Whole Wheat French Bread

I confessed to a coworker yesterday that in an effort to be more frugal, I was going to start baking my own bread.
She scoffed at the fact that, yes, bread is only $1.69 (we buy the 100% whole grain wheat from Aldi).
Nonetheless, there is just something about being able to do something yourself.  The thought of being self-sustainable and being able to make and provide my own food makes me feel like a grown up- a smart one (or maybe it's the thought that my husband sits in his office in the middle of the day thinking about how awesome his wife is because she cooks, cleans, sews, takes care of him, works full time, send treats with him to work and bakes her own bread.  He does that, right?  OH, I am sure of it =D).

Daniel takes a sandwich to work almost every day, but other than that, we only eat bread with a meal if it's a special recipe, like paninis (this week, with this bread!  Recipe later).  I don't like to spend extra money on "special" bread for dinner.

So, let's make out own.  We can use it for lunches and paninis.  Yum.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 Cups Warm Water
• 2 Tablespoons Yeast
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Salt
• 3 Tablespoons Oil
• 5 1/2  Cups Whole Wheat Flour

Directions:
Mix Yeast, Sugar, and Warm Water in a bowl and let sit 5 minutes.  It will look like this:

Add salt, oil, and flour.  Mix and knead for 5 minutes (or use your dough hook on a KitchenAid Mixer).  It will look like this:

Let sit, covered, for 20 minutes or until doubled in size. It will look like this;

Separate and roll into 2 "loaves" and place on a greased cookie sheet (okay, I foil, then grease so I don't have to clean my pans.  Don't judge).  Make slits in the top so they look like Aladdin Loaves (you know, the bread they have in Aladdin.  My sister and I are obsessed with it).  It will look like this:

Let rest for another 15 minutes while preheating oven to 425.  Place some ice cubes in a separate pan and place on the bottom rack while you bake your bread.  Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown! Let cool slightly.  Yum.

To get a nice, crispy outer crust, brush egg white on the outside the last 10 minutes of bake time.

We may or may not have eaten an entire loaf as soon as it was done.