Best Ever French Bread - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons yeast (2 packets)
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
4 1/2 - 5 cups bread flour

Preparation

Dissolve the yeast in the water, add salt and sugar.
Add flour until it forms a soft dough(not sticky!)
Knead the dough for 6-8 minutes, until it's smooth and elastic. ( I use the dough hook on my kitchenaid mixer for about 4 minutes, then knead by hand for 4 minutes.)
Spray a large bowl with cooking spray. Place dough inside, turning once to coat.
Cover and let rise one hour, until doubled.
Punch dough down, and cut in half.
Form into 2 12'' loaves. (In the pics, I did one long loaf, and two small rounds)
Cover with damp dishcloth. Let rise for 30 minutes in a warm place, I set mine on the stove on top of my pre-heating oven.
Cut dough with diagonal marks, about 4 down the length of the loaf.
Bake at 450 degrees F. for about 15 mins -- If you want really crusty loaves, I pour about 1/4 cup of water into the oven just before I close the door--my improvised steaming method :-).