French Country Boule (LEADERS Pain de campagne)
Pain de campagne
This is the first time I made Leader's French Country Boule and I'm very very happy with it. I doubled the recipe and made 3 loaves. The boules are 8" across and the batard is 12". I thought they were well risen but I guess I should have let them go longer because they busted out. I should have left the boules darken more just because I like the dark better. Instead of the whole wheat called for I used First Clear Flour and I used pumpernickle for the light rye and I used a little more salt than called for. My sour dough starter was refreshed 3 or 4 days before I made the starter but it did good. It was a stiff starter.
I will make this often. The flavor is excellent. The crumb is even with no large holes. Did anyone else post a photo of this bread so I can compare? How long did you let it proof after shaping? I know zolablue and Liz made this....how does is compare bread friends?
By the way Liz, I picked up my rye grain yesterday. The health food store finally got it in. I'm itching to try it. weavershouse
Comments
Weavershouse: I think your Pain de Campagne are wonderful. The aroma is wafting through my monitor! Your loaves compare very well, indeed! I actually prefer slightly underproofed breads with great ovenspring. I'm also impressed that your starter was refreshed 3 or 4 days before you used it. I refresh every 12 hours for 2-3 days before I use my starter. You have a healthy starter. Here are photos of loaves I made in August:
I agree about adding extra salt. I think Leader's recipes are slightly under salted so I usually add a bit more.
I've made this bread quite a number of times. I usually, however, retard this bread overnight in the refrigerator as I like the flavors that develop so can't really comment on proofing times at room temperature. How was it working with clear flour? I had one disaster with clear flour where my loaves were so firm they were like bowling balls.
So glad you liked this bread. It is one of my favorites as it goes well with just about any menu. Some of my breads are a bit "too way out" for some people, but everyone seems to enjoy this one.
Can't wait to hear how you like fresh milled rye. I would recommend some of Leader's rye recipes as they are comparatively easy, although I think you may be more experienced at rye breads than I. I particularly like his Polish Cottage Rye, the Light Silesian Rye and the Dark Silesian Rye. I didn't care for the French ryes that use a white flour starter, as they didn't have the tangy rye taste that I love.
Nice job!
Liz
Your loaves are beautiful. I don't remember seeing that photo...could be my rememberer doesn't work :)
The crumb of my batard was more open like yours. I added a photo below of the crumb from the boule. I didn't have any trouble with the first clear flour but there was only 1/2 cup for a double recipe. The only rye I had on hand was pumpernickle and I have to say I couldn't even pick out rye taste, just an overall great flavor. At what point do you refridgerate the dough?
I started the starter about 9:00 pm, let it sit out overnight and mixed the dough at 9:00am. I folded it in the bowl at 10am. and again at 10:30. No kneading. It sat out in my cold house till 5:00pm when I did a stretch and fold. About 5:30 I divided in 3, rested and shaped. The boules rose a little over an hour. The batard about an hour and 45 min. There is a gentle sour that we like. I'm guessing it came from the long fermenting even though it was cold. About 65º When would you have put it in the fridge? Or is my kitchen "fridge" enough?
I'm trying to make room in the freezer so I can make rye. Thanks again. weavershouse
I especially admire the batard. I want a bit of that grigne! (I can hear the crunch!)I haven't made this one yet but it's similar to the Pain au Levain, which I have made. It looked like this:
Leader's Pain au Levain au Tornesol
Leader's Pain au Levain au Tornesol crumb
DavidWow that's beautiful bread. Are those sunflower seeds? I'm going to look this recipe up now.....well, I better start lunch first or I'll have my head in that book all day. Thanks for the compliments. weavershouse
Hi weavershouse.
Those loaves were pretty, weren't they? Those are sunflower seeds. They were mixed in the dough and also stuck to the loaves right after shaping. That timing helps them stick better than adding them just before baking.
I was disappointed in the taste of this bread, but then I prefer bread that's more sour than an authentic French pain au levain. I think I need to make this bread again with overnight cold retardation to boost the sour flavor.
I'm planning on making Hamelman's Pain au Levain with sunflower, seseme and flax seeds this weekend, and I'm going to cold retard the loaves. Stay tuned.
David
Jiminy crickets. Bread masters chat room here.
Weavershouse, is this the pain de campagne that Zolablue said she's been making to the exclusion of other breads? Yours is really lovely--the batard with its coat of poppy seeds, just begging to be cut into.
I assume this is from Local Breads? Are you remotely convincible, beggable or bribable to post the recipe?
