peasant and artisan bread recipes

8/8/2019 Peasant and Artisan Bread Recipes

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Peasant and Artisan Bread Recipes by William Alexander

Sour Dough and Artisan Bread (Levain Bread)

Breads with no chemicals, preservatives, colorants, flavorants (all natural, made fresh)

__________________________________________________________Websites:

http://williamalexander.com/bread/note.cfm

http://www.breadtopia.com/

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/

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A. A Note About the Recipes

While you certainly can try these recipes without having experienced (at least,vicariously, through the pages of 52 Loaves) the joy, angst, illness, adventure, cheating,theft, marital discord, and enlightenment encountered while learning to bake, doing so issomewhat akin to taking a final exam after having read only the Cliff Notes (not thatthere's anything wrong with that).

What you may find yourself wondering, though, is why you're doing certain things calledfor in these recipes: autolysing (that is, resting) the dough before kneading, weighingeverything, and why all my recipes use a levain, a wild-yeast starter. You may notunderstand why you need to make slashes in the loaf just before baking, why I have youcrank up your oven to a temperature approaching the core of the sun, then fill it withsteam, risking burns up your forearm in the process, why kneading has gotten such a bumrap, and, last but not least, why there are no atheists in abbeys.


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All of this, of course, plus much more, will be amply explained when you read 52 Loaves(click to buy online). That being said, 52 Loaves is not even remotely a cookbook; it apersonal story of a journey both inward and outward to coax exceptional bread outof someone (me) with very unexceptional skills. The bottom line is, if I can bake nearlyperfect bread, bread that transports you, that becomes the centerpiece of a meal; bread

that is better than almost any loaf you can buy so can you.

Finally, the recipes assume you have some basic equipment on hand. Despite what youmight think from opening a baking supplies catalog, you don't need an awful lot ofequipment to make bread. In fact, you hardly need anything. You do need a baking stoneand (at least, for my recipes) a scale, but everything else in this list is absolutely optional.However, these items, all inexpensive, will make baking both easier and more enjoyable.And enjoyment is what this is all about.

Baking Stone

Also marketed as pizza stones, the thicker and heavier, the better. There are a lot tochoose from, but reputable catalogs sell reputable stones. Beware of those that warn theyemit an odor until fully cured. Size-wise, the stone should fit into your oven with a coupleof inches to spare on either side.

Digital Kitchen Scale

One can get a nice digital kitchen scale for under $30. The zero-out or "tare" feature onall of them is priceless when adding ingredients, but look for one that doesn't zero outwhen you remove the weight. It's nice to be able to remove the bowl and put it back onwithout having the scale reset on you.

Steel bench scraper

My favorite kitchen tool of all time. Also known as a pastry scraper, it's great for dividingand flipping dough around, as well as for cleaning flour and dough off your countertop.

Flexible plastic dough scraper

A plastic scraper with a rounded edge, this two-dollar time saver is indispensable forscraping down and cleaning mixing bowls, as dough will gum up any of your typicalkitchen cleaning pads.

Lame or razor

Having experimented with everything from scissors to pricey imported lames, I've cometo the conclusion there is nothing better than an old-fashioned doubled-edged razor on theend of the stick, either a professional lame handle or a homemade one the one to theright. Second choice: a single-edged razor. Quick tip: Thread a doubled-edged razor ontoa coffee stirring stick instant lame.


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Couche

For making long loaves like btards or baguettes, I think it's a worthwhile investment tobuy a linen couche. Its heavy folds will keep the dough from spreading out during

proofing.

Proofing basket

A boule needs to be supported during rising. If you want to get those nice rings aroundyour loaves, you can buy a clay banneton or do what many commercial bakers do: For abuck, buy a plastic "wicker" basket. After initial treatment with vegetable oil spray, dustgenerously with rice or flour before each use. It will leave the same imprint on yourloaves and no one will be the wiser. The faux wicker basket pictured here cost me adollar. If you don't care about rings, your kitchen colander, lined with a floured clothnapkin, works perfectly well, and costs nothing.

Digital kitchen thermometer

Helpful for ensuring the loaf is done. Once an expensive item, one can now be had forunder $15.

