The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

My Take on The Country Loaf

annie the chef's picture
annie the chef

My Take on The Country Loaf

I have only been seriously baking sourdough bread for about six months now with my sourdough starter which I built from scratch in January this year. Although I used to cook professionally and have worked with many bakers and pastry chefs for years, I never really make time (which I don't really have much) to explore artisan bread. Until recently, I really want my family to enjoy top quality bread every day and also for my children to know how good breads are made. I named my starter Blossom. My kids are fascinated when I let them feed my “pet” for baking, and knowing it can do “tricks” such as to make holes in a loaf of bread and to make the bread tasty.  They also know that most of the time Blossom likes to “sleep” in the fridge. :)

I’ve baked many different loaves from different books and formulas from here in the past months and my favorite bread is pain de campagne.  I was so inspired by the Overnight Country Brown of FWSY book posted by David of dmsnyder that I have to bake one right away after I’ve read about it.  I don’t have FWSY book and my local library doesn’t have it either so I just made up a formula based on David’s notes.  It worked out really well.

                                                     

 

This loaf was intended for sandwiches so I chose 75% for dough hydration with 20% preferment flour.

 Levain @ 75% hydration

50g white starter @ 100% hydration

75g rye flour

50ml water

Mix all together and leave for 12 hours at room temperature of 17oC

 

Final Dough

 

175g rye levain

75g Australia’s Four Leaf whole wheat flour

325g Australia’s Laucke organic plain flour (11.5% protein)

300g water

5g salt

Mix two types of flours together with cold water, save 50g of water for a second hydration, and leave to autolyse for 12 hours at room temperature of 17oC. 

When the levain is domed, add to the dough along with salt and the rest of the water. Mix for a few minutes until the dough is smooth and make sure levain is evenly mixed through the dough. Bulk fermentation for 5 hours at 19oC room temperature with three double letter folds at 60, 120 and 180 minutes.  Shape and leave the dough for another two hours before pop it in the fridge to retard for 12 hours.

Preheat oven to 250oC. Score and bake the dough straight from the fridge in a Dutch oven (I baked this loaf in a Schlemmertopf). Immediately turn the oven down to 230oC and bake 25 minutes with the lid on and another 20 minutes with the lid off.

  

Although the method seemed to take a long time from start to finish, it suits my schedule very well.  I built the levain and mixed flour with water before bed time and left to autolyse overnight. They were all ready for dough mixing at noon. The shaped dough was ready to go to the fridge for retarding overnight at 5pm. The dough then baked off the first thing in the morning at 5.30 am (I set the timer for oven to be on at 4.45 am so it is preheated and ready for baking). I sliced the loaf for breakfast at 7.30 and packed sandwiches for lunch boxes too.  The whole loaf was consumed by dinner so I have no idea what it would taste like the next day. It was a very tasty loaf. The crust was thin and crunchy, the crumb was moist and soft. It tastes creamy and sweet as if I’ve added sugar to it with no hint of sourness at all. Very delicious bread indeed!

 

I dedicate this loaf to all the talented bakers here at TFL for their efforts to share the knowledge and experience in artisan bread making. Also I’d like thank Floyd for creating and hosting this wonderful website.

Happy baking everyone!

 

Annie

Comments

Wingnut's picture
Wingnut

And what a wonderful take it is, nice bake.

Cheers,

Wingnut

annie the chef's picture
annie the chef

Your pizza post was very inspiring too.  We just had pizza tonight. :)

Cheers,

Annie

 

golgi70's picture
golgi70

beauty of a loaf. I think u got this artisan bread thing down. Wonderful how you get your kids involvedbaking joshbaking josh

annie the chef's picture
annie the chef

My kids enjoy sourdough bread very much.

Cheers,

Annie

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Although your bread is very much your own, if my rendition of Forkish's Country Brown inspired it, I count that as a good deed.

As a (retired) pediatrician, I am delighted with the way you have presented your sourdough to your children at their level. I just hope they don't develop sibling rivalry. ;-)

David

annie the chef's picture
annie the chef

but she is watching her big brother and very soon she will ask for her turn, I'm sure.

