Bread machine french bread is an easy way to enjoy a homemade loaf of crusty french bread without all the work.  

French bread tastes best right from the oven, and it’s hard to enjoy good french bread without making it yourself.  Using a bread machine allows you to get all the flavor (and aroma) of fresh french bread with literally seconds of prep.

It can be tricky to find a french bread recipe that bakes right in the bread machine, as most recipes start with kneading in the machine before raising and baking the bread in a conventional oven. 

That particular crispness of the crust is just hard to achieve outside of a conventional oven, but it can be done!

Ingredients for Bread Machine French Bread

Normally, french bread is very simple and contains little more than flour, water, salt, and occasionally a bit of sugar too.  This bread machine french bread recipe adds gently beaten egg whites, which allow the crust to crisp and results in a crusty french bread baked right in the bread machine.

As with any french bread, there is no fat or milk in the recipe.  Those ingredients keep a bread soft and are normally a part of sandwich bread, allowing it to be stored for several days. 

French bread, on the other hand, is best eaten very fresh, still warm from the oven as it lacks any fat or oil in the dough.

The ingredients are as follows:

Liquid Ingredients (Add First)

• 2 egg whites
• 1 1/4 cups water

Dry Ingredients( On Top of Liquid Layer)

• 4 cups bread flour
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 1/4 tsp. SAF yeast or bread machine yeast

Bread Machine French Bread Recipes

This recipe for Bread Machine French Bread is adapted from The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook, which is my absolute favorite bread machine recipe book (and I have quite a few). 

The book actually contains a number of different traditional French breads (or breads from France, that we wouldn’t necessarily call “french bread” like this crusty loaf) as well as other crusty loaves for your dinner table.

Examples include:

• French Brioche ~ a Buttery Enriched Bread with Plenty of Eggs (pg. 77)
• French Sandwich Pain a Lait ~ A soft milk bread (pg. 51)
• French Whole Wheat Bread ~ Similar to this white french bread, but with whole wheat flour (pg. 206)
• Franskbrød ~ A nordic version of french bread, the name actually translates to “French Bread” and it’s made in a similar way but with slightly different ingredients.  It’s a staple bread in the Nordics. (pg. 74)

Yield: Makes 2 pound loaf (1 1/2 lb. Quantities in notes)

Bread Machine French Bread

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Bread machine french bread is an easy way to get the classic taste of french bread for your table, without all the work.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 3 hours 30 minutes

Total Time 3 hours 35 minutes

Ingredients

Add First

• 2 egg whites
• 1 1/4 cups water

Add on Top of Liquid Layer

• 4 cups bread flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 1/4 tsp. SAF yeast or bread machine yeast

Instructions

1. Beat the egg whites for 2-3 minutes until frothy.
2. Add egg whites and water to the bread machine pan.
3. Add the flour, creating an "island" for the dry ingredients on top of the liquid layer.
4. Make a well in the flour and place the sugar, salt, and yeast in the well.
5. Shut the lid and turn the bread machine on. Set it to basic white cycle, medium crust.
6. Allow the bread machine to cycle.
7. Once baking is complete, remove the bread from the loaf pan and allow it to cool on a cooling rack. French bread is best served fresh, still slightly warm.

Notes

Note that the original recipe included 1 tablespoon of vital wheat gluten to give the bread a firmer texture and higher rise. I have omitted that ingredient since it's not a common pantry staple, but feel free to add it. The bread is wonderful without it, and it's not strictly necessary.

For a 1 1/2 pound loaf, use the following quantities:

• 2 egg whites
• 1 cup water
• 3 cups bread flour
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp. SAF yeast or bread machine yeast

Bread Machine Recipes

Looking for more bread machine recipes? 

• Bread Machine Whole Wheat Bread
• Bread Machine White Bread
• Bread Machine Cinnamon Raisin Bread
• Bread Machine Zucchini Bread