My French Bread recipe...
Apr. 10th, 2020 12:48 pmIt has been a rather food-heavy week here at the Villa Sternberg. We have Lisakit living with us again, as she was stranded on the mainland when Governor Inslee announced the shelter-in-place orders and her housemates developed a certain paranoia about “mainlanders” bringing the virus to Whidbey Island, so we’ve given her a place to stay.
This week I’ve made five loaves of French bread using a pate fermente technique that seems to work well with my own cooking style. I just have to start at 10am if we want bread by dinnertime. Noon is too late.
For a half-kilogram of bread, start with 300mg of flour. For that 300 mg, you need the following ratios: 1.9% salt, 0.55% instant yeast, and (approximately) 65% water. So: 5.7 grams of salt, 1.65gms yeast, and 195ml water. Sift the dry ingredients together, add most (but not all!) of the water and stir with a strong spoon. If it’s too dry, add more water. If it’s too dry, it’s okay to add water by the teaspoon until all the dry ingredients have been pulled into this shaggy, sticky mess in your bowl.
Scatter some flour on a clean surface, scatter more on your hands, and knead the dough for about six minutes, until it’s stretchy but doesn’t seem to be easy to tear. Put in into a clean bowl greased with olive oil, and then spread a little more olive oil over the top until the entire lump has a thin layer. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise on a high shelf for 90 minutes. Check it; punch it down gently if it’s risen, and give it another 90 minutes.
Weigh the result and divide that number by 1.6. I ended up with 421 grams total, so 263: That’s how many grams of flour I needed for the next step. Sift that much dry flour into a new bowl, and add salt and yeast in the same ratios. For 263 grams of flour, I needed 1.5gms yeast, 5gms salt. You’ll also need 172gms of water, but first…
Take the first lump and with a knife cut it four times, until you have sixteen pieces. Toss those into the new bowl and stir gently to coat them with flour. Now, while stirring with one hand, slowly add the water until you develop a new ball of dough.
Remove the new ball of dough to a clean, floured surface and knead some more, about ten minutes. It’s okay to sprinkle flour until it’s very easy to work with; it should feel just a little bit sticky, but none of it should stick to your hands while you knead. Just get those muscles working.
Once you’ve got this whole ball of dough, grease it and put it back into the bowl, covering with either plastic wrap or a light towel. Let it rise for another hour; if it’s doubled in size, push the air out gently with your knuckles. Either way, give it another hour after that.
Now, carefully remove the dough, cut it in half or thirds, and shape it into rounds (those are easiest) by gently tugging a “bottom” part down in a kind of curling motion. Now, put the bread on a cookie sheet, with either parchment paper, silicone liner, or cornmeal to keep the dough from sticking. Let it rise for, yes, another 45 to 75 minutes.
Once the rounds are fully developed, heat the oven to 500 degrees (F). Fill a garden spray bottle with water. When the oven is hot enough, put the cookie sheet into the oven and spritz the walls of the oven with the spray bottle to generate a lot of steam. Do this four times, with thirty seconds between the times, then close the oven and drop the temperature to 425.
At about 20 minutes, check the bread. Let it bake until it’s a lovely golden brown color on top. Take it out and let it rest for 30 minutes, and it’s ready for eating!
The marking there is done with a very (very!) sharp razor; you can’t do it with an ordinary kitchen knife, it just doesn’t work well.
This week I’ve made five loaves of French bread using a pate fermente technique that seems to work well with my own cooking style. I just have to start at 10am if we want bread by dinnertime. Noon is too late.
For a half-kilogram of bread, start with 300mg of flour. For that 300 mg, you need the following ratios: 1.9% salt, 0.55% instant yeast, and (approximately) 65% water. So: 5.7 grams of salt, 1.65gms yeast, and 195ml water. Sift the dry ingredients together, add most (but not all!) of the water and stir with a strong spoon. If it’s too dry, add more water. If it’s too dry, it’s okay to add water by the teaspoon until all the dry ingredients have been pulled into this shaggy, sticky mess in your bowl.
Scatter some flour on a clean surface, scatter more on your hands, and knead the dough for about six minutes, until it’s stretchy but doesn’t seem to be easy to tear. Put in into a clean bowl greased with olive oil, and then spread a little more olive oil over the top until the entire lump has a thin layer. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise on a high shelf for 90 minutes. Check it; punch it down gently if it’s risen, and give it another 90 minutes.
Weigh the result and divide that number by 1.6. I ended up with 421 grams total, so 263: That’s how many grams of flour I needed for the next step. Sift that much dry flour into a new bowl, and add salt and yeast in the same ratios. For 263 grams of flour, I needed 1.5gms yeast, 5gms salt. You’ll also need 172gms of water, but first…
Take the first lump and with a knife cut it four times, until you have sixteen pieces. Toss those into the new bowl and stir gently to coat them with flour. Now, while stirring with one hand, slowly add the water until you develop a new ball of dough.
Remove the new ball of dough to a clean, floured surface and knead some more, about ten minutes. It’s okay to sprinkle flour until it’s very easy to work with; it should feel just a little bit sticky, but none of it should stick to your hands while you knead. Just get those muscles working.
Once you’ve got this whole ball of dough, grease it and put it back into the bowl, covering with either plastic wrap or a light towel. Let it rise for another hour; if it’s doubled in size, push the air out gently with your knuckles. Either way, give it another hour after that.
Now, carefully remove the dough, cut it in half or thirds, and shape it into rounds (those are easiest) by gently tugging a “bottom” part down in a kind of curling motion. Now, put the bread on a cookie sheet, with either parchment paper, silicone liner, or cornmeal to keep the dough from sticking. Let it rise for, yes, another 45 to 75 minutes.
Once the rounds are fully developed, heat the oven to 500 degrees (F). Fill a garden spray bottle with water. When the oven is hot enough, put the cookie sheet into the oven and spritz the walls of the oven with the spray bottle to generate a lot of steam. Do this four times, with thirty seconds between the times, then close the oven and drop the temperature to 425.
At about 20 minutes, check the bread. Let it bake until it’s a lovely golden brown color on top. Take it out and let it rest for 30 minutes, and it’s ready for eating!
The marking there is done with a very (very!) sharp razor; you can’t do it with an ordinary kitchen knife, it just doesn’t work well.
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