Recent Blog Entries

Background:

I first read about Jean Luc Poujauran in 1994 in Linda Dannenberg's book "Paris Boulangerie-Patisserie". At that time, he was already an established member of the younger generation of French artisan bakers that included Basile Kamir, Gerard Mulot, Pierre Herme and Eric Kaiser. He owned a very successful little bakery with its ever present bright blue antique delivery van parked in front on rue Jean Nicot in the 7th arrondissement in Paris. In 2003, he sold his bakery to dedicate himself to a wholesale business supplying bread to over 100 of the best eating establishments in Paris like Pierre Gagnaire, l'Atelier Joel Robuchon, La Regalade and Le Comptoir.

I have had the good fortune to taste Jean Luc Poujauran's signature Pain de Campagne at a few of those restaurants. I will never forget the time my wife and I had dinner at La Regalade and as soon as we sat down, our waiter presented us with an assortment of house made saucissons and pate de campagne, a crock of cornichons and a wooden cutting board with a loaf of Pain de Campagne from Poujauran. It was an absolutely perfect way to start a meal.

Another time, on one of the coldest day in February, we ate at the restaurant Le Comptoir and after a wonderful dinner, for the cheese course our server set on our table a tray of assorted cheeses so large that the far end had to rest on the neighbouring table. But the best was a basket of Poujauran Pain de Campagne to go with it. We enjoyed the best cheese course we ever had while marveling at the brave souls who sat outside eating at the sidewalk tables, wrapped in blankets supplied by the restaurant and warmed by a couple of portable heaters and the wonderful creations of chef Yves Camdeborde. It was an absolutely perfect way to end a meal.

   Jean Luc Poujauran with Pain de Campagne

Since discovering TFL about six months ago, I have acquired a wealth of bread baking know-how from its members through various posts and have felt bold enough to attempt to replicate Poujauran's Pain de Campagne based on his own published description as well as my taste memory.

According to Poujauran, his Pain de Campagne is 100% organic and made with high extraction stone ground flour, neutral PH non-demineralized osmosis filtered water, Sel Gris from Guerande and a natural Levain which has undergone a double fermentation. The dough goes trough a slow mixing and folding process and a long 18-24 hour fermentation. The loaves are shaped by hand and baked on Lava Rocks.

  Poujauran's Pain de Campagne

   Poujauran's Pain de Campagne Crumb

Ideas and Notes:

I decided to follow Poujauran's description as close as possible starting with all organic ingredients.

I decided on a flour mix of higher gluten white flour and stone ground Whole Wheat flour with a touch of Rye flour. I selected Bob's Red Mill flours because I have found them reliable, easily available in the DC area and they fit the established criteria. I added some Malted Barley Flour to help the browning of the crust because unlike most flours BRM White Flour does not contain any.

I did some research and found that Deer Park Spring Water has a close to Neutral PH, goes through double osmosis filtration and is not demineralized.

I was able to buy a bag of Sel Gris de Guerande which is an Atlantic grey sea salt produced by evaporation in the western coast of France in the Guerande area which also produces the much more expensive Fleur de Sel which are salt crystals that form on the surface of the salt ponds and are skimmed off the top.

I settle on the use of a liquid levain with 2 builds to minimize the sour effect of the starter. I use mature 100% hydration white flour levain for the 1st build at 1:2:2 ratio and let triple in volume at 80-85 degrees for 4-5 hrs before the 2nd build. This amount of plain white flour is not included in the flour mix. The final build uses a portion of the flour mix.

I followed the slow mixing and folding and the long extended retardation.

Formulation:

Flour Mix:

-370 Gms BRM Organic White Flour

-100 Gms BRM Organic Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour

-30 Gms BRM Organic Stone Ground Dark Rye Flour

-1/8 Tsp BRM Malted Barley Flour

Liquid Levain 2nd build (100% hydration):

-30 Gms Liquid Levain from 1st build

-60 Gms Flour Mix

-60 Gms Deer Park Spring Water

Dough Mix (70% hydration):

-150 Gms Liquid Levain

-440 Gms Flour Mix

-290 Gms Deer Park Spring Water

-9 Gms Sel Gris de Guerande

-1/8 Tsp Instant Yeast

Procedures:

1- Mix Liquid Levain w/ Flour Mix and Water and let rise at 80-85 degrees until triple (4-5 hrs) before use.

2- Blend Flour Mix with Water using flat beater on slow speed for 2 mins and autolyse for 30 mins.

3- Mix Dough, Levain, Salt and Yeast using Dough Hook on slow then medium speed for 2 mins until dough comes clean from the side of the bowl and let rest for 10 mins.

