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Thursday, May 21, 2020

PAIN ORDINAIRE BREAD Recipe


Today is bread baking day, and today is also the first time I’ve made this bread recipe … it won’t be the last!


I like trying new things in the kitchen, so today I tackled a new bread recipe and some new shape techniques. I enjoy new recipes. I learned how to cook by doing it; my mother never taught me – she taught my younger sister, ramona, but she didn’t think it worth her time to invest in me: so, I learned how to cook after I married Bob. He was a willing guinea pig, and his loving sacrificial sufferings through new bride cold spaghetti meals and tearful burnt offerings, as well as his kisses & hugging encouragements to ‘keep trying, honey; you’ll learn’ helped me enjoy the cooking journey through the years ;-)

A trepidatious cook in the early years; when I wasn’t yet confident in my cooking abilities – I’d follow recipe directions, but I was never sure what was actually going to be coming out of the oven. LOL

Now I’m a good cook, and I can bring my offerings to the table with a beaming smile, fully confident they will be appreciated and enjoyed.

My first attempts at bread making were failures all the way around. But I was determined to turn out a good loaf of bread, so I walked to the blue-ribbon bread baker of our small town and knocked on her door. When she opened the door, I said, “I want your secret. I’ve been trying and trying to make a descent loaf of bread for months … spill! What do you do to make your wonderful breads?” She laughed and told me: and I’ve been turning out great loaves of bread ever since – of course, they are nothing at all like hers because she kept and took that spectacular secret to herself and to her grave; but what she told me and taught me is enough. I’m satisfied with my breads, and Bob loved my breads ;-)

This recipe is super simple and rises no fail at a cool temperature :-D

The versatile dough can be formed into several shapes: I made 3 this afternoon – from one making of the recipe ;-)

There are 2 other flavors that can be used to enhance this basic recipe – for the Whole Wheat French Bread, simply substitute 1½ cups finely ground whole wheat flour for the same amount of unbleached all-purpose flour; or create loaves similar to San Francisco sourdough by using 2 cups warm yogurt instead of water.

I just stuck to the original recipe today.

This dough rises light, but it cooks and cools very dense; it will feel heavy when removed from pans.

PAIN ORDINAIRE BREAD (French Baguette) Recipe ~ Makes 4 baguettes

1½ packages dry Yeast or 2 cakes fresh yeast * 1 teaspoon Sugar * 2 cups warm Water or lukewarm water (105-F to 115-F) * 2¾ cups Bread Flour * 2¾ cups unbleached all-purpose Flour * 2 teaspoons Salt * Additional Flour if needed * Cornmeal * 1 Egg white with 1 Tablespoon Water & a pinch of salt for the glaze

Sprinkle yeast and sugar over warm water in a large bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer; stir to dissolve (I use a regular large bowl and a regular hand mixer … it does work the wrist, so be aware). If using cake yeast, crumble into bowl; stir in sugar and lukewarm water (95-F). **Let either method of yeast mixture stand for 10 minutes to foamy:


Combine bread flour and all-purpose flour together. Add 2 cups flour mixture with salt to yeast mixture. Using wire whisk attachment, or dough hooks, beat 5 minutes to develop gluten ...


Remove wire whisk from mixer and insert paddle attachment if using a heavy-duty mixer. Using low speed, blend in enough remaining flour ½ cup at a time to form dough that clears the sides of bowl. Knead on floured surface until smooth and elastic – kneading in additional flour if dough is sticky (pick dough up occasionally and slap onto surface to develop gluten), 12 minutes.

Grease a large bowl. Add dough, turning to coat entire surface. Cover bowl with plastic. Let dough rise in a cool area until tripled in volume – about 2 hours:

Cool rise – I admit I was skeptical of this method; I’ve never done a cool dough rise before. But it worked beautifully :-D
I finished this knit baby jacket while waiting for the first rise to wrap up.

Gently knead dough in bowl to deflate. Cover and let rise in cool place again until tripled in volume – about 1½ hours.

Sprinkle cornmeal on ungreased baking sheets of French bread pans. Gently knead dough on lightly floured surface until deflated; kneading in additional all-purpose flour if too sticky. Cut into 4 even pieces. *Flatten each piece into a rectangle about 12” in length and roll up jelly-roll style, starting at one long end. Pinch seams to seal. Roll back and forth on work surface until dough is length of pan. Arrange seam side down on lightly cornmealed prepared pans … spacing at least 4 inches apart. Let rise 25 minutes to lighten density.

Rising loaves in a cold oven.

Position oven rack in lower third of oven. Preheat oven to 425-F. Slash top of loaves, using serrated knife. Brush with glaze. Bake until loaves sound hollow when tapped on bottom – about 25 minutes. Immediately transfer to cooling racks. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

My French Bread baguettes.
My 'little mushrooms' - I deliberately made them smaller than the recipe directs.

Variations:

Champignons (“small mushrooms” shape): Cut dough into 6 even pieces. Cut 2/3 of 1 piece of dough and knead into round. Place on prepared sheet. Make well in center. Knead remaining dough piece into a round ball and set in well atop first piece of dough. With floured finger, make hole down center of rounds to baking sheet. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough. Let rise as for baguettes. Bake 20 to 25 minutes.

  

I made much smaller rolls by making a 12” rope and cutting off 1” pieces (12 ct) and shaping as described above.

4 Boules (rounds): Cut dough into 4 even pieces. Knead each into a round shape. Let rise as for baguettes. Slash tops. Bake 25 to 30 minutes.


4 l’epi (“sprig shapes): Cut dough into 4 even pieces. Form each into a 12-inch baguette shape. Using scissors, cut ¾ of the way into each dough at 3-inch intervals. Pull each section out in opposite direction and twist slightly to form loaves resembling wheat sprigs. Let rise as for baguettes. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.


After seeing my lame sprig (it was so pathetic looking I’m not even going to post a pic), I hunted down this **Youtube video that made the thing appear so simple to do (original recipe instructions of cutting and twisting totally confused me): I’ll refer to this simplified video for a future loaf ;-)

**How to cut an l’epi bread: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN5QL_kaowQ