French Artisan Bread Recipes!

Amazing artisan bread recipes, including crunchy whole grain, artichoke goat cheese, spicy pepper with olive oil, cheese bread and more!

You'll find all these French artisan bread recipes and some wonderful variations just below. So, scroll down to find what you would like to make.

As always, FamousFrenchDesserts.com is proud to be your personal and authentic guide to French desserts and breads!

French Artisan Bread Recipes…
Crunchy Whole Grain Bread Recipe:

By far one of my own favorites, this wonderful bread is soft and light inside, and crunchy and crusty outside. In French, it is called, Pain aux Céréales. Enjoy!

Preparation Time: about 20 minutes
Cooking Time: about 30 minutes
Resting Time: about 2 hours

Ingredients:

3.5 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 tbsp. Sugar
1 to 2 tsp. Salt
1 Packet Dry Active Yeast
1 cup Mixed Unsalted Seeds (any kind, any combination)
Additional 1/2 cup Seeds

How to make it:

1. Sift flour into a large bowl. Mix in salt and sugar with hand. Move the ingredients to the sides of the bowl, creating a large "well" (an empty space) in the middle.
2. Pour the yeast into the "well" and pour 1 cup of lukewarm water over the yeast. Sprinkle about 1 tbsp. of flour over top. Wait (about 10 minutes) for bubbles to appear in the yeast.
3. Once the bubbles have appeared, you can start to mix together the ingredients (hands work best) to form the dough. The best way to do this, is to gradually incorporate the flour that is "waiting" on the sides of the bowl. Doing it all at once will be too difficult. So, go bit by bit, if it's too liquid, just add a bit more flour at the end. Once flour is incorporated, add 1 cup of seeds and continue working until they are evenly dispersed. You should finish this "pre-kneading" stage with a round, firm ball of dough. Again, if it's too sticky, add a little more flour.
4. Kneading: remove the bread from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Knead it by pushing your palms into and then turning it one quarter. Keep kneading and doing quarter turns for about 5-10 minutes, or until the bread is supple and non-sticky.
5. Place the bread in a lightly floured bowl and cover with a damp dish cloth. Let it rise for about 1 hour (depends on the room temperature, you want it to be fairly warm). It should double in size.
6. Re-sprinkle a counter top (or other surface) with flour. Prepare a baking pan by lightly oiling and flouring it (or bake on top of parchment paper). With your hands, remove bread and place on floured surface. Punch it down once, hard, with your palms. Now, re-shape it into a ball. Roll the top and sides of ball in rest of seeds (1/2 cup). Put the ball on the baking pan. Cover with dish towel and let rise for about 1 hour. It should double in size.
7. Put in oven at 375°F and bake for 30 minutes (more or less, depending on how much you like it browned).
Voilà!

Tip:

If your yeast doesn't bubble, it's no longer active or you didn't use lukewarm water. You should start over in this case, because the bread will not rise.

Freezing: If you are planning on freezing the bread, only bake it for 20 minutes. Wait for it to cool, then wrap in tin foil, put in a plastic bag and freeze. When you want to serve it, just preheat oven to 400°F, bake inside of foil for 10 minutes and then remove foil and let brown for about 5 minutes.

Variations:

Add anything that you would like to make different kinds of whole grain French artisan bread recipes… raisins, dried cherries, chopped dried apricot, nuts…

You can also go in the other direction and make this bread "sesame seed only" or "poppy seed only"…

In any case, the possibilities for whole grain French artisan bread recipes are endless! So, enjoy your culinary creativity!

Serving Ideas:

The recipe above will make one large, country style round loaf. Of course, you can vary the size of artisan bread recipes. You can cut up the dough and make smaller loaves right before transferring to the baking pan.

Ready for some more French artisan bread recipes? Just keep reading!

French Artisan Bread Recipes…
Artichoke, Goat Cheese, Pine Nut Bread Recipe:

Preparation Time: about 25 minutes
Cooking Time: about 30 minutes
Resting Time: about 2 hours

Ingredients:

3.5 cups Flour
1 packet Dry Active Yeast
2.5 tbsp. Olive Oil
1 Chopped Garlic Clove
1.5 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Ground Black Pepper
1 tbsp. Sugar
3/4 cup Artichoke Hearts (use canned, packed in water, not oil)
1 log Goat Cheese (the firmer, the better)
1/2 cup Pine Nuts
1 Egg Beaten (for coating)

How to make it:

