Bread # 3

One day, actually not that long ago, Divine Cherry and Celestial Dragon were enjoying a quiet and comfortable walk in the countryside. The weather was nice and mellow, the bees were packing their things away for the winter, the animals were busy fluffing up their furs, and the trees were having their usual afternoon tea. It was all in all a normal late autumn's day. The air was crisp and cool and it filled their lungs with a cold, tingling sensation. It had been a difficult week (yet another princess had been kidnapped in yet another realm and they both had to yet reincarnate themselves in the heroes and yet again save the day) and both Celestial Dragon and Divine Cherry felt that the walk was well-deserved indeed. Suddenly, another smell other that of deliciously rotting leaves filled the air and, consequently, their cold lungs. It was the smell of something long forgotten, yet always remembered. It was the smell of something soft, something warm, something cosy, something.. doughy. It was the smell of bread. And so it was that before long they stopped in front of a curious little house. It was made of gingerbread, children's clothes and dragon's teeth. They knocked on the door, and when an old woman opened them, Divine Cherry and Celestial Dragon saw that they had found Baba Yaga's hut. Of course, Celestial Dragon was over the moon (not literally) about this since he hadn't seen his grandmother in ages (literally). To celebrate the lucky advent, the three of them sat down in front of the fire and ate a loaf of bread Baba Yaga had just pulled out of the oven. Divine Cherry, curious as always, politely inquired as to the recipe of the bread, and this is what Baba Yaga told her:

French Country Bread
Servings: 1 large loaf plus extra wheat starter for further baking
Wheat Starter - Day 1:
Ingredients
40 gm stoneground breadmaking whole-wheat or graham flour
45 ml water
Total scant : 85 gm
Directions:
1. In a Tupperware or plastic container, mix the flour and water into a paste.
2. Set the lid on top gently, cover with a plastic bag, to prevent messes in case it grows more than expected!
3. Set somewhere warm (around 86 F if possible). I sometimes put mine on a windowsill near a radiator, but even if it’s not that warm, you’ll still get a starter going – it might just take longer.

Wheat Starter - Day 2:
Ingredients
40 gm stoneground breadmaking whole-wheat or graham flour
45 ml water
85 gm starter from Day 1
Total scant :170 gm
Directions:
1. Stir the flour and water into the mixture from Day 1, cover, and return to its warm place.

Wheat Starter - Day 3:
Ingredients
40 gm stoneground breadmaking whole-wheat or graham flour
20 ml water
scant 170 gm starter from Day 2
Total : 230 gm
Directions:
1. Stir the flour and water into the mixture from Day 2, cover, and return to its warm place.

Wheat Starter - Day 4:
Ingredients
120 gm unbleached all-purpose flour
100 ml water
230 gm starter from Day 3
Total scant: 440 gm
Directions:
1. Stir the flour and water into the mixture from Day 3, cover, and return to its warm place. At this point it should be bubbling and smell yeasty. If not, repeat this process for a further day or so until it is!

French Country Bread
Stage 1: Refreshing the leaven
Ingredients
160 gm wheat Leaven Starter
50 gm stoneground bread making whole-wheat or graham flour
150 gm unbleached all purpose flour
120 ml water
Production Leaven Total 480 gm
Directions:
1. Mix everything into a sloppy dough. It may be fairly stiff at this stage. Cover and set aside for 4 hours, until bubbling and expanded slightly.

Stage 2: Making the final dough
Ingredients
100 gm stoneground breadmaking whole-wheat or graham flour, plus more for dusting
300gm unbleached all-purpose flour
7 gm sea salt
300 ml water
300 gm production leaven – this should leave some (1 cup) for your next loaf.
Total 1007 gm
Directions:
1. Mix the dough with all the ingredients except the production leaven. It will be a soft dough.
2. Knead on an UNFLOURED surface for about 8-10 minutes, getting the tips of your fingers wet if you need to. You can use dough scrapers to stretch and fold the dough at this stage, or air knead if you prefer. Basically, you want to stretch the dough and fold it over itself repeatedly until you have a smoother, more elastic dough.
3. Smooth your dough into a circle, then scoop your production leaven into the centre. You want to fold the edges of the dough up to incorporate the leaven, but this might be a messy process. Knead for a couple minutes until the leaven is fully incorporated in the dough.
4. Spread some water on a clean bit of your work surface and lay the dough on top. Cover with an upturned bowl, lining the rim of the bowl with a bit of water. Leave for an hour, so that the gluten can develop and the yeasts can begin to aerate the dough.
5. Once your dough has rested, you can begin to stretch and fold it. Using wet hands and a dough scraper, stretch the dough away from you as far as you can without breaking it and fold it back in on itself. Repeat this in each direction, to the right, towards you, and to the left. This will help create a more ‘vertical’ dough, ready for proofing.
6. Heavily flour a banneton/proofing basket with whole wheat flour and rest your dough, seam side up, in the basket. Put the basket in a large plastic bag, inflate it, and seal it. Set aside somewhere warm for 3-5 hours, or until it has expanded a fair bit. It is ready to bake when the dough responds to a gently poke by slowly pressing back to shape.
7. Preheat the oven to hot 220°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment, then carefully invert the dough onto the sheet. I like to put the baking sheet on top of the basket, then gently flip it over so as to disturb the dough as little as possible. Make 2-3 cuts on top of the loaf and bake for 40-50 minutes, reducing the temperature to moderately hot 200°C after 10 minutes.
8. Cool on a cooling rack.