4- Stretch and fold dough manually every 45 minutes for 4 times total.

5- Cover and refrigerate for 18-24 hrs. Dough should almost double in volume.

6- Flatten and pre-shape dough into round shape and let rest seam side down for 1.5 hrs.

7- One hour before baking, preheat oven to 475 degrees w/ baking stone and cast iron skillet filled w/ lava rocks.

8- Gently shape dough into Batard shape and proof on couche for 1.5 hrs.

9- Flip Batard on parchment and slash 2 times lengthwise. Mist oven and slide parchment on baking stone in oven. Pour 1 cup boiling water on Lava Rocks.

10- Lower oven temperature to 450 degrees and bake for 15 mins.

11- Remove Cast Iron Pan, rotate Batard, reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees and bake for another 30 mins.

12- Turn off oven and cool batard in oven w/ door ajar for 15 mins.

13- Transfer Batard to wire rack to cool.

   Shaped Batard on couche

  Poujauran's Pain de Campagne (My Version)

  Grignes detail

  Crumb detail

Assessments:

The dough had a nice balance of elasticity and extensibility and had very good oven spring. The cuts opened nicely and the crust was deep mahogany color with an enticing aroma of warm molasses. It had medium thickness with a nice crunchiness. The crumb was light tan color with fairly open and irregular holes. It tasted medium soft and slightly chewy with roasted nut flavor. It tasted sweet with a definite tang but not sour, reminiscent of an English style Stout. Overall, I was pleased with the results but wish that the crumb would be a little softer and a little less chewy like the original Poujauran version. Oh well, it is a work in progress and I will update with future tweakings when available.

Happy Baking!

Don

just posting some pics from last nights bake with my new oven. my new oven is off the chain. oven temps can reach set temperatures sooooo much faster compared to my older oven. in a addition to, i now get to play with the convection. im excited!

below is a underproofed 100% sourdough. it was getting late so i decided to bake early...

dough was autolysed for 40 mins + 2 stretch and folds every 30mins, refridgerated over night..

From Rose Levy Beranbaum's book 'the bread bible'.  This was my first attempt at making this boule.  I loved the idea of a bread full of sliced almonds and figs and wanted to make this little boule after seeing the photo in RLB book.  I thought it would make a lovely bread to serve with cheese and wine.  The crumb is dense and studded with sliced almonds/on top slivered and dried figs.  I did all my mixing by hand and chose the 'Ultimate full flavor variation'.

It tasted very nice except it was a little on the salty side for me.  Also I think the photo in the book does not give a good shot of the crust under the slivered almonds which I think keep the crust light....which I do not care for such a light crust!  The almond slivers start becoming very dark during the bake so you have to cover it with some foil as instructed.  My almond slivers are much darker than they appear in the photos.  This boule would make a pretty plater centerpiece and go well with cheese and wine.  It has a whole fig in the center and when cut is supposed to resemble a heart!  I just picked a large fig!     

Sylvia

It was Tony Bennett who first sang "I left my heart in San Francisco" at the Venetian Room of Fairmont Hotel in 1962.  He is now in his 80s.   Many people in Asia who have not been to San Francisco or do not know much about San Francisco (like me) know it through this song (and the post card fog covered Golden Gate Bridge). 

People may laugh if I say I went to Fairmont Hotel to experience the sense of history when that song was first sung.  Or if I say that I stood in Portsmouth Square in the heart of China Town and tried to picture what it was like when Captain Montgomery first raised an American flag there back in 1846.  In fact it didn't feel like that long ago.  I saw old Chinese men gathered in small groups, squatting, happily playing their Chinese checkers, gambling with small amounts of money - just like the old days in any back streets in China.  Certain things just don't change.  As my husband sometimes says, "you can take the man out of the boy, but you cannot take the boy out of the man." 

The 1848 gold rush saw 12,000 Chinese men joining the foray from across the Pacific and resulted in the oldest, and possibly the largest, China Town in America today.  I often wondered why San Francisco is called "Jiou-gin-shan" in Mandarin (meaning "old gold mountain"); so that's why.  That was a part of overseas Chinese history that is very foreign to me.    

And I can't believe I came to downtown Berkeley.  I heard there were a lot of Chinese in California even back in those days when I was studying in Boston, so I avoided the west coast as much as I could.  UC Berkeley was founded in 1868, a very old school indeed, only 20 odd years after Captain Montgomery came to California.  I walked into a bookstore in the campus called Ten Thousand Minds on Fire, and what did I find?  A poster announcing a concert by the young Chinese pianist Lang Lang ("the hottest artist on the classical music planet" according to The New York Times) on 8th September in UC Berkeley; student ticket $10.  See, if you are a student you get great deals (and your teachers love you).