Also I love your butt'ry, I'm sure I would love your whole house, and spend hours puttering away discovering. If I ever do shake the dirt off my roots and head south for a lark, I will happily pay you a visit. If you are needing snakes I could bring some...
(Don't worry, spiders,
I keep house
casually.)
--Issa, 19th-century haiku master
I think this is the recipe that ZB likes so well. It is from Local Breads. I thought you gave in and bought the book before I did. I do like the book a lot but I do fear errors lurking in there somewhere and hope I don't run across them.
I'd be glad to post the recipe but it will have to be tomorrow unless I can find time tonight. I'll try hard for tonight.
Oh, one more thing browndog...are you trying to get me to buy another book?!! Now I'm looking at Issa and want to know more. I almost clicked the button at Amazon and might do it yet tonight but I want to know more about him.
I like what you said "I keep house casually". I say... If you don't dust...dim. weavershouse
Weavershouse, I was this close to buying the book after the gorgeous breads people were posting, but the error issue wouldn't die and I chickened out. Dolf mentioned a second printing so I thought I might wait it out, I don't know.
It was Issa said "I keep house casually", but that little haiku showed me how strong a connection we can have with people across the centuries.
The book I have is the Essential Haiku, versons of Basho, Buson & Issa. It includes several pages of Issa's journal as he tended his dying father, that are worth the cost of the entire fat little book. Drop a big hint to your honey, eh?
I'm all for soft lighting, myself...
And don't stress about the recipe--my starter is in storage at the moment because right now is too hectic to tend a sourdough, but that bread looks so good, and there's such a consensus, I'm feeling envy, and I'd love to try it.
I talked to my grandaughter today who was born in Japan. The culture rubbed off on her and she loves all things Japanese. When I asked her about the book Essential Haiku that you mentioned she said "Grandma, that's my book that you were reading the last time you were here." I now remember that I was going to get a copy but I forgot all about it. And then you mention it and now I'm on another quest. Amazon has no copies available so I'll have to look elsewhere. Thanks for the reminder. weavershouse
Weavershouse,
I haven't tried this recipe yet, but I've noticed that you, as well as some of my other favorite bakers on TFL, are very happy with this recipe. The loaves look great. I'd be curious to see a picture of the crumb if you have one.
Bill
Hi Bill,
Thanks for your kind words. I took this picture for you of the crumb. I'm never good at taking pictures of the crumb and this photo is of the ends of the bread after breakfast. We had some of it last night too. Very tasty.
Last night I cut the batard in half to put it in the freezer and the crumb had more holes and they were larger. I'm sure it was because the batard sat waiting for the boules to come out of the oven.
Inside the boule Hope this poor photo helps. I have to invest in a new bread knife. weavershouse
Weavershouse,
That crumb looks good, so maybe the extra proofing is all that was needed. It looks like irregular nice sized holes without the giant holes of a ciabatta or similar bread. It's what I would like for a general purpose sourdough to have with dinner.
Bill
I'd be in trouble. I couldn't pick one over the other. I like them both as well. weavershouse
Weavershouse: The crumb has such a wonderful sheen on your batard. I love when the crumb gets that shiny gelatinized glow.
I have retarded this bread both during fermentation and after shaping during proofing. I prefer the taste when it's been retarded after shaping and during proofing (it's just not always easy to find refrigerator space for 3 to 4 shaped loaves.) Your loaves probably benefited from the very long, cool fermentation that you gave them. I do knead this recipe in the DLX to the point of windowpane.
I,too, don't notice a particular rye taste to this recipe, but I think the rye adds quite a bit to the overall taste and gives a nice kick start to the levain.
Glad you are enjoying it. I think it's a wonderful bread. Took the day off from work to make cookies. I am up to my elbows in gingerbread and cookie cutters!
Liz
Liz,
I recently got a DLX. I've never done windowpane tests because in the past I've usually kneaded less at the beginning (doing it by hand) and then done folding or other techniques to further develop gluten later on. However, I'm still curious to get an idea of for how long you mix and at what speed on your DLX to get the windowpane test to work. Also, when you did it, approximately what percentage protein was the flour you were using?
Thanks, Bill
Bill: I've been using the DLX for about a year and have to admit that my learning curve on it was slow. However, when I got Leader's new book with the specified long kneading times, I began to see that I had been seriously under kneading my breads.
