This bread variant is almost as good as sourdough. The poolish gives the bread an incredible richness to the bread that is only surpassed by sourdough. Time and temperature are critical for this recipe. This recipe also makes a wonderful pizza dough.
Time is THE secret ingredient when making bread. You need at the very minimum 12h to make decent bread. To make abominable bread, 3h suffice. Typically it takes me ~ 18h. If using this recipe for pizza dough, I recommend proofing in the fridge for 48h - it will develop rich flavours!
All recipes aim for a ratio of water to flour, called the baker percentage. I found that around 75% is the best ratio between humidity and ease of work. The problem with 80%+ doughs is that they become difficult to work with.
Temperature is critical to control. You'll notice that proofing time varies widely between winter and summer. Use colder water in the summer months than what is written here. Your proofing time will also be shorter unless in a controlled environment (e.g., in AC)
Proofing is the hardest part of the whole process - it requires experience to "read" the dough. With time you'll learn when the dough is ready at its different stages. Overproofing can happen (and, as noted above, will happen quicker in the summer months). The dough becomes a slobby mess that tears up. Nothing can be done to save it, but you can still cook it as is; it'll still be good to eat!
The truth is, it doesn't matter to have bread flour specifically. All-Purpose works just fine. However, avoid pastry flour as it has very low protein content. You can also mix whatever other type of flour you want, up to 20% of the total flour. (e.g., 120g in this recipe). I typically like to have 70g of rye flour and 25g of whole wheat in this recipe. It's all up to you!
Most recipes are using too much yeast for fast proofing. More yeast means less time, which means less flavour. Don't over yeast it! If you have fast yeast (in small flakes), you don't need to dissolve it in water. Add it to the dough directly. If you have regular yeast (in tiny hard balls), you'll need to dissolve it in the water first. Give it a good 5 minutes before continuing.
I like the fast yeast in flakes. It works just as well, and it's one less step!
Nothing special here. However, don't add the salt to the water if you have yeast in it. It will kill it.
- 600g of unbleached flour
- 460g of water at 35 degrees celcius ( baker percentage: 76% )
- 15g of salt ( 2.5% )
- 2g of yeast ( 0.33% )
- The night before, mix 450g of the flour (save 150g) with 460g of water and a dash of yeast ( ~0.5g ). It will be very liquid.
- Note: if you need to dissolve your yeast, save 20g of water to use tomorrow.
- Cover in a plastic bag, let it rest on the counter for ~12h.
Next morning your poolish should be bubbly.
- Add the rest of the flour (150g)
- Add the rest of the yeast in one corner
- Add the salt in another
Start mixing. I use a kitchen aid mixer with a dough hook because of a bad wrist.
- Mix at low speed for 2 minutes to integrate all the ingredients.
- Mix at maximum speed for 7 to 8 minutes.
The dough will eventually stop sticking at the bottom for few seconds, around the 6 or 7-minute mark. This means the dough is almost ready. The dough will be sticky but very smooth on the outside. Wet your fingers and stretch it. You should be able to create a little window of dough without it tearing. If it tears up quickly, it's not ready and needs an extra minute.
Once ready, remove the hook, peel the corners of the dough, stretch it with your wet hand, and fold in the middle to make a rough ball. 3-4 folds are enough.
Cover your bowl in a plastic bag or a wet cloth.
- At the two-hour mark, your dough will have almost doubled in size. Fold it like you just did before. It will degas it and allow for the yeast to get back to work.
- at the three-hour mark, your dough will have triple in size and is ready for shaping
For a basic Pain de Campagne, you'll need to make a ball.
- Get your dough on a clean counter. No need to flour.
- Gently spread your dough in a square of roughly 9"x 9".
- Fold each corner in the middle
- Flip the dough with the folds facing the counter
- Roll the edges of the dough underneath to create tension on the top. (this is hard to explain without showing)
- Stop before the top layer of the dough starts to tear from the tension.
- If you have a proofing basket, flour it and put the ball of dough folds sides up.
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- otherwise, leave it on the counter, folds down.
- Sprinkle your dough in flour, cover with a dry cloth.
- Let it rest either 1 or 2h, depending on your kitchen temperature. You will see it rise again. It's ready when it got back some of its "fluffiness."
tip for pizza If you're making pizza, this where you'd divide this into three balls of ~300g and put them in an airtight container, and leave it proof in the fridge for 48h.
- 30 minutes into the proofing process, preheat the oven to 500 degrees f, with a dutch oven in it. It needs to preheat for at least 40 minutes so that the dutch oven reaches the temperature.
- Get your dough inside the dutch oven, folds down, without burning yourself!
- score your dough with a razor blade or a very sharp knife. Two slices are enough between 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep. This step is crucial.
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- Those scores act like chimneys for the gas to escape and control the shape of your bread.
- Get in the oven for 15 minutes with the cover on.
- Remove the cover after 15 minutes, drop the temperature to 325 degrees f.
- Cook for an extra 20 minutes.
The bread will be golden and ready to cool!
- It's critical to let the bread cool for at least 20 minutes on a rake. This process finalizes the crust and condenses all the moisture inside the bread.
- It's finally ready!