Easy Soft French Bread

1½ cups warm water

½ tablespoon olive oil

½ tablespoon yeast

4 cups flour

½ tablespoon salt

½ tablespoon sugar

Combine warm water, yeast and oil; stir. In a large bowl combine flour, salt and sugar. Add yeast mixture and stir until mostly combined. Coat clean hands with cooking spray and knead in any remaining flour by hand. Knead for 5 minutes on a lightly floured surface. (If using a bread mixer; knead for 10 minutes.) Soon dough will become a smooth ball. Put dough in a greased bowl and cover with a cloth. Put in a warm place and let rise for an hour. Punch dough down and roll out on a lightly floured surface. Roll out to about an 11 x 15 inch rectangle. Roll the long side up and pinch seam closed. Put loaf (seam side down) on a cookie sheet, cover with a cloth and put in a warm place to rise for another hour. Bake loaf in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Let the bread rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

If you have a bread machine: If you have a bread machine with a “dough” setting, you can add all the ingredients and set for the dough setting. The bread machine will do all the mixing and kneading and will let the dough rise the first time.

Garlic Butter

1 stick, (½ cup), butter or margarine

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

½ teaspoon garlic powder

Parmesan cheese, grated (optional)

Set out the butter to soften. In a small bowl, mix butter with Italian seasoning and garlic powder. Spread on the sliced, hot bread. Sprinkle on the cheese. You can broil in the oven for about 3 minutes; just enough to melt the cheese. Watch that the bread doesn’t brown.