French bread

Been long time I have baked a bread and badly wanted to try a new recipe.. Browsed through my ' Joy of cooking' book and was attracted to the french bread recipe. The recipe looked impossible for me ( I know I shudnt :(  ), so I halved the recipe and tried it. To my surprise my bread was too good to believe that the recipe is so simple. Ok so now let me stop boasting about it and get on to the recipe

Combine
4 cups of flour
2 tspns of salt
2 1/4 tspns of active dry yeast

And then make a well in the centre and pour in 
1 1/2 cups of water, at room temperature.

Stir thoroughly by hand or a dough mixer, I used dough mixer, dint mess my hands :), knead the dough until it is soft and elastic. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until the dough doubles in bulk, takes about 2 hours.

Punch down the dough and divide the dough , make two loaves and place in a baking tray and let it rise again.
Meanwhile preheat the oven at 400 degrees Celsius. Place a bowl of water in the bottom of the oven . Bake the bread in the center rack for 15 mins, then reduce the heat to 180 degrees Celsius and bake for some more time. Bake until the crust is golden brown and bottom sounds hollow when tapped.
Remove and let it cool completely on the rack.

Easy na.. bake and enjoy :)