Pane de Campagne-the first loaf of Summer
This past Monday my wife and I arrived home from our very first visit to Europe where we spent 3 nights in Prague, then 8 full days cruising the Danube from Germany, through Austria, Slovakia, and finally disembarking in Budapest. It was a marvelous trip which we enjoyed immensely, but as always it's good to get back home, especially after spending 10 + hours flying, transferring, waiting to fly, then transferring twice more before landing back on Vancouver Island.
By the time we got in the door neither of us were hungry, which was good since we'd used up as many of the perishable items stocked in our fridge as possible, including the last of the bread, before we left on our trip. Too exhausted to do anything but crawl into bed, I thought I'd start some sort of a poolish the next day for a bake on the following day. Tuesday evening when I was mixing the poolish I really didn't have a concrete plan of what I'd eventually do with it until I remembered that I had some rye starter left in the fridge. The starter of course was dead as a doornail, but I added some to the poolish thinking if nothing else it should add a little tang to the finished loaf. The poolish went in the fridge overnight to do it's thing, while I decided what sort of bread I wanted to use it in. Pane de Campagne has long been a favourite of mine for it's mild rye flavour that seems to go with just about anything from meat, fish, cheese, to toast and jam. This particular loaf may not be what some would consider a true version of the bread, but it's close enough that I don't have a problem calling it one. The poolish itself wasn't really a poolish in the typical sense as didn't rise up the way a normal one will, probably because the high pH starter killed off most of the scant amount of baker's yeast I used in it, but it had a nice aroma to it and in it went to the final mix. The dough mixed up easily by hand and then a few minutes of work up on the counter to develop the dough a bit. One stretch and fold in the bowl after 30 minutes of bulk ferment, then another 50-60 minutes BF before the intermediate proof of 15 minutes. Shaping, then 30-40 minutes of final proof, followed by the slash, steam, bake routine. No surprises, no ghastly blow-outs, just a decent and very tasty loaf of country style bread to tide me over till I get back to working on a bread project I started before we left on our vacation. More on that at a later date... but not too much later I hope. Formula and procedure used can be found below.
Cheers,
Franko
Pane de Campagne |
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|
Ingredients | % | Kg/grams |
Starter/Poolish |
|
|
Dormant rye starter | 46 | 30 |
AP Flour | 100 | 65 |
Water-75F | 100 | 65 |
Yeast-instant | 4 | 3 |
Total |
| 163 |
|
|
|
Final Dough |
|
|
Starter/Poolish | 25 | 150 |
AP Flour | 83 | 500 |
Light Rye Flour | 11 | 70 |
40% Whole Wheat Flour | 5 | 30 |
Sea Salt-null Gris | 2 | 14 |
Yeast-instant | 2 | 14 |
Water | 73 | 438 |
Total Weight |
| 1216 |
Total Flour | 100 | 680 |
Total Hydration | 76 | 518 |
PROCEDURE:
Starter/Poolish:
Combine the starter/poolish ingredients 12-14 hrs before the final mix and keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Final Dough: DDT of 75-78F
Heat 50 grams of the water and add the salt, stirring to dissolve it as much as possible. Set aside.
Combine the remaining ingredients, mixing either by hand or machine to a shaggy stage. Add the salt solution and continue mixing till thoroughly combined and the mixture forms a cohesive mass. Knead the dough conventionally or use the slap and fold method if mixing by hand for 3-4 minutes or until moderate gluten development occurs. Times will vary if mixing by machine so monitor the dough closely that it doesn't overdevelop. The dough should be slightly sticky and not fully developed at this stage. Place the dough in lightly floured bowl, cover and begin the bulk ferment. After 30 minutes do a thorough stretch and fold in the bowl, cover and continue the bulk ferment for an additional 50-60 minutes. Remove the dough and round lightly, cover and allow to rest for 15 minutes before shaping.
Preheat the oven and stone to 480F.
Shape as desired into a moderately tight form, cover and begin the final rise of 35-40 minutes on a parchment lined peel.
When the dough is not quite fully proofed dust it lightly with either AP or light rye flour and slash as desired, keeping the slashes shallow. Spray the oven 4-5 times with water and bake for 3 minutes then spray again. Bake for 15 min and reduce the heat to 450F. Bake for 10 minutes and remove the parchment paper , rotating the loaf on the stone for even coloration. Continue baking for 15-20 minutes or until the loaf is evenly coloured and has a hollow sound when tapped on the bottom. Turn the oven off and leave the door ajar, allowing the loaf to cool gradually in the oven for 15 minutes before placing on a wire rack for 5-6 hours before slicing.
