The Easiest Food Processor French Bread

This food processor French Bread recipe is so easy to make and tastes better than anything from a store. With just a few ingredients you can have fresh homemade bread tonight!

I kinda sorta like homemade bread.  As in, I love it.  With all my heart.

Honestly, I could eat half a loaf right out of the oven, all by myself.  And I probably have. Probably more than once.

I’ve been making this food processor French Bread for years. I go through seasons when I bake all of our family’s bread, and this is my go-to recipe. Using a food processor (mine is just like this one) makes it a relatively easy task, once you get the hang of it.

Just remember: Making homemade bread is a little bit about following a recipe and a little bit about technic. It takes practice, so be patient. Give it a try…and then try a couple more times.

Eventually, you’ll know just how the dough should look and feel at each stage. That’s a lovely place to be!

Step-by-Step Guide to Making French Bread in a Food Processor

Start out by preheating the oven to 200° F and moving the top rack to its lowest position. Then, put a plastic dough hook into the food processor.

Toss in five cups of the flour, the salt, sugar, and yeast. I use this kind of instant yeast that I get in bulk, but you also can use the little packets. It’s either two packets, or a total of four and a half teaspoons.

Give the food processor a whirl to combine all the dry ingredients.

Heat two cups of water to about 125° F. This takes exactly 60 seconds in my microwave. Pour two tablespoons of olive oil into the measuring cup of heated water.

This is where it gets interesting. With the machine running, SLOWLY pour the water and oil through the spout in the lid of the food processor.

Let the machine continue to spin a few more times after the water is completely added. The dough will likely be way too wet at this point, and the food processor may sound like it’s about to have a heart attack.  That’s a good time to turn it off.

Take off the lid and add a little more flour, about a quarter or half cup at a time, spinning it around after each addition.

Watch carefully for the dough to start coming together into a ball. It will look a little “shaggy” at first.

You do NOT want to add any more flour than absolutely necessary! To check if the dough is the right consistency, touch gently with an open hand. If the dough is still tacky enough to stick to your hand, keep adding the flour a little bit at a time.

This is what you’re looking for. The dough should just barely stick to an open hand. Not too wet, but not too dry. It’s just right. 

Before taking the bread dough out of the food processor, prep a large bowl by pouring about a tablespoon of olive oil (just eyeball it) into the bottom. Use your hand to rub it around the bottom and sides of the bowl.

With the oily hand, pull the dough out of the food processor and remove the dough hook. The oil on your hands will make it much easier to tuck it into a ball without getting dough stuck all over.

Plop the ball upside down into the bowl to oil the smooth side of the dough. Flip it back over so the smooth side is on the upside (make sense?), and cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap.

Now, turn the oven off (Did you hear me? TURN IT OFF!) and put the covered bowl in there for about half an hour, until it’s doubled in size.

A warm oven is my big secret for speeding up the bread-making process. Guard the secret carefully, young Jedi.

If it doesn’t look like the dough has risen enough after thirty minutes, give it five more. Grease a large cookie sheet while you wait.

Remove the bowl from the oven, dip your fist into some flour, and punch down the dough. This is my favorite part. Don’t ask me why I enjoy punching something over and over. Probably don’t want to go there.

Dump out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and pinch it into two pieces. Roll out one piece of the dough into a large rectangle, approximately twelve-inches wide.

To make a loaf, start rolling up the dough. Pinch it together with your thumb after each roll.  If the dough sticks to your hand, just dip your thumb into some flour.

Keep rolling and pinching until you get to the end.

Then, pull up that loose end and pinch it together with the rest of the loaf to seal it up. Place the loaf, seam side down, on one half of the greased baking sheet and tuck the ends under to finish it off.

Do the exact same thing for the second ball of dough. Then, cut five or six slashes diagonally across the top of the loaves and lightly cover with a piece of plastic wrap to keep them from drying out.

Let the bread rise for about half an hour. A few minutes before you expect it to be done rising, move the oven rack back to the middle position and preheat to 375° F. When the loaves have doubled, remove the plastic wrap and pop them into the hot oven.

Bake until they’re all pretty and golden and you think you can’t take the lovely smell for one more minute without tasting them.

If you can muster any self-control, let the bread cool for a few minutes on a wire rack before slicing. Then, eat half a loaf before your children come in and begin begging for samples. Just a suggestion.

If you decide to save some for the rest of the family, this French Bread goes great with this Easy Vegetable Soup, my family’s absolute favorite Navy Bean Soup, and pasta dishes like this cheesy Baked Rigatoni. Yum!

Now, here’s the printable recipe…