Unsalted butter

Yes, I've listed sweet, unsalted butter as equipment, because I have an axe to grind:Nothing in a restaurant irritates me more than to be served a nice loaf of bread (a rareenough occurrence in itself) with salted butter, which makes any bread taste like popcorn.Even if you've never used it, try buying some unsalted butter (keep unused sticks in thefreezer, as it doesn't keep as well as the salted stuff) to accompany your bread. Its cleanertaste allows the taste of the bread to come through. Good butter complements bread; it isto bread what ketchup (or mayonnaise) is to french fries.

Sources

Basic kitchen items like a digital scale you can get from your local houseware store orthrough a major online retailers such as Amazon. The following sources, though, areuseful for some of the more esoteric items. But before you plunk down cash for shippingcharges, check the phone book to see if there is restaurant supply store nearby. They're agreat (and often inexpensive) source for such things as plastic baskets for proofing andother baking supplies.


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Levain, sourdough, starter...call it want you want it is the secret to authentic, yeasty,artisan bread. San Francisco sourdough has, in a sense, given all sourdoughs a bad name,but most wild yeast starters are far milder and (to my palate) more pleasant as well.

When it comes to making a levain, there is as much superstition as science being spreadaround, and there are as many methods to create a levain as there are bakers. I suspect allof them work and all of them occasionally fail the main difference is that someroutines are more involved than others.

The nascent levain requires the most attention during its first couple of days, so if you'renot around weekdays, make your apple water on Tuesday or Wednesday, and you canbegin adding the flour on Saturday morning. I like to include a little whole wheat flour inthe initial feedings, as it seems to give the starter a boost. See below for full instructions.

Prepare the apple water:

Let 1 quart of tap water sit out overnight to remove any chlorine.Look for a hazy apple, preferably from a farm stand (the haze is wild yeast). Cut theapple into 1-inch chunks, and place, along with the peel of a second apple, into acontainer with 1 cup of the water. (Cover and reserve the remaining water for later.)


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Let the apple and water sit covered, at room temperature, for 3 days, stirring daily. Themixture should be foaming a bit and smell a little like cider by the third day.

Build the levain:

Day 1

Combine 50 g of whole wheat flour (preferably organic) with 350 g unbleached all-purpose or bread flour.Measure out 150 g of the apple water through a fine strainer and add 150 g of the flourmixture. Whip vigorously, scrape down the sides, and cover with a screen (a frying panspatter screen is ideal) or cheesecloth.

Leave the levain at room temperature, whipping every few hours to incorporate air. It isimportant to keep the starter aerated during the first few days.

Day 2

Add 75 g of the reserved tap water and 75 g flour, whip, and leave at room temperature,covered as before, for another 24 hours, again whipping occasionally. You should seebubbles starting to form and the mixture increasing in bulk.

Day 3

Transfer levain to a clean 2-quart container. Avoid transferring any of the dried bits fromthe sides of the old container.

Add 75 g each of bread flour and reserved tap water, whip and cover as before.If at any point of this process, the levain starts to smell a bit funky, discard half, replenishwith flour and water and whip more frequently. If the levain seems limpid (not rising andbubbling), increase the frequency of feedings.

Day 4

Feed it once again, with the remaining 100 g of flour and 100 g water, let it sit at roomtemperature for 2 to 3 hours, and your levain should be ready for use, although it willcontinue to develop flavor over the next few weeks. You can either use it in bread todayor go to the next step.

Cover with an airtight lid, store in refrigerator, and follow the care and feeding directionsbelow.

Care and feeding of your levain

Like an infant, a levain gets easier to care for with age. Just observe the followingguidelines:


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Keep the levain in a covered container in the refrigerator.For the first few weeks, feed twice a week as described in the next step; afterwards, aweekly feeding is sufficient.

To feed, stir thoroughly and discard about 250 g of levain. Replace with 125 g water(straight from the tap is fine at this point) and 125 g flour (unbleached bread or all-purpose), and whip with a spoon or plastic spatula. Leave the lid ajar (so gases canescape) at room temperature for 2 to 4 hours before tightly covering and returning torefrigerator.

If you are baking regularly, feeding is simply part of preparing the levain for the bread,and no other feeding is necessary. You should always feed the levain several hours or thenight before making bread, so replenish with the amount of levain the recipe calls for,and you maintain a constant supply of fresh levain with no effort.

Occasionally clean out your container with hot water (never soap) to remove the crud thatforms on the sides.

