Mini French Bread Loaves Serves 2 Recipes

Steps:

• In a bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add sugar, seasonings, cheeses and 2 cups flour; beat until smooth Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch dough down; divide in half. Roll each half into a 15x10-in. rectangle. Roll up from long side; seal well. Cut each into three 5-in. loaves; seal ends. Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet. Brush loaves with water. Cover with plastic wrap coated with cooking spray; let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes With a very sharp knife, make three shallow diagonal cuts across top. Bake at 400° for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Remove from pan; cool on a wire rack Brush with butter.

Steps:

• Place the bread flour, salt, and yeast in a food processor, and process for 3 seconds to blend. With the machine running, pour 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons water through the feed tub; process until the dough holds together, about 20 seconds. The dough should be a sticky mass, and it should appear difficult to knead by hand. If the dough is too dry, add more water, a tablespoon at a time, processing for 5 seconds after each addition.
• Lightly grease a medium-size mixing bowl with olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl and turn it to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise at room temperature until it has nearly doubled in bulk, 2 to 3 hours.
• Punch the dough down and let it rise again until nearly doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.
• Sprinkle a cutting board or work surface with a little flour, place the dough on it, and cut the dough into 2 pieces. Shape the pieces into balls, sprinkling them with a little flour if necessary to make them easier to handle. Place the balls of dough on an ungreased baking sheet. Sprinkle a little flour over each round (to keep the plastic wrap from sticking), and cover them lightly with plastic wrap. Let the dough balls rise until nearly doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. To make a crisp crust, fill a clean spray bottle with water and spritz the inside of the oven with water just before you slide the bread into the oven.
• Bake the bread rounds until golden and crusty, about 10 minutes. Fremove the baking sheet from the oven or, If you like a crustier loaf, leave the bread in the oven with the door closed for 5 minutes after you have turned off the oven.
• Transfer the bread to a wire rack to cool. Serve it warm or at room temperature.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Cut off the ends of the bread, and carefully hollow out the center portion.
• In a food processor, make soft crumbs out of the bread that was removed from the middle of the loaf.
• Brown the sausage and ground meat in a skillet over medium heat.
• Add onion, and continue to cook until soft.
• In a bowl, combine the cooked meat and onion, the bread crumbs, grated cheese, the egg, mustard, parsley, fennel, basil, salt and pepper and pepper to taste.
• With a long handled wooden spoon, stuff the hollowed out French bread with the stuffing mixture.
• Place the ends of the bread back in place and secure with small skewers.
• Melt the butter and stir in the garlic, let cook over low heat for about 1 minute.
• Brush the loaf with the butter/garlic mixture and wrap in a piece of aluminium foil, leaving it open at the top, slightly so the top browns.
• Bake until heated through, 15 to 20 minutes.
• Cut into 1 inch slices for hors d'oeuvres, or into 4 larger pieces for main course servings.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, sugar, salt and yeast. In a saucepan, heat the water, milk and butter to 120°-130°. Add to dry ingredients. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup flour; beat 2 minutes longer. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. , Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Do not let rise. Divide in half. Roll each portion into an 8-in. x 5-in. rectangle. , Roll up, jelly-roll style, starting with a short side; pinch seam to seal. Place, seam side down, in two greased 5-in. x 3-in. x 2-in. loaf pans. Fill a 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan with 1 in. of hot water. Set loaf pans in water. , Cover and let rise for 15 minutes. Remove loaf pans from the water bath. Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.