Cheers,

Annie

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Pain de Anne di Schlemmertopf  :-)  I have a Romertopf  that looks identical to yours that i proof large oval loaves in and then bake right out of the fridge too ... but mine are bigger and fill up the bottom almost completely!  Odd there wasn't much sour in your bread though.....Your crumb looks perfect as does the crust.  Great home baked f=bread for family and friends is worth the effort and the long times.  I've taken 3 day day breads up to 5 day ones now and again just bring out the sour and flavor as much as I can.

You bread is just fantastic - Happy SD baking Annie!

annie the chef's picture
annie the chef

Great suggestion! I should name this bread Pain de Schlemmertopf :). I think it was quite strange when the crumb turned out sweet. May be the room temperature overnight in my kitchen was low (15dC).

Happy SD baking!

Annie

yozzause's picture
yozzause

Well done there Annie, that is a fine salute to all the TFL bakers and equally great testament to you that you have been able to produce such a fine loaf for not only your kids but all of us to share.

One of the Chefs where i work has just got his kids into Sour Dough bread baking  and is having a great time with them sharing the caring of the sour dough culture and then the choosing of a bread to make, and they are doing well as i have been given many slices to try by a very proud dad who tells me the kids in the playground all want to see what bread the sandwhiches are made from at lunch time.

We don't get that brand of whole wheat flour here in WA but we can get Laucke's, in fact i have half a 10kg bag here that i should do something with! and i have just thought of the perfect use , i was given some starter this week  by fellow TFL member ROSS N ROLLER so should do something special with it and perhaps follow your lead with this loaf. thanks ANNIE

KIindest regards Derek

annie the chef's picture
annie the chef

We always had a great time when feeding my starter. My son starts primary school this year.  One time he was so upset because his friends didn't believe him when he said that our family "pet" is invisible, loves to eat flour when it is hungry and always sleep in the fridge ... :) I promised that he can bring it for show and tell next time.  Hope his teacher can help him out to explain.

I have never seen Laucke's organic flour before.  This is the first time I'm using it.  I think it is really good. The Four Leaf I got it from local health food store.  I've read some of Ross's posts, too.  From what I remember he prefers another brand... but I forgot what it is.

Have fun baking with a new starter.  Thank you for stopping by and your kind words.

All the best,

Annie

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

It is probably a good thing that your son did not offer to bring pieces of his pet to share with his friends, at least until their confusion is relieved. Good luck with the show and tell!

David

annie the chef's picture
annie the chef

Annie

yozzause's picture
yozzause

AH! that's when you need to go along too, i have been to kindy and made pizzas with the grand daughter's class,and she was my capable assistant. i made and proved the dough prior to the class  and  we weighed out 100g dough pieces rolled them out  onto pieces of baking paper with their names on them and they topped them with pre prepared toppings   onto trays and into the oven that was cranked up to the max ,everyone had great fun and pizzas for lunch to the envy of the class in the adjoining class room. 

regards Derek

ps oops ended up in the wrong spot

annie the chef's picture
annie the chef

It seemed that you had a great time baking with kids, too.

Hapy baking!

Annie

ananda's picture
ananda

Bread by, with and for the family, Annie

and a fine loaf too!

Best wishes

Andy

annie the chef's picture
annie the chef

Thank you for your kind words.

Every time I was reading your posts, I felt like as when I was at trade school during my apprentice years.  There are so much to learn.

Thanks again for stopping by.

Annie

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Excellent bread Annie.  After only 6 months to be able to adapt a recipe an make it your own really speaks to your skill as a creative cook/baker.  So nice to see your kids so interested in your baking.

Regards

Ian

annie the chef's picture
annie the chef

I have failed many loaves at the begining. This is a great web site to turn to every time i failed. I'm back to school now, and my baking school is here at TFL. :)

Thank you for your kind words.

Annie

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Lovely result, Annie! this is a beautiful bread inside out.

-Khalid

annie the chef's picture
annie the chef

Have you been baking much this week?

Annie

Mebake's picture
Mebake

No, i've been too busy and tired to bake. There is a 30% rye dough leavened  with stiff levain sitting in the fridge as i write this. The dough is very slack at 75% hydration, so let us hope it makes good bread. I'll blog about it when i have the time.

Thanks for asking, Annie.

-Khalid