It has been a while, since I participated the I ♥ Cooking Clubs challenges. This week we are saying Bonjour Jacques Pépin! Welcome to IHCC!. I have to admit, as a German foodie, I never heard of him, but it’s always nice to meet a new chef. The Cooking with Jacques Pépin badge looks promising for breads and to welcome him, I baked the
Country French Bread
Pépin recommends using a food processor and a proof box, I used my hands, Toppits® covering caps * and a proofing basket.
A real crusty bread with an nice open crumb and a delicious flavour. We enjoyed the Country French Bread as bruschetta.
Country French Bread
Yield: 1 large loaf, about 1 kg
There’s nothing like fresh loaves of thick, crusty country French bread. The smell is almost as satisfying as the taste that follows.
Ingredients:
- 500 grams water
- 1,5 teasp. dried yeast
- 1/2 teasp. malt
- 650 grams wheat flour, type 65, I used this
- 12 grams salt
Instructions
- In a bowl combine 3 tablesp. flour, yeast, malt and water into a bowl. Add enough water to get a pancake batter. Set aside for 15 minutes.
- Add remaining water and flour and stir the dough until it is smooth. Cover the bowl and let it autolyse for 30 minutes.
- Mix the salt into the autolysed dough and knead it by hand. After 2-3 minutes of kneading, the dough should be smooth but strong. Put the dough in a large bowl covered with a covering cap and let rise in a warm place for 3 hours with 3 stretch and fold cycles every 20 minutes.
- When risen, the dough should have doubled in volume. Bring the sides of the dough to the center and knead gently to deflate and make it into a ball.
- Roll the dough tightly on itself into a ball, then press and mold it into a large oval-shape loaf. Give it into an well floured oval proofing basket (~11″x6″), seam-side-up. Cover with a covering cap and let rise at room temperature for 1-1/2 to 2 hours
- Preheat oven to 220 °C/425° F. Upturn the loaf on to a flour-dusted tray and make a few slashes to the top. Carefully slide the loaf onto the hot bread stone and bake for 45 minutes. During the first 10 minutes of baking, create steam by spraying water into the oven at 3-minute intervals. I baked it in my moisture plus oven with one steam injection.
- When the bread is brown and the internal temperature is about 90 °C/194 °F, remove it from the oven and let cool 1 hour before slicing.
total time: 6 hours 30 minutes
preparation time: 10 minutes
cook/baking time: 45 minutes
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*=Affiliate-Link to Amazon
For all other great Bonjour Jacques Pépin! recipes visit the I heart cooking clubs site
more recipes and entries in English
** 06.11.2023 https://bongu.de/main/Artikel/1/t65-bio-baguettemehl no longer available, link updatet
