French Bread #3

From: tober@cs.brandeis.edu (Benjamin Tober)

Date: Sun, 6 Mar 1994 20:10:13 GMT
There really isn’t much of a trick to making good French bread, at least
not with respect to ingredients. The technique is not particularly
difficult either, though it takes at least a little practice to do well:

1. Empty yeast into 1/2c. warm water and stir to dissolve the yeast. The
water must be warm but not too warm, as this will kill the yeast. Let the
mixture stand briefly. Some bubbles should be noted, indicating that the
yeast is good.

2. Add to the yeast mixture 2 additional cups of water and 1 tablespoon
salt and 2 cups of flour. Stir into a relatively smooth batter.

3. Add to the mixture 4 additional cups of flour and stir until it becomes
very difficult to stir the mixture. Turn out the dough onto a clean,
floured surface.

4. Knead the dough until it is free of lumps, rather elastic, and almost
satiny in appearance. During this process, it will be necessary to add
more flour, perhaps 1 or 1.5 cups or a bit more, depending on how damp the
flour is. Enough flour has been added when the dough has only a hint or
almost no stickiness. Too much flour will make the bread rather tough. Form
the dough into a ball and place in a clean, lightly oiled bowl. Turn the
dough over to oil all surfaces. Place a damp towel over the bowl.

5. Allow the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour and
15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes. After rising, punch down the dough and
return to bowl and recover.

6. Allow dough to rise until again doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down
dough and divide into two equal pieces. Form each piece into a long, thin
loaf (this recipe makes two quite large loaves, or you can divide the dough
into more pieces and make small baguettes, suitable for sandwiches). I find
that it is easiest to form the loaves by taking a piece of dough in both
hands and stretching it out by pulling and slapping the dough against the
work surface. The dough will be quite elastic – you need to be assertive
with it when forming loaves. Place the loaves upside down on a baking sheet
or a stone. Some people say to grease the baking sheet or cover it with
cornmeal, but I have found that the lubrication is not needed and that the
cornmeal tends to burn.

7. Place a damp towel over the loaves and let them rise for perhaps 20
minutes, until almost doubled. While the loaves are rising, preheat the
oven to 375F. I find that it is handy to use an oven thermometer, as ovens
vary substantially in temperature.

8. After rising, place the loaves into the oven. The loaves need to bake
for about 40 minutes. During the first 20 minutes, spraying the loaves with
water (from a plant mister, for instance) every few minutes will improve
the quality of the crust.

9. Remove loaves from oven. Turn the loaves over and rap the bottoms
gently. They should sound rather hollow. If not, they are probably
underdone and should be baked a bit longer. Enjoy this bread soon after
baking (the same day, preferably) as it goes stale rather quickly. Note
that, once it is stale, it still makes great garlic bread. Benjamin A.
Tober – Technical Director -WBRS FM – 100.1Mhz in Waltham,Ma.

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