Crusty French Bread - cooking recipe

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 cups water, lukewarm
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast

Preparation

Proof the yeast in the water and sugar.
Knead in salt and flour until dough is well-developed.
Let rise until double in size.
Knead down gently, and allow to rise again.
Form dough into two loaves and drop into greased bread pans. Allow to rise again.
Bake at 400* until the loaves pull away from the pan edges, and sound hollow when tapped.
*For really beautiful loaves, egg wash each toward the end of baking time with 1 well-beaten egg plus 1 TB of water.*.