This 4 ingredient French bread recipe using a bread machine is the easiest homemade French recipe you will ever find! With few ingredients and only a few hours of time, baguettes never tasted so good!
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Do you ever dream of escaping to the french country side? Surrounded by the soft pink and yellow hues, the never ending fields of dainty flowers, little sweet cottages with white linens blowing in the wind, the smell of lavender with fresh bread with crispy crust basking away in a window seal. Are you there yet? I never want to leave!
Okay! Fine! Back to normal life over here in our little blue cottage, where I try my hardest to recreate a scene like explained above. I may not have gotten the flower thing right (yet) but I have got the fresh baked baguette right! Thanks to my bread maker (aka, my life saver)
Ingredients
Only 4 simple ingredients.
- 1 1/2 cup warm water
- 4 cups of bread flour (or all-purpose flour)
- 1 1/2 tsp of active dry yeast
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
optional: egg wash
- 1 tsp water
- 1 egg
TOOLS NEEDED
- Bread machine: I have an older bread maker I got from the thrift store and a newer model, both work great. The newer models have a lot more settings to work with, which I love. Settings such as making quick breads, jellies and even sourdough. These machines are worth the slight investment if you ask me!
- Baking sheet: A greased baking sheet to bake your bread on.
How to make 4 ingredient French bread recipe using a bread machine!
If you haven’t realized by now, I absolutely love to use my bread machines ‘dough’ cycle to make almost any type of homemade bread in our home. Seriously, check out these hot dog buns we made. SO good! I also really love easy recipes. Busy mom here.
For this bread machine recipe, I used my bread maker to mix, knead and rise my dough but took the dough out to shape and bake in the oven. This was only because I wanted the traditional crusty french bread that looks so beautifully prepared with dinner.
You can 100% skip the oven and bake the loaf directly in your bread machine from start to finish. Walk away and let the machine do all the work. Most bread machines even have the ‘French bread’ setting. Either way you decide to bake your bread, in the oven or the bread maker, your home will smell of fresh bread and No candle can ever compare to that!
Let’s get started!
So first, you will dump all of your ingredients into the bread pan, in the order listed above using a measuring cup. Dry ingredients go last! (Water, flour, salt, then yeast) PS..don’t forget the kneading paddle!
Next, you will select the ‘dough’ cycle on your machine and press start. Also, some bread machines label their settings different. My machine has the dough setting labeled as ‘pizza dough’.
Once your bread maker has completed the dough cycle, place your dough ball onto a lightly floured surface.
Using your hands, press the dough into a rectangular shape then roll dough into a long cylinder. (like the shape of French bread!)
Now, Tuck the ends of your dough in and make a few deep diagonal slashes using a razor blade, a very sharp knife or a bread lame.
Cover and allow the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled in size. I wanted my bread quite large, so I let it rise for an hour in a draft-free place.
Once the dough had doubled in size, preheat your oven to 350. I brushed the dough with an egg wash using a pastry brush at this point. This is optional. An egg wash will give your bread that golden brown color. To make an egg wash just lightly whisk 1 egg with 1 tbsp of water, then brush onto your bread.
Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.
Spread with butter, garlic butter or eat plain. Enjoy!
Doesn’t this easy french bread recipe make you want to host? This beautiful baguette would defiantly take center stage the dinner table. Just wait until you tell them you made it yourself!
How to use up leftover french bread?
Have some leftover French bread? The absolute best way to use up your French bread is to make no other than…FRENCH TOAST! Not only is it an easy breakfast, it is most definitely kid approved. In fact, mine pretty much beg for it. Butter and Jam is always an option too!
A few other ways we use up French bread, or any stale bread for that matter, is always Homemade Croutons. I can not get enough of these! Add them to your hosting list, you guest will go crazy over them.
Last but not least, brush that bread with some garlic butter!
What to pair french bread with?
We love to pair French bread with soups, casseroles, chicken spaghetti and more. It really is the perfect bread to go with almost any recipe. It makes the best brunch! French toast smothered with syrup, powdered sugar and fresh fruits, ahh. What a dream!
French bread topping ideas
There are many ways to change up French bread to your family’s liking, just by adding toppings! Especially when you are using your loaf to make sandwiches.
Here are a few options:
- sesame seeds
- parmesan cheese
- Herbed Cheddar to make Italian bread, yum!
WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE
4 Simple ingredients-Homemade French bread is made with only 4 simple ingredients. You know exactly what is going into your bread, unlike grocery store loafs!
Quick and easy- I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make my own baguettes. I’ll never buy store bought French bread again.
No kneading– Homemade French bread using the bread machine requires no kneading, from you anyway!
Why not just use a stand mixer to make French bread?
As much as I enjoy the simplicity of my stand mixer, one of the drawbacks is that I need to keep a fairly close eye on what the dough is doing, which isn’t the case with my bread machine. I can basically dump the ingredients in, walk away and forget about it.
Using a Bread Machine gives you the flexibility of making homemade fresh breads without the extensive time and work involved. Whether you use your bread machine to knead and bake an entire loaf or simply use it to knead and rise your dough only (basically fool proof) it is going to make your dreams of making homemade bread for your family a reality. Yes, even for you, busy momma. Around here, anything that can simplify life, is a win for me.
See our 6 simple Bread Machine must haves for beginners!
How to store leftover bread?
Homemade french bread is best eaten the same day, but the best way to store it is in an airtight container or a bread box or bread bag.
Try more of our bread machine recipes
- Pretzel bites using a Bread machine!
- Homemade tortillas with a bread machine!
- Huge and fluffy hamburger buns using a bread machine
- Homemade donuts in the bread machine
- Bagel recipe using the bread machine
Pin it for later!
How to make French bread using the bread machine
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup warm water
- 4 cups bread flour ( or all purpose flour)
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
Optional: Egg wash
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp water
Instructions
- Dump all of your ingredients into the bread pan, in the order listed above
- Select the ‘dough’ cycle on your machine and press start.
- Place your dough ball onto a lightly floured surface
- Press the dough into a rectangular shape then roll dough into a long cylinder. (like the shape of French bread!)
- Tuck the ends of your dough in and make a few deep diagonal slashes using a razor blade, a very sharp knife or a bread lame.
- Cover and allow the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled in size. About 1 hour.
- Preheat your oven to 350 and prepare an egg wash. This is optional. An egg wash will give your bread that golden brown color. To make an egg wash just lightly whisk 1 egg with 1 tbsp of water, then brush onto your bread.
- Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.