French Bread

A friend sent me a recipe from here. While lurking I found a recipe for French Bread that I made for dinner tonight and was very happy to eat almost an entire loaf...how embarrassing! We served it with pumpkin pasta, but it would be good with just about anything. She said the crust was soft and I like a bit of crunch so I did mist it during the first couple minutes of cooking. This is a very easy bread recipe, done almost entirely by machine. The only catch to it is you'll need to make it when you can be close by because for nearly an hour you need to turn on your mixer every 10 minutes. Start to eat this took me about 2.5 hours.

2 ¼ c. warm water
2 TBSP. sugar
2 pkg. active dry yeast (1 1/2 TBSP.)
1 TBSP. salt
2 TBSP soft shortening or vegetable oil (I use canola)
6 cups flour
In large mixer (I took her advice and used my Kitchen Aid with the dough hook), combine water and sugar then sprinkle with yeast.
Allow to soften (gets bubbly - about 5 minutes). Add salt, oil, and half flour; mix well. Add remaining flour. Leave mixer in dough. Allow to rest 10 min. Stir dough down and allow to rest 10 min. Repeat until dough has been stirred dough 5 times.
(I actually wrote down the times of each 'stir' because both girls were awake and I didn't trust myself not to get sidetracked). Turn dough on floured surface. Knead 2 or 3 times (the dough is very fun to play with and should be thick and squish, but will pull right back to the shape it was). Divide dough in 2. Roll each dough into 9x13 inch rectangle (good luck). Roll from long side and pinch edges. Place on baking sheet with Pam or cornmeal. They both fit on one jellyroll pan, but while baking you might get nervous - let's just say they expand plenty. Cover with a towel and allow to rise 30 min. With a sharp knife cut 3 gashes at angle on top of dough.
Bake 400 degrees for 30 min, check at 20 minutes.