Comments
Welcome back, Franko! Would love to hear about your trip especially with regards to your 'eating highlights'. But it is always nice to get home after a long trip. Makes you appreciate home more. And there is always the anticipation of nursing the starter back to health and the planning about what to bake, etc.
Love the crackles on your pain de campagne. The crumb looks fantastic, too. I love the flavour that 10% rye contributes to a loaf. I usually use less whole wheat (20%) but if I use more, I sometimes sieve the coarser bits of bran out.
Enjoy being at home again. Best,
Syd
Thanks for the welcome home Syd and for your comments on the loaf.
The whole wheat I used is a mill blend of 60% white flour and 40% whole wheat. The formula percent I used of that was just a shade over 5%, so really very little.
There were many 'eating highlights' during the trip Syd, not the least of which happened right onboard the ship. We happened to be sailing with the executive chef for the entire line as our cruise chef so the food was top notch all the way. Having an excellent bread baker and a superb pastry chef onboard as well, just made it that much better. Had some awesome street food in Prague, sausages & sauerkraut with dark beer inRegensburg Germany, fantastic wines and apricot liqueur in the Wachau Valley of Austria, and a slice of authentic Sacher Torte in Vienna, just to name a few highlights. At some point next week I hope to have finished putting together an album of our best photos and post a link to it on TFL for anyone interested in seeing them.
Thanks again Syd!
Franko
aside from an enviable awsome vacation along the Donau river. Your recipe, is it from a printed book-version which I can look up or should I print out yours ? I tend to accumulate too many printed versions and then too lazy or forgetful to leaf through all of them.
Thanks much,
Anna
Hi Anna,
Thanks for the compliments on the loaf.
The recipe is just what I put together on the fly.Other than making note of the weights, temps and bake profile during the process, it was a 'hurry up' bread of sorts. The idea was to make something relatively quick and country style.
Glad you liked it,
Franko
Your vacation sounds wonderful and I'm looking forward to your viewing your album. The meals you enjoyed, must have been a real highlight, they sound outrageously delicious, and left me drooling!
'Tide me over breads' well they can be some of the best.....we've been enjoying several of those around here lately, summertime can be busy and not much time left for baking. What a lovely bread you baked and nicely written up, it's nice to see something good and tasty, without to much work, this time of year. On a hot summer evening, a dinner of a panini sandwich, on this bread..sounds perfect to me. By the way, the Pain Rustique you posted is another favorite, my grandson even remarked..."I like that bread, grandma"!
Happy Baking, Sylvia
Hi Sylvia,
Thanks so much for the "Welcome home!" and great to hear from you as well.
The photo album may take a while to put together as Marie and I have over 1600 pictures between us, but I'll do my best to get it done before the end of next week. It looks like the weather will be keeping me indoors for a few days so it shouldn't be a problem.
The bread has a kind of a funky, slightly underproofed look to it that appeals to me on a certain level. The main thing is it tastes great, was quick, and easy, and allowed me to get it done in the morning and be on the golf course before noon. The Pain RustiqueRustique is a real keeper isn't it? I love that formula for it's compatability with other flavours. The week before we left I used the PR formula to make a cheddar jalpeno bread that was a huge hit with my step daughter . She's normally not a big bread eater but I've been informed that this one will be a regular request.
All the best Sylvia, and a have an enjoyable summer!
Franko
Hi Franko,
Welcome Back indeed!
The crumb of the loaf is so inviting, and the loaf has a real boldness to it.
I was wondering why you didn't use a Banneton; were you seeking that lovely rustic appearance in the finished loaf? It really works.
I've made Ciabatta with a Biga and added some rye sour to the formula. But I've never combined the 2 into an overnight ferment like this. It's clearly worked very effectively
All good wishes
Andy
Hi Andy,
Thanks for the welcome home, it's good to be back here again with TFL.
Why didn't I use a banneton? If you have a look at my reply to Sylvia that partially explains the reason, but as well I find lately that I'm using the forms less and less, preferring to hand shape and leave the dough to find it own character during the bake. Much as I will always appreciate the 'artisan style' loaves with the flour and slash patterns, the rustic country style breads hold a lot of appeal for me these days. Regarding the preferment; I don't recall ever having combined the 2 overnight either, but as noted in the writeup the poolish wasn't anything you'd recognize as such. The activity was very minor compared to any preferment I've used before, and as you say it clearly had some benefit to the finished loaf and most certainly in the flavour profile. It has a mild tang to it, the crumb is quite moist, and even the small amount of light rye used in the mix is easy to identify. The flavour has intensified since yesterday, typical of a true sour, so I'm not entirely sure what's at play here but I'm not inclined to argue with the results either. This is a question much more suited to your expertise than mine. Any thoughts of yours on why this worked the way it did would be welcome.
Hello Franko,
That's a creative use of dormant starter and a beautiful loaf as a result.
