Simple French-like Bread

*Chef's note: This used to be called french bread, but the name was confusing because it's not much like the french bread you get from the store. It's more like Portuguese pão.*

Prep: 70 minutes
Bake: 25 minutes
Oven: 350 degrees
Makes 2 largish loaves

2 1/2 cups warm water (think warm--NOT hot--bathwater)
2 TBL yeast
6 TBL sugar

--Mix together and let proof for about 5 to 10 minutes, until the yeast gets nice and poofy--about 3/4 of an inch tall.

2 tsp salt
3 TBL olive oil
6 cups of flour

--After the yeast is bubbly mix the first five ingredients together with a mixer (or with a spoon if you're like me and don't have a mixer that can actually mix well enough to be called such) and stir in flour until it makes a soft but sort of sticky dough.

*I like to use 2 cups of wheat flour and 4 cups of white. If you use all white flour, the bread has the nutritional value of table sugar, but if you use all wheat flour it's dense enough to use as cobblestones for paving streets. The 1:2 ratio works quite well for a light, healthy tasting bread.*

--Let it sit in your mixer for 10 minutes. Mix it down again. Repeat up to 4 times (I only do that twice because I don't have that kind of time on my hands). Form into two loaves and place on a baking sheet coated with oil and a dusting of cornmeal or flour (I use flour because I'm cheap and it makes it seem more European). Slit 3 or 4 times diagonally across the top to make it look official. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

My mom makes this bread in two long loaves that sometimes come out of the oven looking like slugs. I prefer to make my loaves round. I've also experimented with making 4 little loaves instead of 2 larger ones, and let me tell you, they turned out so cute I couldn't help but squeal a little when I pulled them out of the oven. They're also a great size to give to people.

Of course, there was one loaf that so resembled something out of Calvin and Hobbes that I couldn't resist a little embellishment: