Pain Rustique

My recent sabbatical has allowed me time to continue my search for the perfect loaf. This batch focused on the baguette style loaf- producing a baguette, tordu, and fendu. This dough consisting of natural leaven in combination with a commercial yeast poolish, creating a more subtle flavor and lighter texture than the natural leaven alone. Making a batch big enough for 4 loaves I made one each of the above and saved the last for pizza dough for dinner.

The baguette rolled in the traditional shape with tapered ends and scored, the tordu rolled out and twisted, resembling a grapevine, and the fendu shaped to an oval and pressed with the back of the bench scraper creating a seam for which the loaf can rise.

These rose for about 2 and a half hours and baked at 475 F. I used the old water saturated towel method in combination with a spray bottle to saturate the oven with steam. This method works ok but isn't ideal, but you gotta use what you got. Though not perfect (I'm a perfectionist), this batch was definitely worthy of sharing. The beautiful loaves baked to a golden brown with a chewy thin crust, moist aerated crumb, and a yeasty aroma when cut into. Nothing like fresh baked bread!

The leftover dough made two pizzas- a traditional margherita, and an asiago and arugula tossed with a little tahini and chili flake.

As if I needed more carbs, a delicious dinner no doubt. We opened up a minerally and piquant 2007 Etienne Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet to compliment the meal. Why not, it's Wednesday!