Annissa (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
annissamazing) wrote2012-05-26 01:50 pm
annissamazing) wrote2012-05-26 01:50 pm
Baking - Pain de Campagne
I got home last night and dug in to this weekend's bread projects. My goal was to make bagels, pain a l'ancienne, pain de campagne, and brioche. After reviewing the recipes, it occurred to me that I don't have nearly that much space in my fridge, especially since both the brioche and the bagels need to rest in the fridge on baking sheets, so I cut it back to just brioche and pain de campagne.
I started with the brioche because the sponge only takes 30 - 45 minutes to ferment before you make the dough. This came together really quickly and easily. After the sponge was nice and bubbly, I mixed up the brioche dough. This was only slighly tricky because the dough is so incredibly sticky. You have to scrape the bowl several times and it sticks to everything, including my silicone rubber spatula. I went with the middle-class brioche recipe as it's a little less rich than rich-man's brioche, but still has the nice, flaky texture that poor-man's brioche lacks. I spread the finished dough on some parchment paper and popped it in the fridge for an overnight rest.
While the brioche sponge was fermenting, I started on the pâte fermentée. This is a standard french bread dough that you put in the fridge overnight to develop nice, wheaty flavors. This is so basic and standard for bread-making that I won't describe the process.
I had a tough time last weekend getting my doughs to rise, so I prepared my oven as a proofing box. I pre-heated to 200 degrees, then left the door open for a minute or two while I prepared the pâte fermentée for rising. That did the trick and the dough rose beautifully. I punched it down, gave it a quick knead, and popped it in the fridge for the night.
This morning, I got started on the finished products. I started with the brioche. I divided the dough into three portions. I folded two portions into loaves and popped them into the prepared loaf pans to rise. I divided the third portion into eight 1.5 oz. petites brioches à tête (hereby known as mini-brioches) and put them in a non-stick muffin pan I sprayed with oil. I failed a bit with the mini-brioches because I forgot to flatten their bottoms and make a little divot for their little heads. So as they rose, they sort of toppled over and became petites brioches sans têtes. They were super-tasty, though!
The paine de campagne was simple to make, but time consuming. After the two-hour rise for the pâte fermentée last night, it needed an hour to unchill this morning, two hours to rise after being incorporated with the rest of the ingredients for the dough, shaping time, another hour to proof, and finally 20 minutes to bake.
You know what, though?
It was totally worth it.
Even though brioche is so rich and filling, I think I prefer the simple, lean french bread.
I've wanted to make an epi loaf for years. :)
The brioche loaves came out pretty squat. I could have let them rise a bit longer, but I was impatient. Smaller loaf pans may also make better loaves. I may also divide the dough into two portions if I make this recipe again. I think 12 mini-brioches and 1 larger loaf may be better for the equipment I have on-hand. However, while the bread was delicious, it was a bit too rich for me and I don't feel any motivation to try this recipe again.
This is a long weekend, so I'm trying to decide if I want to carry on with the other two breads I had planned for the weekend. I also feel like I want to make pain de campagne again really soon.
I started with the brioche because the sponge only takes 30 - 45 minutes to ferment before you make the dough. This came together really quickly and easily. After the sponge was nice and bubbly, I mixed up the brioche dough. This was only slighly tricky because the dough is so incredibly sticky. You have to scrape the bowl several times and it sticks to everything, including my silicone rubber spatula. I went with the middle-class brioche recipe as it's a little less rich than rich-man's brioche, but still has the nice, flaky texture that poor-man's brioche lacks. I spread the finished dough on some parchment paper and popped it in the fridge for an overnight rest.
While the brioche sponge was fermenting, I started on the pâte fermentée. This is a standard french bread dough that you put in the fridge overnight to develop nice, wheaty flavors. This is so basic and standard for bread-making that I won't describe the process.
I had a tough time last weekend getting my doughs to rise, so I prepared my oven as a proofing box. I pre-heated to 200 degrees, then left the door open for a minute or two while I prepared the pâte fermentée for rising. That did the trick and the dough rose beautifully. I punched it down, gave it a quick knead, and popped it in the fridge for the night.
This morning, I got started on the finished products. I started with the brioche. I divided the dough into three portions. I folded two portions into loaves and popped them into the prepared loaf pans to rise. I divided the third portion into eight 1.5 oz. petites brioches à tête (hereby known as mini-brioches) and put them in a non-stick muffin pan I sprayed with oil. I failed a bit with the mini-brioches because I forgot to flatten their bottoms and make a little divot for their little heads. So as they rose, they sort of toppled over and became petites brioches sans têtes. They were super-tasty, though!
The paine de campagne was simple to make, but time consuming. After the two-hour rise for the pâte fermentée last night, it needed an hour to unchill this morning, two hours to rise after being incorporated with the rest of the ingredients for the dough, shaping time, another hour to proof, and finally 20 minutes to bake.
You know what, though?
It was totally worth it.
Even though brioche is so rich and filling, I think I prefer the simple, lean french bread.
I've wanted to make an epi loaf for years. :)
The brioche loaves came out pretty squat. I could have let them rise a bit longer, but I was impatient. Smaller loaf pans may also make better loaves. I may also divide the dough into two portions if I make this recipe again. I think 12 mini-brioches and 1 larger loaf may be better for the equipment I have on-hand. However, while the bread was delicious, it was a bit too rich for me and I don't feel any motivation to try this recipe again.
This is a long weekend, so I'm trying to decide if I want to carry on with the other two breads I had planned for the weekend. I also feel like I want to make pain de campagne again really soon.