Basic Bread Dough

Here's a great recipe for bread dough that can used for bread, pizza dough, calzones, or whatever you wish. If you use a bread machine, use the dough setting, remove the dough, knead 5-6 times on a flour-covered surface, then divide in half for two baguettes or form into one large loaf or two pizza crusts. (Kids love to knead the dough and then help shape it into loaves or roll into pizza crusts.

Place a baking stone in the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Place liquids in the bread machine first:
1 cup water
1 egg
1/3 cup butter or canola margarine, cut into pieces
a few sun-dried tomatoes cut into small pieces (optional)

Then add the dry ingredients:
3 cups bread flour (or unbleached flour)
1/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon dried onion (optional)
1/4 teaspoon garlic
1 teaspoon herbs de Provence (or herbs of your choice: rosemary, thyme, lavender, etc.)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoon yeast (add this last so it doesn't touch wet ingredients)

Set your bread machine on the dough setting (or cook it in the machine on the French Bread setting).

If you shape the dough into loaves, cut the loaves with kitchen shears every 2-3 inches to form 2-inch slits. If you roll the dough out for pizza crust, poke it with a fork and then brush it with olive oil. (You can use 1/4 cup semolina flour and 2 3/4 cups bread flour for added texture.) Place the bread dough (after shaping it) on the baking stone.

Cook bread loaves for 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees. Then lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees (while the dough remains in the oven) and cook another 10-15 minutes, until bread is golden brown.

Cook pizza dough for 4-6 minutes at 400 degrees. Remove from oven, add toppings, then return to oven for 4-6 minutes, until cheese is bubbly.