One great luxury about being in a baking course is that you get to "waste" as much flour as you possibly can (everything in the end goes conveniently to a recycling bin which goes to happy pigs somewhere).  We learnt sourdough made with white starter, made with whole wheat starter, made with rye starter, and with starter which was on a cycle of one feeding a day and two feedings a day, and with starter 40% of final flour, 70% of final flour; and with dough that was bulk fermented or fermented at proofing stage.  We had worked with different types of flours - spelt, rye, semolina, whole wheat, and high extraction flour as well as seeds and nuts.  We had worked with different types of pre-ferments - poolish, sponge and pate fermente (old dough left over from last bake) as opposed to starter to see the difference in bread flavor profile.  We also learnt retarding in bulk and in proofing stage and the resulting variations in dough strength required.  Behind all of these are two key concepts - fermentation and strength, in an effort to achieve a balance for the characteristics that we want in bread.

With this post I am doing a plain sourdough with just white starter; for me this is something like after a long, marathon like, but enjoyable, dinner, before you go home, you want something simple to cleanse, maybe not your palate, but your mind; that is, to lighten up your mind, before you take on the long journey home.  So, not too heavy, please. 

Formula for (white) Sourdough 

Levain Build - Day 4 @ 6:30 am

• 75 g bread flour
• 5 g rye flour
• 47 g water
• 63 g stiff starter @50% hydration

Mix all ingredients until well incorporated and allow to ferment for 6 hours at room temp of 65 - 70F.

(Note: the fermentation at this initial stage is relatively short as the final dough is to be retarded overnight and will have enough fermentation then for the flavor profile for this sourdough.  Because the fermentation is only 6 hours, the starter as a % of flours is higher than normal at around 80%.  If you wish for a more sour sourdough, you could either do a longer than 6 hour ferment or push starter % of flours even higher so the wild yeasts reach anaerobic condition sooner.)

Final Dough - Day 4 @ 12:30 noon

• 470 g bread flour
• 330 g water @ around 50 F in order to achieve a dough temp of around 74 - 76F
• 12 g salt
• 190 g levain (all from above)
• extra rye flour for dusting

Total dough weight 1kg and total dough hydration 67%

1. Mix all ingredients in first speed of your mixer until well incorporated about 4 - 5 minutes.
2. Switch to second speed (approx. the 4th gear on home Kitchen Aid mixer) for 4 - 5 minutes to achieve a medium strength of gluten development.  (Note: as the dough is going to be shaped and proof overnight, the gluten needs to be quite well developed at this stage.  Conversely, if the dough is to be retarded in bulk overnight and some strength will be picked up in that process, the gluten does not need to be as well developed at mixing.)
3. Scrape dough out into a lightly oiled container, give it a fold, and cover.  
4. First fermentation 1 + 1/2 hours with one fold in the container after 45 minutes.
5. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work bench.  
6. Divide dough to 2 x 500 g and pre-shape to cylinder. 
7. Rest for 20 minutes and in the mean time dust linen with rye flour.
8. Shape dough into thin batards with pointed ends.  
9. Place shaped dough on linen seam side up and cover the dough with plastic bag.
10. Place the whole thing into your fridge to retard overnight.

Bake - Day 5 @ 9 am

1. Remove the shaped dough out of the fridge and turn on your oven to pre-heat to 450F
2. An hour later, steam the oven, score the batards three times down the center line, then load the dough onto your baking stone, steam again.  Bake for 35 minutes.
3. Bake for another 5 minutes with oven door ajar to let the crust dry out more.
4. Cool on rack before slicing.

For relatively low hydration (67%), this sourdough has quite an open crumb.  This dough will make for a great sourdough baguette too.  The flavour is very much to my taste, mildly sour but complex with a long lasting after-taste.

With this post, I am going into the air, flying home tomorrow, and I don't know when I will return next; it was like 25 years ago in Boston, I thought I'd never come to America again in my life (flying was such a big deal then), so I did as much travelling as I could within the States, the furthermost west I'd gone to was Columbus, Ohio, to listen to New Orleans jazz.  And for some reason I forgot I didn't have a return ticket to go home!  If not because towards the end of my semester a big multinational corporation offered me a job and to fly home (I was not a seeker of a job then), I might still be like a dog gone astray in the streets of America!  

                                                The light dancing on the tree trunk, UC Berkeley

Shiao-Ping