Julia Child! What can I say? She’s an Icon to say the least, chef extraordinaire, the real deal, and the true Queen of food television! So it’s no wonder why our Host’s, Breadchick Mary, of The Sour Dough and Sara, over at I Like To Cook, wanted to make Julia’s french bread our next Daring Baker challenge.
I have to admit when I first saw the recipe ( by the way, you can get it in detail over at Mary’s site) I thought it was a bit overwhelming, I had to read it several times to take it all in. I kept pushing it aside, because as I said before, I have issue’s with precise and exact measuring. ( believe me, ask my family!) But heck! We’re Daring Bakers! Up for the challenge, good or bad we all learn something. Right?
That’s one thing I always admired from Julia, she was never afraid of making mistakes, she would take it in stride and move on!
So now, on to my french bread baking experience!
I did however have other problems, I wanted to make batards, but they ended up turning into baguettes, the dough didn’t fit into my pans, I rolled it out too long, so I ended up flipping my pans over and baking them on the actual bottom of the pan. It worked out well after all, but it was very hard to clean my pans for some reason.
I ended up making two plain loaves, and the other one I added sundried tomatoes with Kalamata olives.
I didn’t change the recipe at all, I just stuck them in, so I hope I stayed in the recipe guidelines as the host’s said we can top at least 1 loaf with any ingredient we wanted.
But I have to say, the plain loaf was our favorite anyway! The crust turned out crispy, crunchy, and chewy, just the way we like it, and the texture inside was the best!
Nothings better than a great loaf of bread, dipped into some very special extra virgin olive oil! Mmmm!!As Julia would always say….Bon Appetit!
I’m Marie, a wife, mother, mother-in-law, and gramma of two beautiful girls. My passion is food, clear and simple but especially Italian food, hence the name of my blog, Proud Italian Cook. I want you to feel right at home here so grab a cup of coffee, I’ll get the pastries, take a look around and enjoy your visit! {
Welcome Przepisy! Thank you for visiting!
Cool fun. Like me. Thanks.I like to cook very at home. Greetings from Poland. 😐
Just wanted to let you know that I tagged you for a meme. You’re it!
Beautiful loaves! Great idea to add the sun dried tomatoes and olives. I had all I could do just to get the bread baked!
Thanks for all the kind words through your comments, which are so appreciated!
Looks very tasty!
Bon Appetit Indeed! Your loaves look GREAT! And must have tasted out of this world dipped in olive oil!! YUM YUM!!
How beautiful is that bread! I love it. Oh, and . . . maybe you’ll take part in the Julia Child birthday celebration in August!
Fantastic pictures! Thanks for baking with us this month.
You are such a good cook and baker. In looking at the crust, I can actually hear how it shatters.
what a success ! it’s wonderful !!!! congratulations 🙂
HOLY MOLY! Looks fantastic!! That last photo makes me want to take a bite…bread moistened with olive oil…is there anything more simple yet divine?
Fantastic baguettes! You did just fine with the add too.
Thanks so much for baking with Sara and I
Beautiful French bagueetes from an Italian kitchen!
Sorry I’m having trouble with blogger!!!! That’s why so many messages!
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i thought “holy Moly” when I first saw it as well. But was okay when I culled out the By hand stuff. Your bread looks wonderful. That second to last picture is the money shot!
What I did to make the recipe less overwhelming was to go through and delete all the steps I wouldn’t follow – since I was making it by hand, I deleted all mixer instructions, then all the sidenotes I didn’t need, then only kept the loaf style instructions. That made it… 8 pages, but still. It helped my overwhelmed brain!
Anyway, your loaves look great, and I think olive and tomato would taste great!
You’ve inspired me to try this!
And the veggie crostata looks wonderful as well.
I love your blog!!
You make it look so easy…. Darnit, I’m going to have to try it!
xoxo Amy
You have a good thing going here – delicious bread. It always hits the right buttons with me. Thx for the inspiring post.
My batards turned into baguettes during my first attempt! Ha! The second time around I made rounds and those wound up much more feasible in my oven! Your bread looks great!
I am subscribing, I cannot wait to see what else you make…limoncello tiramisu? Round lasagna? I’m in!
Your bread is sooo beautiful!
Great looking bread! I really like the sound of the sundried tomato and kalamata olive loaf!
Oh I use to eat warm bread with olive oil when my grandma baked bread! Lovely bread and so beautifully photographed. 🙂
I love your pictures. 🙂 Gorgeous bread.
Oh YES! That is some really gorgeous bread! Brava!
Very beautiful!
Love the sun dried tomato and kalamata olive baguette!
Looks Great!! Is there anything better than dipping good bread in olive oil? Yumm!
Beautiful Bread! The olives sound so good too!
x x x
Lovely and delicious bread Marie!!!Like this Daring Baker!!!! xx Gloria
Wow. They all look great . Great job.
Your loaves are a thing of beauty. I love the additions in your other loaves. Kudos to you for “rising” to the challenge.It was good that I made baguettes because then I could eat one of the loaves fresh from the oven slathered in butter 😀
I dream of making crusty bread like this, I bow!
They both look so good, Marie. Great job!
brava
very good
gorgeous bread!! great job on this month’s challenge!!!
This is incredible! so so nice, just like appearing out of a box! well done. I was so frustrated with mine as I don’t bake bread on cakes! lol!
Your bread looks amazing!
I love the picture of the torn bread. It looks so French, and very yummy.
Fantastic job with the baguettes! They look absolutely scrumptious.