If you want a stronger levain, leave it out overnight once in a while, and feed withsmaller "meals."

You may see a puddle of liquid forming on top, a product of fermentation. It can simplybe stirred back in, but if you want to remove it, place the container of levain on yourdigital kitchen scale, and zero out. Pour off the liquid, return the levain to the scale andreplenish with fresh water and just a little flour (in a ratio of about 3 to 1) until you'reback at zero. Then feed as usual.


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Kneading has gotten such a bad rap that you'd think it was about as enjoyable as eating abowl of raw dough. Witness the enduring popularity of "no-knead bread," despite the factthat dealing with this sticky mess is "no-fun" bread as well (there, I said it!), so we'reback to square one, and facing the question: How can you take the pain out of kneading?

It took me a while, but in the course of my year of baking, I learned that the answer lay intwo French words: levain and autolyse. I'll explain why in the instructions below, buttrust me you can make kneading by hand an enjoyable 5- to 7-minute affair. And

check out the video. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a moving picture is worth hmm, it can't be a million I don't know... even more.

Kneading Rule #1: Use a Levain

Using a levain (aka starter or sourdough) not only gives you far superior bread (see theinstructions on building one here), but because the levain has been sitting around in yourfridge for week or years, it already has a well-developed gluten structure that is, it's

already partially pre-kneaded.

Kneading Rule #2: Give it a Rest!

Autolyse is fancy word invented by a French baking instructor and bread scientist ofsorts, Raymond Calvel. It means to let your dough rest (I give it 25-30 minutes) beforekneading. This allows the flour to become thoroughly saturated, and provides time for the


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gluten chains to start forming up before you even lay a hand on the dough more pre-kneading.

Following that, it's an easy 5 to 7 minutes that's all! of pleasant kneading by hand,and you're done. No mixers or food processors to clean up, you've gotten a little mild

exercise, worked out some frustrations, and made some pretty good bread.

So, let's assume you've used a starter, mixed everything together, and let it sit covered forhalf an hour. Now we're ready to do some kneading. How do you go about that?

Kneading by numbers

Put on some good, lively music.

Using a plastic dough scraper, scoop the dough out of the bowl onto to an unflouredcountertop or tabletop (if you're following my recipes, you've done all that careful

measuring of ingredients you don't want to start haphazardly adding flour now!)Dip your hands into flour, and fold the dough (it will be quite soft and floppy at thispoint) over on itself and press hard several times with the heels of both hands.

Turn the dough and fold again, then press some more. Continuing folding and pressing,turning and folding. Don't worry if you're "doing it right." Kneading isn't rocket (or anyother kind of) science. After just a few seconds of this, you should notice how the doughhas turned from coarse and gloppy to smooth and pleasant-feeling under your hands.Continue in this manner, folding, turning, and working the dough with the heels of yourhands. Get your back into it, and give the dough a good workout.

The dough should be tacky and want to cling to the counter, but release (leaving just alittle dough behind) when you pick it up.

Sometimes it helps to use a bench scraper to turn the dough, particularly if it's wet.Once in a while, I like to stretch the dough out like taffy...

Fold it back together...And slam it down onto the countertop with a satisfying whomp!

What you're doing here with all this pushing and stretching is untangling the long proteinmolecules (the longest molecule, in fact, in the food chain) called gluten. It its native,relaxed state, gluten isn't too useful for bread, but once you stretch it out and get it to linkup with adjacent molecules, it acquires the ability to stretch and trap the carbon dioxidegases produced by yeast. Which makes the bread rise.

Continue doing this for about 7 minutes. If you're feeling lazy, and your levain is goodand strong, you can probably stop after 5 minutes.To help you know when your dough is finished, many bread recipe books have you do a"windowpane test" that is, pull off a small (golf ball size) piece of dough and, turning,


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stretch it out to see if you can get it thin enough to form a transparent "window" whenheld up to the light. If you can, the dough is sufficiently kneaded.

I have my own method: when my hands turn as webbed as Donald Duck's, the dough isdone.

Scoop up the dough with a bench scraper and drop into an bowl misted with oil spray.You now have the next 4 or 5 hours free.

That wasn't so bad, was it?