I use all purpose flour in the 11 to 11.7% range (King Arthur organic or Guisto's Baker's Choice have been my main white flours lately). I have been milling my own whole wheat and rye for the past few months. On this Pain de Campagne I knead for at least 8-9 minutes, and sometimes 2 or 3 minutes longer (until windowpane). I add all my liquid first, and then slowly add in the flour while on a low setting. Once everything is incorporated, I turn the speed up to medium setting. When I see the gluten strands start to develop, I will turn it on to high for a few minutes. At this point the dough starts to form that lovely donut where I think you get maximum kneading advantage from the DLX. I try to pay attention to the dough temperature, because I don't want it to get too hot while kneading on high speed. If it is getting warm, I turn the mixer down to a medium setting. With this recipe, I always achieve a windowpane. I finish with some french folds on the counter.
I hope this helps. As I said, I am still experimenting with the DLX. I have read where some people never turn it up to high, and others who mix primarily on high speed. I think it was Jane who posted some lovely whole wheat and spelt miches last year who said that when she started using her DLX on the highest speed, she finally achieved a nice open crumb. A combination of speeds has been working for me, but I always enjoy hearing how others use the DLX.
Liz
PAIN DE CAMPAGNE
MAKES 2 8" ROUNDS
LIQUID LEVAIN STARTER
Liquid levain 1/4 cup (1.8 oz/50 gr)
Water,tepid 3/4 cup (6.2 oz/175 gr)
All purpose flour 3/4 cup (4.8 oz/135 gr)
PREPARE THE LEVAIN
Mix levain with water. Add flour, mix. Cover let stand at room temp. 8-12 hrs.
BREAD DOUGH
Water 1 cup + 1 TBL. (8.8 oz/250 gr)
AP Flour 2 3/4 cup (15.5 oz/440 gr)
Whole Wheat flour 1/4 cup (1.1 oz/30 gr)
Fine or med. rye 1/4 cup (1.1 oz/30 gr)
Liquid levain starter about 1 3/4 cups (10.9 oz/310 gr
Sea salt 1 1/2 tsp. (0.4 oz/10 gr)
MIX THE DOUGH
Pour the water into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the bread flour, whole wheat flour and rye flour and stir till it absorbs all the water and a rough dough forms. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 20 min. to hydrate the flour and give the gluten a chance to develop on its own.
ADD THE LEVAIN AND SALT
Stir the levain with a spatula to invigorate and deflate it. Scrape it into the bowl of dough. Sprinkle the salt over the dough. Use the spatula to blend the levain and salt into the dough.
KNEAD THE DOUGH
By hand: Lightly dust the counter with flour. Scrape the dough onto the counter and knead with steady, relaxed strokes for 10 to 12 minutes. Flour your hands as often as necessary but resist adding more flour to the dough. As you continue to knead, the dough will gradually become smooth, resilient and tacky. Give the dough a windowpane test to judge its readiness. Pinch off a golfball-sized piece and flatten it into a mini-pancake. Gently stretch it until the dough is thin enough to see through. If it tears, press the small piece back into the larger mass, knead it for 1 to 2 min. more, and test again.
By machine: Use the dough hook and mix the dough on medium speed (4 on a Kitchen Aid) until it is smooth, 8 to 9 min. It will be soft and tacky but will clean the sides of the bowl. Give the dough a windowpane test to judge its readiness, as described above.
FERMENT THE DOUGH
Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled, clear, straight-sided 2-queat container with a lid. With masking tape, mark the spot on the container that the dough will reach when it has doubled in volume. Cover and leave it to rise at room temperature (70-75 degrees) until it inflates into a dome and reaches the masking tape, 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours. It will feel springy and less sticky.
DIVIDE AND SHAPE THE BOULES
Heavily dust the bannetons or two bowls lined with kitchen towels with flour. Lightly dust the counter with flour. Scrape the dough onto the counter. With a bench scraper or chef's knife, cut the dough into 2 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a boule. If you don't achieve a perfect round, leave it. It's important not to overwork the dough. Place each round, smooth side down, in a prepared banneton or bowl. Lightly sprinkle with flour and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
PROOF THE BOULES
Let the boules stand at room temperature until they become pillowy and nearly double in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. When you press your fingertip into the dough, the indentation will spring back slowly.
PREPARE THE OVEN
About 1 hour before baking, place a baking stone on the middle rack of the oven and a cast-iron skillet on the lower rack. Heat the oven to 450 degrees.
SCORE THE BOULES
Lightly flour a bakers' peel or rimless baking sheet. Uncover he loaves and tip them out onto the peel or sheet, guiding them for a soft landing and arranging them at least 2 inches apart. With a lame, a single-edged razor blade or a serrated knife, make 3 parallel slashes centered on each loaf, each about 1/2 inch deep.
