French Artisan Bread Making – Recipes
French Artisan Bread Recipes
Our cookery classes are as much about learning to cook as they are a sociable experience. We hope you enjoyed your day and are ready to recreate the bakes at home.
You Baked:
- Pain de Campagne
- Baguette
- Fougasse
Pain de Campagne
Pain de campagne means “country bread” in French; it’s our rustic equivalent of a sourdough.
Ingredients:
Starter/Leaven:
- Bread flour 393g
- Cold Water 236g
- Yeast 0.6g
Dough:
- Bread flour 320g
- Water 170g
- Yeast instant: 7.5ml
- Salt 12.5g
Method:
A day ahead, mix all the starter ingredients in a medium bowl.
Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to ferment overnight, i.e. about 12 hours at room temperature.
Next Day:
- Add the water for the dough to the starter and mix thoroughly.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour and yeast.
- Mix the dry ingredients into the starter, as demonstrated in class.
- With the help of a dough scraper, combine the starter and dry ingredients to form a dough.
- Cover with cling film, set aside for 20 min, then we will add the remaining salt and combine well.
- Cover again and let it rest for an additional 30 min.
- When the dough is ready, cover the bench with a slight throw of flour and take out the dough from the bowl. We need to fold the dough 2 times with 30 min resting time in between.
- preheat the oven at 240C and half fill a deep oven dish with some water. Set a oven tray with parchment paper aside.
- As shown in class, gently flatten the dough on the bench and take the corner and bring it toward the center. When done, flip the side of the dough and by using you hand and finger stretch the dough by creating a circle.
- Flip the dough again and bring it back in the bowl with the stretch part of the dough against the bowl.
- While the dough is resting take your banneton and dust it with some flour all around. When the dough is ready put it on a dusty work bench with flour, knock back the dough gently and shape it in a oval form.
- Transfer the dough to the banneton keeping the bench side of the dough down as demonstrated in the class. Leave for 30-40 minutes.
- Transfer the dough from the banneton to the tray as shown. Take a sharp knife and score the dough, then dust the top with flour and semolina.
- Put eh tray of water into the oven and give it a minute to heat up.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake for around 45 min or till the crust is formed with a nice colour.
- Take out and cool on a wire rack before eating.
Baguette
An overnight starter called a poolish will give your baguette a golden crust and chewy middle.
Ingredients:
Poolish:
- Bread flour 250g
- Water: 250g
- Yeast instant 5g
- Malt syrup 8g (optional)
Dough:
- Bread flour 500g
- Water 250g
- Salt 13g
- 7g yeast
Method:
- For the poolish, mix the flour with the yeast then add the water and the malt syrup.
- Cover the bowl with clingfilm and let it develop overnight at room temperature.
To make the dough:
- In a bowl add the poolish and the water together. Mix it slightly to dissolve the poolish.
- In a separate bowl mix the flour and the salt then add the dry ingredients to the poolish with the help of the scraper. Combine the flour water and sponge together to create a dough.
- Cover it then with clingfilm, set aside in a warm place for 20 minutes.
- After 20 mins, the dough will still be wet – possibly much wetter than you’re used to, but this is important for a delicious loaf. Either knead by hand for 10 mins, or in a mixer with a dough hook for 5-8 mins, until the dough firms up and becomes smooth and elastic. It will still feel sticky but have shape and spring.
- When done, place back into a bowl, seam down. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and let it rest for 30 min.
- Knead for a second time, then with a little more flour, fold the dough inwards on itself to make a ball. It will be dry to touch on the outside, but pleasingly wobbly and alive within. Transfer to a lightly floured large bowl, cover with a clean tea-towel and let rise for 1½ hours in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven at 240C and prep a bowl suitable for the oven with some water in. Set an oven tray with parchment paper aside
- Put some flour on the working bench and gently tip out the dough.
- With the help of the scraper and a scale, divide the dough in 2 pieces approx 350g each. Any leftover dough can be used for pizzas or frozen for future use.
- Working one at a time, press each piece of dough into a rough oval about 25cm long and 20cm deep. Fold one of the long sides to the middle and press it down well with your fingers. Fold in the other long edge in the same way, and press well again to make a long strip of dough with a groove down the centre. Now fold the dough over itself lengthways into a sausage, pressing the two sides together well in a tight seam against the worktop. Roll very lightly under your palms to seal and make the ends a little pointy.
- Place it on the oven tray and cover with cloth for about 10 min. Add the water to the oven to create steam (this process will help the dough to create a crunchy crust)
- Take a sharp knife and score the top of the baguette, transfer the tray to the oven and bake the bread for about 20 min, or until golden-brown in colour.
- Cool on a wire rack before eating.
Fougasse
Ingredients:
- 250g flour
- 1.42g salt
- 8g dried yeast
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 80 ml water at room temperature
- semolina for dusting
Method:
- Add the flour to a bowl with the dried yeast on one side, and the salt on the other.
- Mix the oil and water together and slowly stir it into the dry ingredients. Mix well, then knead in a stand mixer for 5-8 minutes, or by hand for 10.
Tip the dough into the oiled container. Cover and leave to rise until at least doubled in size – about an hour. The dough should be bouncy and shiny.
Mix equal quantities of white flour and semolina together and use to heavily dust the work surface. Carefully tip out the dough. It will be quite loose and flowing, but don’t worry. Divide the dough in half.
Lift each piece of dough onto the prepared baking sheets and spread out into flat ovals. Using a pizza cutter make two cuts in a line down the middle of the ovals with a gap between them, stopping 2cm/1in from each end. Then make 12 diagonal cuts in the dough, 6 either side of the central cuts, forming a leaf design, then stretch the dough out slightly to emphasise the holes.
Place the baking sheets inside large plastic bags and leave to prove in a warm place for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7.
Spray a little olive oil over the top of the loaves using a water spray bottle, or just drizzle over the oil. Sprinkle over the oregano and bake for 15–20 minutes, or until the fougasse sounds hollow when tapped on the base. Remove from the oven and while still hot, brush with more olive oil and sprinkle with the sea salt.
We Hope You Enjoyed The Class
If you have any feedback about the class or questions for chef please do get in touch. Email: lovetocook@foodsorcery.co.uk
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