Bestest French Bread Evar and its No-Knead

The title explains it all! A whole batch of the original recipe is supposed to make 3 loaves, but I always do half a batch of it and make 2 loaves with it, and both turn out fairly large. Apparently this bread freezes well, but it disappears so fast we haven't tried that yet! This recipe came from the textbook we used in my cooking class at Freed, although I halved the ingredients for this post and modified the directions for better yeast rising.

---No-Knead French Bread---

Ingredients:
-1/4 cup WARM water (our water temperature is set to 120 degrees and I wait until the water coming out of the sink is as hot as it gets!)
-1 and 1/4 tsp sugar
-2 and 1/4 tsp yeast
-1 cup WARM water (see above)
-1 Tbsp butter (sometimes we use butter spread instead)
-1 tsp salt
-3 and 1/4 cup to 3 and a 1/2 cup flour
-a little olive oil or other oil or more flour
-optional: 1 large egg and 2 Tbsp milk

Directions:
Rinse a liquid measuring cup in running hot water to get it heated up, then fill it with the 1/4 cup WARM water. Quickly add the yeast and sugar, and let it sit for 5 minutes. While you're waiting for that, melt the butter and put 1 and 1/4 cup flour into your mixing bowl (I use an electric standing mixer). When the 5 minutes is up, pour the yeast mixture into the bowl and stir into the flour until well mixed. Add the 1 cup WARM water, melted butter, and salt and stir until mixed. Gradually mix in the rest of the flour until you have a soft dough. Cover the dough and let it sit for 10 minutes, then stir gently for a couple seconds (I detach the paddle from the mixer and moosh the dough up and down by hand). Repeat this step 4 times. Put dough onto an olive oiled surface (or flour can be used instead) and divide it into 2 equal portions. Roll each into a large rectangle, a little less than 13x8 inches. Roll up the bread starting with the long side of the rectangle and pinch down the ends to seal it. Put the loaves seam side down onto a greased baking sheet with plenty of space in between them. Place the baking sheet on the top rack of a cool oven and place a pan full of boiling water on the bottom rack, close the oven door and let the bread rise for 40 minutes or until doubled. Optional: Make diagonal slits about 1/4 inch deep along the length of the loaves with a very sharp knife. Optional: Beat the egg and add the milk, then brush gently over the top of the loaves. Bake the loaves at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or until loaves sound hollow when tapped.