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Remove levain from refrigerator and add equal parts flour and room-temperature water (Iuse about 130 g each, which replenishes what I'll be using in the bread). Stir/whip well,incorporating oxygen, and leave on the countertop, with the cover slightly ajar. Startershould be bubbling and lively when you begin your bread.

Place a large bowl on your scale and zero out the scale. Now add the flours, one at a time,zeroing out the scale after each addition. Separately weigh and add the salt. Add thelevain, a dash of instant yeast, and the water.

Mix thoroughly with a wet hand until the dough is homogeneous. Mist a piece of plasticwrap with vegetable oil spray, press it directly onto the dough, and leave the dough toautolyse for 20-25 minutes.

Kneading and fermentation

Knead by hand 7-9 minutes (see my kneading video if you've never kneaded before). Ifyou insist, you can use a stand mixer with a dough hook for 2-3 minutes. Knead untildough is elastic and smooth.

Clean out and dry the mixing bowl (no soap), mist with vegetable oil spray, and replacethe dough. Place the oiled plastic wrap back onto the dough. Ferment at roomtemperature (68 -72 degrees is ideal) for 4 to 5 hours.

Form and proof the boule

Using your hand or a flexible pastry scraper, remove the dough to a floured countertop.Gently press down to form a disk about an inch thick. Try not to press out the gas bubblesor fuss with it too much.

Fold the edges into the center. Move around the disk several times, pulling and gathering,tighter and tighter, trying to create some surface tension, as you form a ball. Finish with ajust few seconds of half-rolling, half-dragging across the floured countertop, moving theboule in a tight circular motion.

If you don't have a banneton or basket for proofing boules, simply line a kitchen colanderwith a well-floured linen napkin and place the boule inside, seam side up.

Cover with same piece of plastic wrap and set aside to proof, 1 to 2 hours. While doughis proofing, place a baking stone in lower third of oven, and an old cast iron skillet or panon the bottom shelf. Preheat oven to its highest setting.


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Score and bake

After 1 to 2 hours, when the dough is proofed (another term for the second rise), itshould have increased in volume by about half, and feel slightly springy. Transfer eachloaf to a peel that is liberally sprinkled with rice flour or corn meal (or covered with a

piece of parchment paper, but note that the paper will burn if you preheat the oven to550F). Sprinkle the top of the loaf with rye or rice flour if you want that country"dusted" look.

Make several symmetrical slashes (or grignes) with your lame or razor. A "tic-tac-toe"grid is a good way for beginners to start.

Immediately slide loaf (including paper, if using parchment) onto stone and, wearing anoven mitt, add 1 cup water to skillet. Try to minimize the time the oven door is open.Set oven temperature to 480F.

After 20-25 minutes, or when loaves have turned dark brown, reduce oven temperature to425F.

Bake until loaves register 210F in center, about 50 to 60 minutes) with an instant-readthermometer, or until a rap on the bottom of the loaf produces a hollow, drum-like sound.Return bread to oven, with oven off and door closed, for 10 to 15 minutes.Remove bread to a rack and cool for at least 2 hours before serving.


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I hate to burst anyone's fantasies, but the typical baguette in a Parisian bakery, that verysymbol of French cuisine, simply isn't very good, made quickly by machine, frompumped-up flour. If you ask for a baguette l'ancienne, however, you might pay a littlemore, but get an artisan baguette, made slowly, with a wild-yeast starter.

This is my own interpretation of such a baguette. Take solace in the fact that, no matterhow badly you might think it comes out, it is better than half the baguettes sold in Paris.

The long, cold fermentation brings out the natural sugars of the wheat. I usually fermentthe dough overnight in the refrigerator, but I've made these the same day with a 4-hourrefrigerated fermentation, and I can't tell the difference.

This recipe makes four mini-baguettes or three slightly larger ones.

Ingredients:

375 g all-purpose flour250 g levain215 g water teas. instant yeast10 g salt


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Prepare the dough:

Feed levain at least 2 hours or the night before beginning.

Mix all ingredients and allow dough to rest, covered ("autolyse") for about 25 min.

Knead by hand for about 7 minutes until dough is silky and elastic.

Cover with oil-misted plastic wrap. If doing an overnight fermentation, placeimmediately in refrigerator. For same-day baking, ferment at room temperature for 2hours, then ferment in refrigerator an additional 4 hours.

