Instructions: To succeed with everything from baguettes to dinner rolls ...

1. To begin, blend dry ingredients, then use mixer to slowly add water and oil, as well as eggs. Mix for 10 to 15 minutes or until dough no longer clings messily to the sides of mixer bowl. Dough should be one ball when its finished mixing.

Place dough in a bowl, cover and place in an oven that is off. The moisture of dough and the warmth of the closed oven, perhaps with a bowl of boiling water inside the oven to add moisture, will be enough to help the dough rise. Allow dough to rise for about two hours.

2. When the first proofing is done, its time to knead and shape the dough.

To make a ball, or "boule," hold ball in palm of hand, pull dough downward and create tension, pinching dough on bottom to solidify ball.

To make a baguette, take a ball of dough, flatten into a circle, then fold circle three times by rolling it over, creating a sausage shape. Then take both hands, press downward until it reaches a desired width. Separate hands and roll outward, to elongate dough into a baguette shape.

To make braid, make four baguettes, then form into a cross shape. Twist north and south (top and bottom) pieces over one another, then alternate east and west pieces till braid forms.

3. After bread is shaped, brush with egg wash to help it shine and brown in oven, then proof it a second time by placing dough again in cool oven to rise for approximately 90 minutes.

4. After second proofing, remove dough from oven, egg wash a second time, then bake. [Egg-washed bread cannot be baked at high temperatures or bread tops will burn before the rest of the dough is cooked.]

About 30 minutes of baking time at 350 degrees is good for egg-washed bread; 450 degrees for other breads, like baguettes.

Tools You Need
Kitchen Aid mixer with a dough hook: Serious about churning out bread? Pros say this is the tool you need. The hook "massages" and pampers the dough, and the whole mixing takes only 10 to 15 minutes. Cuisinart machines with pulsers also work.

Baking sheet pan: This is crucial for laying down parchment paper and baking.

Parchment paper: Truly a bread makers friend, the delicate, waxy paper, found in baking supply stores, can be cut to fit loaves and help prevent sticking and messiness that can ruin bread as it emerges from oven.

Small bowls: The French allow "boules," balls of dough used for round loaves, to rise in small bowls. A straw bowl lined with burlap

(all-natural fibers) provides the best atmosphere for loaves to rise. These bowls are available in baking supply stores, or you can stitch burlap to a straw basket. Be sure to cover dough to seal in moisture and warmth.

Pastry brush: That rich, shiny, golden-brown look on a fresh loaf of bread comes from an egg wash. Use a pastry brush to gently paint beaten egg on the raw loaf.

Sharp knife: This is crucial for making clean cuts in raw dough. Dough is often separated to allow it to rise more quickly or to make several rolls or baguettes.

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