With big delay this recipe participates to the Daring Bakers challenge.

Our Daring Bakers Host for December 2011 was Jessica of My Recipe Project and she showed us how fun it is to create Sour Dough bread in our own kitchens! She provided us with Sour Dough recipes from Bread Matters by AndrewWhitley as well as delicious recipes to use our Sour Dough bread in from Tonia George’s Things on Toast and Canteen’s Great British Food!

I paste the recipe as Jessica wrote it.

Ricetta in italiano:
Pane Francese al Lievito Madre

Lievito Madre - 1 ° giorno:
Ingredienti
40 gr di farina integrale
45 ml di acqua
Produzione totale: 85 gm
Procedura:
1. In un contenitore di plastica, mescolare la farina e l'acqua.
2. Chiudere con il coperchio delicatamente, coprire con un sacchetto di plastica
3. Far riposare in un luogo tiepido.

Lievito Madre - Giorno 2: 
Ingredienti
40 gr di farina integrale
45 ml di acqua
85 gr di lievito del giorno 1
Produzione totale: 170 gm
Procedura:
1. Mescolare la farina e l'acqua all composto del giorno 1, coprire e rimetterla a riposare in un luogo tiepido.

Lievito Madre - Giorno 3:
Ingredienti
40 gr di farina integrale
20 ml di acqua
170 gr di lievito del 2 ° giorno
Produzione totale: 230 gm
Procedura:
1. Mescolare la farina e l'acqua al composto del 2° giorno, coprire e rimetterla a riposare in un luogo tiepido.

Lievito madre - Giorno 4:
Ingredienti
120 gm  farina bianca
100 ml di acqua
230 gr di lievito del 3° giorno
Produzione totale: 440 gm
Procedura:
1. Mescolare la farina e l'acqua alla miscela del terzo giorno, coprire e rimetterla a riposare in un luogo tiepido. A questo punto dovrebbe essere spumeggiante e odorare di lievito. In caso contrario, ripetere questo processo per un ulteriore giorno o piu' finche' non si formano delle bolle in superficie e acquista il caratteristico odore di lievito.

Pane francese

Fase 1: Rinfresco del lievito
Ingredienti
160 gr di lievito madre
50 gr di farina integrale
150 g di farina bianca
120 ml di acqua
Produzione totale 480 gr
Procedura:
1. Mescolare il tutto a formare un impasto veloce. In questa fase l'impasto potrebbe risulatare abbastanza duro. Coprire e mettere da parte per 4 ore, fino a quando alla formazione di alcune bolle e all'aumento di volume.

Fase 2: Impasto finale
Ingredienti
100 gr farina integrale
300gm farina bianca
7 gm sale
300 ml di acqua
300 gr di lievito madre - il resto si puo' conservare e usare per la prossima volta che panificherete.
Totale: 1007 gm
Procedura:
1. Mescolate la pasta con tutti gli ingredienti tranne il lievito madre. Sarà un impasto morbido.
2. Impastare su una superficie non infarinata per circa 8-10 minuti, se necessario bagnatevi la punta delle dita, cosi la pasta non si appicicchera'. Allungare e piegare la pasta in questa fase.
La pasta va stesa e ripiegata su se stessa ripetutamente fino a quando non diventa liscia ed elastica.
3. Appiattire un po'la pasta, mettere al centro il lievito madre. Ripiegare i bordi della pasta sul lievito per incorporarlo bene. Impastare per un paio di minuti fino a quando il lievito è completamente incorporato nella pasta.
4. Versare un po' d'acqua sul piano di lavoro e porre l'impasto in centro. Coprire con una ciotola rovesciata. Lasciate riposare per un'ora.
5. Una volta che la pasta ha riposato, iniziate ad impastare: allungando e ripiegando l'impasto su se stesso numerose volte.
6. Far riposare la pasta in una ciotola ben infarinata e coperta con pellicola per 3-5 ore, o fino a quando ha raddoppiato o triplicato di volume.
7. Preriscaldare il forno caldo a 220 ° C. Infarinare una teglia e rovesciarci l'impasto. Infornate per 40-50 minuti, riducendo la temperatura a  200 ° C dopo i primi 10 minuti.
8. Raffreddare e gustare!


Enjoy,
And Spread the Mess