November 2, 2011 - 5:39am
Auvergne Crown
The Auvergne Crown or Couronne shaped loaf, typically made from yeasted white bread dough, can be seen in almost every boulangerie throughout France. When I go to my local boulangerie it is displayed on the rack in the typical round shape along with an epi cut. What separates this Auvergne Crown from all the others is the use of the traditional firm French sourdough, levain, and a long slow rise that gives the wheat time to develop its full potential. Although this is a simple white dough, this thick crusted bread has an unexpected flavor and quality. I found the best way to eat this is to just tear off a piece…it exposes a crumb that is riddled with many different sized holes....
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You traditionally use your elbow to puncture the boule (to make the hole in the centre).
Gorgeous loaves.
Very nice looking bread and well photographed. The stone and old wood set your masterpiece perfectly. Thanks for sharing your work.
Eric
That is the one thing I have up here is alot of stone and old wood!
Did you have a chance to follow the link and read Teresa's Experiments with Autolyse? I am curious, what are your thoughts are on the benefits of an extended autolyse.
Cheers
CB, Yes I have read Theresa's posts on extended autolyse and her results are similar to my own. I usually fall around 1.5 hours but I wouldn't argue that 2 hours works best. I have come to believe that many people (including myself) use the mixer to knead the dough as instructed by many if not most recipes, when they would get better results by mixing only long enough to incorporate the ingredients. (Wow, long sentence) Hand mixing and folding will incorporate the salt nicely. You can also grind the salt finer using a mortar and pestle but I don't think that is necessary.
So, the short answer is yes, I like the autolyse. One hour or more.
Eric
I came upon the extended autolyse by accident....I do not have a mixer up here on the mountain. So...i figured it couldn't hurt in the development of the gluten structure. And to tell you the truth, i don't miss having it...although some breads reqire it...Iam going to try the Rustic Rye..that will be a test!I have not been adding the levain on the initial mix and questioned her about it... I see that Teresa has continued her experiment pertaining to that. I will have to sit down with a cup of coffee or two and review her findings. I find I have no trouble incorporating the salt into the dough, although i do use a mortar and pestle because I use a course French gray sea salt.
Captain Batard
(I stopped using that name in France...MC advised me that Batard translates to bastard, and didn't want to be CaptBastard)