BAKE THE BOULES
Slide the loaves, still on the parchment, onto the baking stone. Place 1/2 cup of ice cubes in the skillet to produce steam. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 400 degrees and continue to bake until the boules are red-brown, 20 to 25 minutes more.
COOL AND STORE THE BOULES
Slide the peel or the rimless baking sheet under the parchment paper to remove the loaves from the oven. slide the loaves, still on the parchment, onto a wire rack. Cool the loaves completely, about 1 hour, before slicing. Store the cooled loaves in a brown paper bag. They will stay resh for about 4 days. For longer storage, freeze in resealable plastic bags for up to 1 month.
That is the recipe as written. My changes: I started with a stiff levain. I used 2 1/2 tsp. salt. I used first clear flour for the WW and pumpernickle for the light or med. rye. I mixed the dough in the bowl. After about 30 min. I turned it in the bowl and rested 30 min., turned in bowl. Covered and let set about 3 hours then did a stretch and fold. I let set about 5 hours in my cold kitchen then turned it out, divided, rested about 20 min., shaped and let it rise 1 to 1 1/2 hrs.
This bread did stay fresh for 3 days before we ate it and the crust stayed crisp.
I hope you give it a try and that you like it.
Weavershouse, thanks, you're a sweetie. For some silly reason the breads with French names intimidated me, til I started having success with Hamelman's Pain au Levain. I can't wait to try this. In a week or two I will wake up my starter and see what happens.
Too bad it can't be today--we're getting nicely buried with that big ol' Nor'easter and it's perfect baking weather. Looks like Christmas cookies instead.
Thanks again!
You're welcome. I promise this is a very easy recipe.
We have snow, ice, rain, repeat, repeat. We cancelled all plans for the weekend. Nice day to stay home and bake. I have a semolina starter going and hope to make the semolina from Leaders.
Keep warm and happy baking. weavershouse
Yes, Bill. Baking weather.
Preferably indoors.
Browndog, Weavershouse,
I baked bread and roasted chickens and yams yesterday outdoors in about 30F conditions. It worked beautifully - my first serious outdoor baking adventure with snow on the ground. So I went ahead and shovelled off a path to the oven after the snow last night, thinking I should keep it accessible. Now, after drying off, it's hot chicken soup and slices of whole grain sourdough. Oh yeah, and an espresso. I didn't imagine I would be checking the weather in winter for baking as I would in the spring with a sailing adventure in mind.
Bill
I'm amazed at how fast you learned to use your outdoor oven. The chickens were gorgeous and I bet delicious. I'm waiting for you to fire the oven up with wood. You must have a lot of neighbors hanging over the fence now. It will only get worse for them, poor things, when they smell that woodsmoke along with the breads and foods you have going on out there.
Is this Ohio storm heading your way? weavershouse
Hi Weavershouse,
The storm wasn't too bad, but it's messy out there today. We have about 4 inches of very wet snow, and now a combination of sleet and snow is still coming down. Yesterday when I was baking and cooking the temperatures were lower than today, but at least it was dry. I've figured out temperature management in the oven much better now. I'm still afraid and may be a little too lazy to try burning wood in it, although I'm tempted just to see what it's like. I'm sure I'd be going right back to square one on temperature management in addition to ash cleaning and firewood acquisition. I'm having a rash of falling fruit trees, very old ones, on my property. Maybe I'll have all the wood I need, unexpectedly.
Bill
Or maybe a nice hot expresso.
It looks like you have a lot of snow there. weavershouse
>I didn't imagine I would be checking the weather in winter for baking as I would in the spring with a sailing adventure in mind.<
Bill, that's precious really. It gives me visions of you bundled up like Charlie Brown, with snow on your whiskers and a snow shovel in one mitten, a peel in the other.
I thought New Jersey did not see a lot of snow?
Weavershouse, north of us was supposed to get hit pretty hard. We got about 8" today on top of a foot already on the ground.
Did you put together your semolina bread?
The unicorn wants to be where the food is, indoors or out. He got an extra bit of hay for posing.
How sweet that your grand daughter has the same Essential Haiku book--good luck tracking down a copy.
(Tethered horse;
snow
in both stirrups.)
--Buson
Well, I don't know about snow on my whiskers, but it was chilly. I only went for a few moments at a time to tend things in the oven, so it's not bad at all, especially if you stay close to the oven door. NJ sometimes will get a few feet of snow in the winter, but it can also be rainy and mild all winter. The unicorn looks cold up there. Stay warm and enjoy indoor baking.