1. Sift flour into a large bowl. Mix in salt and sugar with hand. Next, mix in oil. Move the ingredients to the sides of the bowl, creating a large "well" (an empty space) in the middle.
2. Pour the yeast into the "well" and pour 1 cup of lukewarm water over the yeast. Sprinkle about 1 tbsp. of flour over top. Wait (about 10 minutes) for bubbles to appear in the yeast.
3. Once the bubbles have appeared, you can start to mix together the ingredients (hands work best) to form the dough. The best way to do this, is to gradually incorporate the flour that is "waiting" on the sides of the bowl. Doing it all at once will be too difficult. So, go bit by bit, if it's too liquid, just add a bit more flour at the end. You should finish this "pre-kneading" stage with a round, firm ball of dough. Again, if it's too sticky, add a little more flour.
4. Kneading: remove the bread from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Knead it by pushing your palms into and then turning it one quarter. Keep kneading and doing quarter turns for about 5-10 minutes, or until the bread is supple and non-sticky.
5. Place the bread in a lightly floured bowl and cover with a damp dish cloth. Let it rise for about 1 hour (depends on the room temperature, you want it to be fairly warm). It should double in size.
6. Cut artichokes into quarters (or smaller pieces). Stir together artichokes, pepper, nuts, and garlic. Separately, cut goat cheese into thick slices, but don't mix with artichokes.
7. Re-sprinkle a counter top (or other surface) with flour. Prepare a baking pan by lightly oiling and flouring it (or bake on top of parchment paper). With your hands, remove bread and place on floured surface. Punch it down once, hard, with your palms. Now, re-shape it into a ball. Gently work in the artichoke mixture until evenly distributed in dough. Now, very carefully incorporate the goat cheese, trying to keep the goat cheese pieces from breaking. Re-shape dough into a ball and place on baking pan. Cover with dish towel and let rise for about 1 hour. It should double in size.
8. Brush the top of bread with the beaten egg. Put in oven at 375°F and bake for 30 minutes (more or less, depending on how much you like it browned).
Voilà!

Tip:

If your yeast doesn't bubble, it's no longer active or you didn't use lukewarm water. You should start over in this case, because the bread will not rise.

Variations:

This is what is so much fun with French artisan bread recipes! You can change them around and always wind up with a delicious result! So, for this recipe, you might want to add 1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes to the artichoke mixture, or 1/2 cup diced smoked ham. Or, add 1 tbsp. of paprika at the very beginning of the recipe and your bread will turn a lovely rustic red-orange color.

Serving Ideas:

The recipe above will make one large, country style round loaf. Of course, you can vary the size of artisan bread recipes. You can can cut up the dough and make smaller loafs right before transferring to the baking pan.

Ready for some more French artisan bread recipes? Just keep reading!

French Artisan Bread Recipes…
Spicy Pepper and Mixed Veggie Bread Recipe:

Preparation Time: about 30 minutes
Cooking Time: about 30 minutes
Resting Time: about 2 hours

Ingredients:

3.5 cups Flour
1 packet Dry Active Yeast
2 tbsp. Olive Oil
1 additional tbsp. Olive Oil
1/2 chopped small Onion
1.5 tsp. Salt
1 tbsp. Sugar
1/2 cup sliced Bell Pepper (preferably red and yellow mixed)
1/2 cup grated Gruyère Cheese (or use a sharp cheddar)
1/2 Cayenne Pepper (optional) 1 Egg Beaten (for coating)

How to make it:

Follow the directions for the Artichoke Goat Cheese recipe above, through step 5. As you are letting your dough rise (the first rise) sauté the onion, bell peppers, and cayenne pepper in remaining tbsp. of oil until veggies are soft. Remove from heat, drain grease on paper towels, and let veggies cool off completely.
Once veggies are cool, you can stir in the grated cheese. Follow steps 7 and 8 of the recipe above, incorporating the veggies and cheese, letting rise for 1 hour on the baking pan, and then baking. It's very easy, just follow the recipe above and enjoy!
Voilà!

Tip:

If your yeast doesn't bubble, it's no longer active or you didn't use lukewarm water. You should start over in this case, because the bread will not rise.

Variations:

Well, here's a field day for veggie artisan bread recipes… essentially, anything goes! You can sauté any kind of vegetables…mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant… or anything you want! Try not to exceed 1 cup total of vegetables, and always make sure that you let the grease drain, and let the veggies cool before mixing with a cheese or into the bread.

Speaking of cheese, same logic applies… use any kind of cheese that you would like to… or if you don't feel like cheese you can cut it out of the recipe entirely. Or make Cheese Bread by doubling the quantity of cheese and cutting out the vegetables!

Surely you will have a great time creating and eating your own invented artisan bread recipes! You can always use these artisan bread recipes for your base.

Serving Ideas:

The recipe above will make one large, country style round loaf. Of course, you can vary the size of artisan bread recipes. YouW can cut up the dough and make smaller loafs right before transferring to the baking pan.

You can also serve French artisan bread recipes, Italian calzone style: as you are reshaping bread, stretch it out into a circle, cover one half with vegetable/cheese filling, then fold over, and pinch down sides. Coat with egg and bake! Makes for a delicious meal served with a green salad!

Fabulous French Dessert Recipes…

If you are looking for some ideas for delicious French dessert recipes, we have got all your favorites and more! Crème brûlée, chocolate mousse, tarte tatin, chocolate éclairs, lemon meringue pie, truffles, fondue, flans, crêpes… and many more! To see our recipe index, click here.

Would you like some more bread recipes in addition to these French artisan bread recipes? To take a look at some other delicious bread recipes, click here.

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Enjoy these French artisan bread recipes! And… Bon Appétit!