Classic and Simple- French Bread

This was my first challenge since joining the Daring Bakers, a wonderful online baking club. This challenge was hosted by The Sour Dough's Mary and I Like to Cook's Sara. Every month the Daring Bakers has a pre assigned host (the waiting list is VERY long) and they choose one recipe that every daring baker bakes from- no substitutions or amendments at all (unless allergies or dietary restrictions prohibit). We have a private blog that we can communicate on all month long and then we all reveal our entries on our own blogs on a specified day at the end of the month. As you surf food blogs today you are bound to come upon many many beautiful pictures of this bread. This has been a great opportunity for me- there are so many great members and the support of the community is so great. There's really not many areas of baking that I haven't encountered but it's fun to be given a recipe to have to reproduce to the letter, I anticipate finding new ways to do things and happening upon some great keepers... like this one! This bread made the house smell so good! This french bread came from the fantastic Julia Child, from her legendary series "Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume 2" It can guide even the most novice of bakers towards a wonderful loaf of fresh bread, that is leaps and bounds beyond anything you would find "just baked" in a grocery store. If you are at all tempted, don't be put off by the directions and give it a try! It's great fresh and great toasted- it makes the ultimate peanut butter and jelly. The recipe was just four ingredients but the directions which are terrifically detailed was 18 pages! So Mary from The Sour Dough's graciously offered up the link to her website to share the recipe, to save all of our tired little fingers!