Bill
Weavershouse,
Thank you so much for this formula! I just tried it today, and it's a huge hit with the whole family!
My starter has been pretty sluggish lately, but I had to make something, so I did the build last night with my discard, let it go 15 hours, made up the final dough this morning, let it ferment at least 6 hours, then proofed for a little over 2 hours and baked in a cold-start oven.
I didn't get either yours or browndogs beautiful spring with ears, but it did spring respectably, and the taste is encroyable!
I'll certainly be trying this one again, soon!
Thank you,
edh
(I even had a piece with some bittersweet chocolate left over from Christmas cooking; it lived up to its french name very nicely!)
edh, this is my not-so-secret:
I hate the whole business of steaming, but it certainly seems to help ovenspring on these more particular doughs. So now my boules and smaller batards are almost always baked under a stainless steel bowl.
I was going to make Hamelman's pain au levain yesterday, but my hubby lobbied for a repeat performance of the campagne.
Glad you had a success as well.
I'm so glad you're happy with Leader's recipe. It is good isn't it? I've made it a couple of more times and I'm always pleased. The chocolate sounds like a real good idea! weavershouse
Weavershouse and Browndog,
The family is still oohing over this; I think the next try will be sooner rather than later!
Questions for both of you first though;
I seem to recall that you do a lot of cold start baking browndog? Do you do it for this or preheat? I always start everything under a roasting pan; my oven is gas, so steaming has no effect as it all goes right out the top vents. I may just have to let go of lovely grigne and ears, as the crust from a cold start seems otherwise to suit everyone here.
Before the baking part, though. I had a tiny little goof right at the beginning, in that I didn't pay attention to the recipe and dumped all of the liquid levain into the autolyzed dough. Oops, kinda gloopy. I added just a bit more flour and that seemed to bring everything to a nice consistency, but I have to say, convincing that very liquid levain to combine with that very stiff dough was not the easiest thing in the world. Do you use a mixer, or just keep squooshing it between your fingers until it's all one? Once I accepted that I was going to get messy, it was kind of fun, though it made some pretty rude noises!
Thanks again for this recipe; I'm going to have fun working on this one, I can tell!
edh
Hi edh,
To be honest I have been preheating for these free-form artisan/sourdoughs since I got a new oven that gives me 450 in about ten minutes. I don't use a baking stone unless it's been warmed on the woodstove first.
I did the same thing with that levain yesterday. Squoosh, squoosh, squoosh, that was me, no mixer at all.
The first time I didn't pay attention to the fact that the levain came in after the autolyse, and frankly it seemed to make no difference, and was a lot easier to do, adding the loose flour to the liquid levain, and autolysing it all together (minus the salt.)
It's been a heat wave here--our 2 feet of snow is a giant slush puddle! :(
It's the same here; what a mess. We're all grieving the loss of the snow, we want our sliding back!
Good to know that it works to dump it all together, I might try that too sometime. I think I will try preheating next time; that's a brilliant thought about putting the stone on the woodstove. The baking stone is my only barrier to preheating; the oven is pretty fast without it, but it takes forever to heat the stone up.
Darn, I'll have to bake again soon...
edh
I don't use a mixer either. I tossed it together, did a couple of turns over an hour or so. Then I let it sit about 3 hours, did one stretch and fold and let it sit 5 hours before shaping. I didn't bake the loaves under cover but I'm going to next time to see what happens. Thanks for that browndog. Then again, if I'm making 3 or 4 loaves and baking one at a time under cover the last one is going to have a long wait. Maybe I'll stagger the shaping.
I did preheat just because I'm worried the stone isn't hot enough. Wish I had my woodburner back. That electric meter goes way too long when I'm preheating.
No snow here either. We had 69 degrees the other day. Well, if you can't slide you can bake. weavershouse
I can't believe I'm saying this, given all my complaints about cold, slow starters, but I actually got the kitchen too hot the other night while baking. Of course, at this time of year, 72 degrees feels too hot...
I like baking under a cover but am too impatient to bake one at a time; I use my turkey roasting pan (the biggest one I could find), it will cover 2 boules.
edh
I can't feature baking one at a time either. I have a couple of 12" round pizza pans and two tall-ish, I believe 5 qt bowls that were chosen to act as covers. They just fit into my oven.
The little SFBI 1.5 lb oval basket makes a loaf short enough to go under the bowl if I don't load it with too much dough, much to my surprise and delight, since I don't have a roaster.