Easy, Fast, French Bread Recipe; sourdough discard [egg free]

Easy, fast, French bread made from sourdough discard is a 90 minute bread recipe that makes 2 loaves of soft, airy and chewy bread.

What if I told you, you could have 2 substantial rolls of homemade French bread ready in under two hours? Actually closer to 90 minutes if you are a pro like me 😉

If you are looking to make a ridiculously easy fast French bread with sourdough discard you have come to the right place. Easy, fast French bread is the best recipe for getting the job done right and on time!

Deliciously soft and chewy, this recipe for homemade French bread is made using the unfed portion of your sourdough also known as sourdough discard. You can use your discard straight out of your fridge and there is no extra wait time. Another benefit of using the sourdough discard is that it imparts extra tang and flavor.

This recipes yields a firm yet soft exterior on the loaves, ready to take on any additions. The inside of the bread is perfectly chewy, and airy. It has a subtly yeasty flavor, making it the perfect bread to eat on its own with a pat of butter, or of course slice it down the middle and make a huge submarine sandwich!

You will love this recipe because it is:

1. Crazy EAsY to make

2. Crazy QuiCk to make

3. Crazy dEliCiOus to eat

Now I will be honest, when I first tried this recipe I was going for something completely different. It was meant to be a baguette, loaded with goat cheese, strawberries, and a balsamic glaze (if you have not tried this crostini recipe yet, you really should!) Well what do you know, I did not get what I was looking for, but maybe came out with something better.

Making a crusty Baguette from scratch is tricky and time consuming, and you can purchase it pretty easily (and inexpensively) at the store. French bread on the other hand runs a little more expensive than baguette, and yet it is so much easier to make! This easy, fast French bread recipe is anyway.

So to this point, after some trials and tribulations I have a recipe for sourdough discard French bread that only takes about 90 minutes, start to finish. This means, by the time you pile the kids in the car, drive to the store, load up the cart, [don’t forget your reusable bags], locate the bread, stand in line, buy the bread, return the cart, buckle car seats, and drive home, you might just have made your own bread from scratch.

Additionally, I would be willing to bet that this French bread tastes better than the store bought variety. Plus the smell of homemade bread wafting through your kitchen… unbeatable!

French bread uses:

So many delicious ideas you could use for this recipe!

• Italian subs or any submarine sandwiches
• cheesy, garlic bread
• Thick French toast (check out my egg free French toast recipe!)
• Sliced thinly into toasts, to make a healthy breakfast of caramelized pineapple and cottage cheese toast
• Plain as a side, lathered with butter

To make things even more enticing, there are no complicated steps to this recipe. If you find it intimidating to toss some ice in the bottom of your oven, then you can skip this step.

ALSO – I have created my first YouTube short on shaping this bread! Have a look below. Hopefully this helps the beginners making their own easy French bread recipe.

Special tools or equipment:

In this recipe I use a ‘perforated Italian bread pan’, however it is not necessary. This pan definitely gives the rolls the perfect bake and size for turning into a sub sandwich, but a free bake will be just a tasty.

* A note about flour – depending on your climate, humidity, house temperature, the way the wind blows, etc… you will use varying amounts of flour. One day my total bread weight is around 1000g, another day it will be 879g… just go with the flow and see how it looks and how it feels!

How to achieve a fantastically easy, fast, French bread recipe made from sourdough discard:

Prep work:

-Preheat oven to 450F. Line a pan with parchment and set aside. Grab your perforated pan if you have one, set on parchment lined pan and lightly spray with oil. If you do not have one, no big deal, your loaves will be wider that’s all. Or you can make several smaller loaves. Your choice!

Make the dough:

-In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine instant yeast, sugar, and salt and pour in warm water (108-110F.) Use a kitchen thermometer. Stir with spoon and set aside for a few minutes to see if yeast activates (gets foamy.)

-Add in your sourdough discard, then 1 cup of flour, and softened butter. Mix with spoon again until well combined.

-Add about 2 more cups of flour (240g) to the mixture and attach to mixer. Using the dough hook, knead for 6-9 minutes, adding about 1-2 tablespoons of flour at a time if it seems too sticky/not holding it’s shape well. When it is ready, the dough will come together nicely into a smooth firm ball, but will still be tacky (this is normal for most bread dough). Note that tacky is not the same as ‘sticking to your hands and unworkable’. Your dough needs more flour if you are still prying it off your fingers while handling it, or if it is not easily shapeable into a ball.

Prep the dough:

-Remove to a kitchen scale and weigh the dough. Divide weight in half to get the size of 2 equal dough balls. You can also eyeball it and cut in half but I prefer the accuracy of the same sized loaves. Same sized loaves also means same baking time, which simplifies things.

-Right away, get to shaping the dough. Lightly flour the counter.

For each dough: Roll into a large rectangle, mentally divide into thirds, and fold the far right 1/3 over the center 1/3. Lastly, fold the left hand 1/3 section onto the 2/3 section, so it becomes another long skinny rectangle. Fold in half from top to bottom, so both open ends are stacked on top of each other. Then roll out again, shaping another long rectangle, but skinnier. This time take into account the size of your pan with regards to the length of the dough. It should be just a bit shorter than the length of your pan. From the length of the dough, tightly roll like you would a cinnamon roll. Pinch seam and fold ends under.

I have also created a short video to view the shaping process! Check it out here!

-Place dough loaves in pan.

-Using a sharp knife make dashes (/—/—/) or (—/—/—)into the top of the dough.

Cover and Rise:

-Cover with a kitchen towel, and allow to rise for about 40 minutes, until doubled in size. I usually leave it on top of my stove as the oven preheats since it is nice and warm.

Bake

-Once doubled in size, splash some water on the top by using your finger tips, flicking the water at it. Next, grab a few ice cubes and as you open the oven, toss the ice into the bottom of the oven. Also put your bread in at this point. Lower the oven temperature to 425F and bake for 16-20 minutes, until deep golden brown and internal temperature is about 200F. Take a look at the bottom of the bread too to make sure it is nicely golden.

-Place baked bread on a wire rack to cool. Leaving hot bread on a hot pan can create steam between the bottom of the bread and the pan, thus making it soggy. Do not do that.

-Allow to cool a bit before cutting into the bread, and enjoy!

Things that helped in the kitchen for this recipe, and can help you too:

• Kitchen scale -from amazon, this one I used for 1-2 years, its inexpensive but gets the job done! The one I currently have is unavailable, but maybe your luck will change that when you stumble upon this post!
• Kitchen-aid stand mixer– amazon, or Costco- Like many of my essentials, I’ve had mine for years, don’t let the big price tag scare you. 
• USA 2 loaf Italian perforated pan– Perfect for medium baguettes, submarine sandwich bread, etc. I have owned this pan for 8 maybe 10 years now and it’s still standing!
• Food thermometer (amazon) to check the temperature of basically everything and anything. One of my most used and underrated kitchen tools.
• Large Bread knife– This bread knife is perfect for slicing loaves of sourdough bread. Be sure to check out the safety cover/ guard(amazon)

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This comes at no cost to you, just like a free Disney travel agent. I’m only here to make suggestions that hopefully help you 🙂

Looking for more delicious sourdough recipes? Check out my super popular Pullman sandwich sourdough bread loaf, or if you want something a bit more extra, try my cinnamon swirl discard bread!