Walking into a Bread Talk or a Cedele branch doesn't quite give you the same sensory emotions as you would get from a proper bakery. The smells and colors aren't quite the same, and in any case you won't find bread with the traditional flavours and textures that can only be achieved through the natural, long leavening times of the classic recipes.


Following, the ingredients for about 4 loaves:
Poolish:
Bread Flour 120g
Water 120ml
Dry Yeast 0.1g (a pinch)
Dough:
Bread Flour 244g
Water 120ml
Dry yeast 1g
Salt 7g


- Pull out the two doughs from the fridge 30 minutes in advance, and prepare the remaining yeast, which you will have dissolved into a tiny amount of water, and the salt.
- Put the stiff dough in the mixer at the lowest speed, then add the water and yeast mixture, then gradually, spoon by spoon, the poolish. Let the stiff dough incorporate the added poolish, perhaps helping it a bit using a spatula, then add more of it, until it's all incorporated.
- Add the salt, then bring the mixer to a higher speed and knead for another 5 minutes.
- Put the dough into a large plastic container, and let it ferment at ambient temperature (30C) for 1 hour.
- Take the dough out of the container on a lightly floured surface, then stretch it and fold it onto itself. Place it back into the container for another hour.
- Take the dough out again (it should have doubled in size), then divide it into 4 equal pieces, possibly elongated. Flatten them out, then let them rest for 5 minutes. Note that you will need to dust this dough with flour, since it's quite lose.
- Now shape the baguettes by folding the flattened squares, like in this video. Do the folding twice. Note that the dough in this recipe is a bit more lose than the one in the video. If you are not comfortable with the shaping, you can just fold the dough once and elongate it and roll it a bit. You will still get good bread.
- Place all the loaves onto a large piece of baking paper, then enclose them into a large plastic box for raising. It's important that you keep them enclosed so that they don't dry out during the raising process. I place them into a wine cellar overnight, and they will be ready the next morning. Alternatively, if in a rush, they will be ready if you let them ferment at ambient temperature for 2 to 2-1/2 hours.

Before inserting the bread in the oven score the loaves and spray them with a very fine water spray. insert them in the oven, and bake until ready (time varies, depending on the oven). You will know when they are ready, as the color of the crust speaks for itself.
Once out of the oven, try to be patient and let the bread rest for 15-30 minutes before cracking it open!
8 comments:
Thanks once again for complete and consistent instructions with pictures that help - I'm going to try this out over the next few days. We had the first snow here today so the wood burning stove will be on more often, which usually means more baking and chutney making ;-) A presto!
POete - this bread is wonderful. You just have to adjust this a bit for your climate (maybe you won't need the wine cellar, but it will take longer to raise when you need it to!). Do you have a hole for baking in the stove? That sounds like any baker's dream! Let me know how it goes.
Hi there,
Do you mind to share where you buy your bread flour and yeast? There isn't many choices here in Singapore. Your bread looks wonderful, I am really eager to be able to make bread looks like that.
Irvan - Absolutely! I just use the local "Prima" brand bread flour. You can find it in any store in Singapore, as it's the most commonly found flour in Singapore. I have also tried other European flours, with no noticeable differences.
Wow. What a wonderfully comprehensive discussion. I can not wait to try this one. As always, a job well done. Bravo!
Hello again - It is the Abruzzo connection again - I don't know if your family used to drink Punch Abruzzo, a 90 proof liquore from Borrello (Chieti). I wrote about it a while ago. Perhaps you might enjoy the article. I hope your holiday season was grand. Happy New Year to you. May you enjoy many fine meals, and may you enjoy them in the best of health!
http://thefrontburner.us/main/2012/01/05/punch-abruzzo/
I want to give this a go!
If you don't have a wine cellar can it be left in a normal fridge? What amount of time would you recommend?
sille
My wine cellar is set at 12C. It depends on the temperature of your fridle. There is an easy formula to calculate. I suppose at about 8C it would take 50% longer or more.
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