July 31, 2010 - 9:51am
Pain de campagne honfleur - attempt #2 & #3
OK this time when Is started the starter, I weighed everything first using his weight guide at the back of the book. AND I didn't use quite as hot water either. The 'blob' is a better consistency than last time and that gives me more confidence that it will do well.
Now, it says to lit it sit for a minimum of 4 hours or overnight. Last time, it fermented overnight. I plan to make this in the evening (late), so would a 8 hour ferment be good enough?
I'll keep adding as I go along with this recipe as I want it to be even better than last time.
Melissa
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Melissa - For most breads, a longer fermentation time allows the bread to develop more flavor as starch is converted to sugar, and as the yeast in turn convert the sugar into alcohol. 8 hours is certainly long enough to develop flavor - but you could go as long as 12 or even 24 hours if your dough is retarded in a cool enough environment.
Decide when you want to bake and then use this to determine how long you want to retard the dough.
Larry
we are having 100 degrees every day here and no matter what I do the house is always 80's. If I were to leave out the dough to ferment as I do in the winter it would be awful and nothing but alcohol after 12 hrs. So make sure and keep it as a European home would be ( that is before we started having 100 degrees in germany this summer also !) and keep it at 60's low 70's. c
I let it ferment at room temperature 80 degrees) for about 7 hours t had a wonderful sour yet yeasty smell and worked well. My rising times were SHORT because of the warm room. (we turned off the ac yesterday as it was such a wonderful day ).
Interestingly, I had to punch down a loaf ready for the oven as when I tried to slash it, it collapsed. I had proofed wrong. I let t rise again for a very very short time, put it in the oven, and I had great oven spring and kept it's shape. I cut both this morning and the re-risen one is just as spongy and has an even better flavor. I think I only let it re-rise the third time for 20 or 30 minutes too.
I would show pictures from the iPhone, but can't figure out how to do that on this site. My husband is working and on the computer all day today.
Melissa,
I'm glad to hear that you were able to recognize that the one loaf had over-proofed and were then able to take corrective action. And I'm glad that the bread turned out well, too.
Now you have another tool in your toolkit!
Paul
It is from the wonderful help you guys gave me. I did the finger poke test too. I would have punched both loaves down, but I was afraid I would get a brick. The extra warm room didn't help me even though I used cooler water, and much, much shorter rising times.
Next time I will know even more!
Ok, finally get a chance to get to the computer. Here are the two loaves:
And this the round one at lunch:
I think it looks pretty good, but I can get it better still. One loaf is gone, the other half gone already. A family of five goes through bread FAST.
Ok this bread is fantastic. It made the best sandwich bread and right now my 5 year old is devouring it, not even moving the bread from his mouth. The blueberry banana bread was right next to the pain de campagne on the counter and he chose the pain de campagne.
You have learned some great lessons as Paul says. All of it goes in the mental book for later use. Congrats. c
Is the one on the right the loaf you reshaped?
Larry
No, the one on the left - the round one - which tasted better (a bit) too.
Can one actually revive the dough if it has collased/over-proofed? I was told by the tutor that if the dough collapses, this means that yeast has exhausted it's potency and no amount of kneading will make it rise again. Is there a way that one can bring a collapsed dough back to life? I'm new to bread making and would like to try leaving it in the fridge to ferment but am a little concerned that it would collapse while I sleep. Most importantly, how should a cold dough look like when it's out of the fridge, should it be full blown with smooth top like dough left to rise in room temp? Here's what my dough looked like after 7 hrs or so in the fridge. I was lucky and managed to get a good rise the second time but that could have been a fluke.
