Almost Real French Bread

We were out of bread in this neck of the woods, so it was time to make some.  No bread maker, so I am always looking for an easy and fast bread to make...of course, we want it to taste like the German bread that everyone loves.
I was going through an old recipe box from one of the grandmothers and came across this one.  Almost real French bread is really the title on the card.  As with many of the recipes in this box, instructions were not overly abundant.  But why let that stop me...we needed bread.

Almost Real French Bread

1 package yeast - sprinkled into
1 cup lukewarm water
This is where I started trying to decide how to make it.
This is what I did...
I added 1 Tablespoon sugar to the lukewarm water, then I added  1 1/2 teaspoons salt to the 3 cups flour (recipe said 4 cups flour)--all at once into the yeast and water

Stirred it all up.  Oh yes, the recipe has 5 to 6 Tablespoons warm water...what to do with that?

The dough was a little stiff--like a heavy log-- so I added about 4 Tablespoons water and stirred the water in.  I left it in the same bowl and let it rise for 1 hour in a nice warm place.

After an hour, I turned it out on a floured piece of foil --I hate to have dough on the counter top or a board-- and kneaded for about 5 minutes  until I was tired.  I added small amounts of flour as needed to keep it from sticking.

I then formed the dough  into a long loaf--cut a slash down the center-- and let it rise again until it was a nice size...about 20 minutes...maybe 30 minutes.  Then I bushed it with melted butter and baked in a 400 degree preheated oven for about 40 minutes.  After it came out of the oven I brushed it again with melted butter.

We think we have found THE Recipe for French bread.  It was so good and the whole house smelled like a bakery.  Butter and warm bread...yum.. it has a nice chewy crust and a light middle...it was good.
After breakfast in the morning, I will need to make some more...there is not much left.

I hope it will turn out this good the next time I make it.  I really believe the weather has something to do with baked goods.  What do you think?  A good excuse for things that don't turn out?