Remove from refrigerator and wait for dough to reach temperature (2 to 3 hours).Form loaves and proof

Place an old cast-iron skillet on the bottom shelf of your oven and a pizza stone near themiddle rack.

Preheat oven to 500F.On a floured countertop, divide dough into 4 equal parts of about 212 grams each (don'tgo crazy trying to make them all exactly the same), shape into balls, and allow to rest,covered for 15 minutes. (I sometimes omit this step if in a hurry, but it does help to relaxthe dough for the next step.)

Press each ball into approximately a 3- by 5-inch rectangle, and form baguettes as shownin the accompanying video. You should have nice little blisters or bubbles of gas in thedough - leave them!

Proof in a floured couche (a heavy linen canvas) or, lacking that, between folds ofparchment paper, for 45-60 minutes.

Score and bake:

With four baguettes to place into your oven, it's sometimes easier to use a wide bakingsheet rather than your peel. Sprinkle the sheet liberally with corn meal or rice flour (orcover with a sheet of parchment paper), transfer the baguettes to it (I use a narrow pieceof quarter-inch plywood as a flipping board, but you can use transfer them by hand aswell).

Using a fresh single-edged razor or a lame, make several overlapping diagonal slashes oneach baguette.

Transfer the baguettes to the stone with a clean jerk back of the baking sheet. Quicklyadd a cup of water to the skillet and turn oven down to 480F.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until crust is a rich brown and center registers 210F or a rap onthe bottom of the loaf produces a hollow percussion sound.Cool on rack.


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F. Leek and Pancetta Pizza

Making one's own pizza not only frees you from the tyranny of tomato sauce andmozzarella on a too-thick, gooey crust, but with only a couple of tries, it's likely to be farbetter than anything you can buy.

This savory pancetta and leek pizza has no sauce at all, allowing the wonderful taste andcrackle of the crust to come through. For a sweeter version, substitute onion for the leek.

Other variations that we've liked include a goat cheese and sage pizza and a margharita

pie made simply with scattered rounds of mozzarella, fresh basil, and seasoned strips ofcanned tomatoes from which you've squeezed out the juice.

Ingredients:

Dough274 grams all-purpose flour48 grams whole wheat flour161 grams levain200 grams water9 grams salt

teaspoon instant yeast1 teaspoon olive oil

Topping2 -thick slices pancetta or bacon1 leek1 tablespoon olive oil1/2 1/3 cup freshly grated imported Romano or Parmesan cheese


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Prepare the dough

Feed levain at least 2 hours or the night before beginning.

Mix all ingredients and allow dough to rest, covered ("autolyse") for about 25 min.Knead by hand for about 7 minutes until dough is silky and elastic.

Cover with oil-misted plastic wrap.Ferment in bowl 4-5 hours. Can also be refrigerated overnight and brought to roomtemperature the next day.

Prepare the topping.

An hour before baking, preheat the oven to 500F (use convection mode if you have it)with baking stone in place, and prepare the toppings as follows:

Trim the leek, keeping only the white portion. Wash and slice into quarter-inch pieces.Cut the pancetta into quarter-inch cubes and saut in a non-stick pan over medium-lowheat until translucent, but not fully cooked.

Remove the pancetta to paper towels and pour off most of the fat. Add the leek and sautunder low heat until just soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Be careful not to brown.

Assemble and bake

Liberally flour your countertop and hands. Divide dough in half, forming each half into aball. Taking one dough ball at a time, gently press and stretch it out on a well-flouredcountertop to form a small disk.

Then get your floured hands under the disk so that it's resting on your knuckles, and startmoving your hands in a circular motion to rotate the dough, stretching and turning, givingthe dough little flips to move it. As the dough moves around your hands, it should beincreasing in size. Look for any thick spots and stretch them out.

Don't worry if it's not round, but do try to make the thickness consistent. (Alternately,you can form the pie by pushing and stretching the dough right on the countertop, if thistop-of-knuckle business makes you nervous.)

Drop onto a peel that has been well-covered with corn meal or rice flour and do the finalshaping, poking the dough with your fingers around to perimeter to form a raised crust.Brush the crust lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with half of the grated cheese, andadd half of the leek and pancetta.

Slide pizza onto stone, and make the next pie while this one is baking.Bake until crust is golden brown on edges. bvlenz

peasant and artisan bread recipes

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