Most doughs can survive many deflations on the way to becoming bread. Every time it is re-shaped, the yeast seems to refresh itself, as new food becomes available and temperature is equalized. The final rise, just before it is baked, is the most crucial, timing, and temperature wise, because it can collapse in the oven, or before the bake. If another shaping is done, after a pre-bake collapse, it might work, or not, depending on how much "life" is left. If your dough is in its first fermentation, it probably can go longer in a really cold fridge, and will look pretty much as it does in your picture after 7 hrs. only larger. It is hard to determine from your picture how the dough is progressing. What it looked like when it was put in the bowl is not shown. It would be rounder if it was placed round side up in the bowl. Heavier doughs, with too little liquid to flour, or dough where a lot of fat, butter etc is used, will be slower rising. Was the 2nd rise warmer, or refrigerated? How did the final bread look when baked? Your future bakes will be easier, with the added experience you have gained. I hope this helps a little. Good luck, Ray
Thank you Ray. I posted the finished product from this mass of dough in another post for raisin sandwich loaf but you may have missed this if you're not into raisin bread so I'll post the pics here once more
. The crumb felt soft and fluffy when it was eaten warm but turned a bit dry the next day, Could also be due to the fact that I cut it too soon. I was impatient to see what the crumb looked like after the screw up. I kneaded ithe dough again and just let it rise in room temp before baking.
Great looking breads, and the sandwich looks delicious. Nice, when you can make it work. It always makes me feel happy. Ray
Thanks! I have the starter going downstairs for attempt #3. Third time is the charm? As yes, the loaves are gone! (Well, a couple slices left).
bumblingbuddingbaker.blogspot.com
Hi. Can I ask where I might find the recipe for this pain de campagne?
Thanks
It's Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads. I have an old edition I picked up at a used bookstore, but you can find it here too: http://astore.amazon.com/froglallabout-20/detail/0743287096 (I'm sure if you buy using the link via freshloaf, there is a kickback for floyd).
bumblingbuddingbaker.blogspot.com
Nice loaf, it looks like part whole wheat was used? What screw -up are you reffering to? There are so many workable methods that will produce a good loaf, that it is difficult to say one method over another, is the right way. *For a beginner, it appears you have gotten past quite a few hurdles, and produced quite good looking bread. By the way, I love raisin bread.
*In Malissa's post, the bread that got the accidental third rise, came nicer, or larger, than the loaf where the original procedure was followed. Thanks for the second picture. Ray
The raisin loaf is made with two tbsps of molasses hence the slightly darker colour. I normallyl let the dough rise in room temp at 30C/86F for 60 - 90 mins and the dough is smooth and well risen.This is the first time I try to retard the dough in the fridge and using the stretch and fold method instead so I have no idea what the dough should feel/look like when it comes out of the fridge after 7/8 hrs. I didn't want to waste the seemingly collapsed dough so I continued with the 2nd proof in room temp. It was very good the first day but it was quite dry and hard the next day. May I should have let the cold dough proof a little longer before shaping again but I was worried that it would collapse futher so I just knocked it down and formed it into a loaf to let it rise again. Bread making is good test for one's patience.
I had this ferment in the fridge about 48 hours. I read elsewhere that this was probably OK and since it smelled OK, I used it.
After my huge success with 'winging' it and going with the feel of the dough over trying to mimic a recipe to a T, I added the warm water and salt, and then, without measuring, I added a big of bread flour, a bit of white whole wheat floor until I had a very wet, yet somewhat maneageble dough. Let it rise (only one hours and it had doubled) and then took it out, shaped it, put it in a brotform probably (definitely) too small for it, and the let it rise for 45 minutes and then flipped it over, slashed the top, and then baked. Getting only ONE loaf (bigger than either of my single loaves, but definitely smaller than the two would be if you were to make them one.
This is either supposed to be one BIG loaf or two decent size loaves. I have one biggish loaf, but not HUGE. It's 9" round by 4" tall.
Here is how it looks, just in the oven:
with oven spring:
and then the final loaf:
I'm afraid to see what is inside! Pretty loaf from the outside though.
Melissa
And while not quite a brick, it's too dense. Much denser than the last loaf. Oh well, I'm learning with each loaf, right?
It's still pretty good. My kids are devouring it and my picky mother in law says it's good, so maybe third time wasn't the charm, but it is getting better.