So glad you had a good trip, and looking forward to pictures!... and the apricot liqueur sounds like it must have been divine.
:^) from breadsong
Welcome home to you as well breadsong!
Thanks for your compliments on the loaf. I'm quite happy with the flavour but I'll try for a bit better eye appeal next time I make it. The apricot liquer is safely tucked away in the cupboard for now. I'm going to try and make it last until I can get back to Austria,... just kidding of course. I think I'll wait until our B.C. apricots are ripe and use it in a tart or pastry of some kind, or perhaps a dessert sauce. It has a similar intensity of flavour as the Merridale Winter Cider that you're familiar with.
Best wishes,
Franko
Hello, I think your loaf looks just as it should - a lovely, country loaf :^)
Thanks for the welcome home!
An apricot dessert using your liqueur as an accent sounds like a great idea.
Wishing the Okanagan lots of warm sunshine so those sweet apricots ripen!
:^) from breadsong
but I did want to ask if you were considering the solstice as being the first day of summer as is so prevalent in society these days, because the solstice used to be called MID SUMMER'S DAY which puts the beginning of summer some where around the the 5th of May, fall the first day being around the 5th of August, and the mid point of fall the equinox in Sept, the first day of winter someplace around the 5th of Nov, the winter solstice the mid point of winter, and the first day of spring close to the Chinese New year (they have it right) around the beginning of Februaryand the equinox in March the midpoint of spring. This is simple to determine by dividing the year 365 and 1/4 days by 4 to arrive at the 91.31 days of each quarter of the year, and having the solstices and the equinoxes as the mid points of the seasons.
Sorry to be so picky, but having the mid summer's day suddenly become the first day of the summer, bugs me!
Hi EvaB,
Thanks for your compliments on the loaves, greatly appreciated!
It seems I'm just one those people that accepts what the calendar on the wall tells them. Since I was kid I've always related the start of my own summer to around when school gets out, so obviously I'm not a stickler for detail when it comes to this sort of thing. Have a good summer...what's left of it. ;^)
All the best,
Franko
when they started crowing about the "first day of summer" on what used to be midsummer's eve, I got a bit ticked, they should know better! And I just got a bit annoyed, since its now almost fall and everyone is talking about summer! Or rather the lack of it, but hey its about like it was up here when I was a kid, windy, cool, cloudy and in July rainy, it could be warmer though, I did make a Kuchen today and it did actually raise on the counter, with only around 22C in the kitchen. And it tasted darn good too! LOL
Fresh blueberries, and peaches, this is the first yeast bread since the croissants this past winter. And its not exactly bread, but deluxe anyway.
It may be Fall in the Peace River district, but it's been a beautiful and typically summer day here on the South Coast of B.C. , so it's relative to where you live and how you perceive seasonal change I suppose. The leaves don't start changing here until about the 2nd or 3rd week in Sept. or in a good year sometimes later than that. In late Nov. it's rainy most of the time and colder, with plenty of Sou-Easters rolling in .In late Dec. and Jan. we can expect some snow, sometimes a fair bit, then in late March things start to green up gradually. By the May 24th long weekend you can reasonably expect to have some decent family camping weather right through summer till late Sept.
Delicious looking Kuchen Eva, with the fresh blueberries and peaches on top of that soft, open crumb sweet dough. Mmm mmm!
Happy B.C. Day!
Franko
The Kuchen was good, and the day was nice.
My brother was born up here in 1940 and said that when he started school in 1946, fall leaves were quite advanced at the beginning of Sept, and gone by the end of it, when I started school in 1957, we had gotten up to leaves turning by mid Sept, and gone by mid Oct. We rarely had an open Hallowe'en, usually at least 3-6 inches of snow, one year (the year I was 12 or so) we had 3 feet of snow the day before so winter was usually early before the nominal date of Nov 5, these days the leaves still start turning around mid Sept, but we can still have some green ones into October (unless of course we get one of those arctic blasts that happen occasionally) and sometimes can even not get snow until mid Nov, but its usually here by my birthday the 8th of Nov. I can remember two whole birthdays without any snow, one when I was 8, and one when I was about 25, we have had ones that are warm, but had snow before (one year Sept 25th and then it went off in a warm spell at the beginning of Nov) but those were the only two that there was absolutely no snow before my birthday, and the one at around 25 was no snow until the 30th! Then it snowed! and snowed, and...... you get the idea!
Right now the sun is shining, and the weather is nice (25C) but since its usually around 30C and hotter than hades at this time of year its really a cold summer, and we had close to 40 days straight with rain between June and July, so we had no summer this year and the leaves are suffering from too much water, I suspect that the trees are going to die off a lot from standing in water this year after drought for several years.