Bread Machine (81 page)

To make the dough, place the water, flour, gluten and yeast in the pan according to the order in the manufacturer’s instructions. (You don’t have to wash out the bread pan from the starter.) Set crust on dark and program for the French Bread cycle; press Start. After Knead 1, press Pause. Add the reserved
pâte fermentée
and the salt. Press Start to continue. The dough will be moist and smooth.

When the baking cycle ends, immediately remove the bread from the pan and place it on a rack. Let cool to room temperature before slicing.

Technique: Shaping Long Loaves of Pain de Paris for Oven Baking

Makes 2 baguettes

1 recipe
Pain de Paris
dough

1 egg white beaten with 1 tablespoon of water, for glaze

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease two thin 2-inch-wide baguette pans. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions.

Flatten each portion into a thin 10-by-inch rectangle with the palm of your 6-inch rectangle with the palm of your hand. Starting on a long side, roll up, using your thumbs to help roll tightly. With the side of your hand, define a depression lengthwise down the center of the dough. Fold over and pinch seams to seal. Gently transfer, seam side down, to the prepared pan. No dough will hang over the ends of the pan. Repeat with the second piece of dough. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until fully doubled in bulk, about 30 minutes.

Twenty minutes before baking, place a baking stone or tiles on the center rack of the oven and preheat to 425°F.

Beat the egg white and water with a fork until foamy. Brush the surface of the loaves with the glaze. With a small, sharp knife, slash the surface 3 or 4 times on the diagonal, no more than 14 inch deep. Place the pans directly on the stone and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped with your finger. Remove the loaves from the pans immediately to cool on a rack.

PAIN À L’ANCIENNE           
Makes 1 round loaf

P
ain à l’ancienne
is daily bread for much of rural France. A country relative of the
pain de Paris
and the baguette,
pain à l’ancienne
is a more rustic bread because it is made with a bit of whole wheat flour. You will get the best results from a stone-ground, coarse grind of whole wheat flour; you want lots of flecks throughout the loaf. When I stayed outside of Cahors, near Villefranche de Rouergue, I visited a baker who worked alone in what looked like an abandoned stone cottage. He baked loaves like this one, and we leaned over a crooked stone fence and called out to him to buy his bread. He left his oven inside the cottage, walked into the yard, and handed us the large round bread over the fence. The crust was incredibly dark, almost brown-black, a darker crust than I was used to. This loaf needs to be baked in the oven—if you have a La Cloche (see
Technique: Baking with a La Cloche Ceramic Baking Dish
), use it, but the bread bakes nicely on baking sheets, too.

1
¹
/
₂
-POUND LOAF

For the pâte fermentée:

¹
/
₂
cup water

Pinch of sea salt

1
¹
/
₄
cups bread flour

¹
/
₂
teaspoon SAF or 1 teaspoon bread machine yeast

For the dough:

1
¹
/
₄
cup plus 1 tablespoon water

2
¹
/
₂
cups bread flour

¹
/
₃
cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons gluten with vitamin C

2 teaspoons light brown sugar or malt powder

1
¹
/
₂
teaspoons SAF yeast or 2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

³
/
₄
cup pâte fermentée

1
¹
/
₂
teaspoons sea salt

Yellow cornmeal, for sprinkling

2-POUND LOAF

For the pâte fermentée:

¹
/
₂
cup water Pinch of sea salt

1
¹
/
₄
cups bread flour

¹
/
₂
teaspoon SAF or 1 teaspoon bread machine yeast

For the dough:

1
²
/
₃
cups water

3
¹
/
₃
cups bread flour

¹
/
₂
cup whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon gluten with vitamin C