EASY French Bread

If I made it folks, you can too! I stay away from baking...especially things with yeast...it just seems so scary for some reason and I can't eat most of it anyway. Michele posted this on The Occasional Vegetarian long ago, but after Mike's parents began to rave about it I finally decided to give it a try. I halved the recipe to make one loaf and guess what?! It turned out and it was tasty too (I had to try ONE bite). So, if you think bread and yeast are scary, here is one for you to try!

Ingredients:
2 T yeast
2 T sugar
2 1/2 c warm water
3 c flour
1 T salt
2 T olive oil
3 more c flour

Directions:
-Mix first 3 ingredients together and let yeast rise 5 minutes (yeast, sugar, water).
-Mix next 3 ingredients together in a large mixing bowl (flour, salt, oil).
-Add liquid mix to flour mix.
-Slowly add up to 3 more cups of flour.
-Let rise for 10 minutes and punch down, repeat 5 times.
-Shape into 2 long skinny loaves and bake @ 400 for 20-25 minutes.
*For a crispy crust, brush egg white over loaf before baking*