pummeling the dough.] Pummel and then let rest, and do that 3 times.

Divide dough in half, roll out in rectangle shape. Cut diagonally about 3 times across loaf and let rise till doubled in size. [My oven was preheating at this point, and I was being impatient, so I put the pan across the oven so it could be in the most heated place in the kitchen, and so rise a little faster.]

Brush with egg white and bake loaves on cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. [Unless you're using egg yolks that same day or the next morning, I would skip the egg white step; it just adds a shininess to the bread, but doesn't add anything to the flavor.]