Read the recipe then one of you super smart food experts please answer my
question at the bottom.
French Bread
This recipe was in the recipe book that came with my original Dak R2D2
bread machine many many years ago. This was the first recipe book for
making bread in an Bread Machine and I have to say it still has some of the
best recipes for baking bread. This is a wonderful white bread, makes
fantastic french toast.
1 1/2 teaspoons yeast
3 cups of bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons of Sugar
2 Tablespoons of Butter
1 Cup less 1 Tablespoon of water
2 stiffly beaten egg whites
Beat the egg whites and then set aside. Add the remaining ingredients to
the ABM and start the machine. When the mixing starts slowly stir in the
egg whites. Use the French bread setting if you have one, otherwise just
use the normal white.
You can also use the dough setting. If you do this Remove the dough and
roll flat. Then roll up like a jelly roll, tuck the ends in and let rise
one hour. Then put in a 350 F oven till golden brown about 20
minutes. This will give you the classical long French bread. loaf.
You can also take a very sharp knife and put some slashes into the top of
the bread, then wash the top of the bread with a mixture of 1 Tablespoon of
water, dash of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of cornstarch, and sprinkle with
sesame or poppy seeds.
Now my question. Why do you stiffly beat the egg whites? I know the
texture of this bread is totally differnet from a recipe without the egg
whites. But if I toss raisins in at the beginning of the cycle my machine
will beat them to little black dots. Why doesn't it beat all the air out
of the egg whites?