Basic French Bread Batards — New Boulangerie Parisienne Starter 

You will need freshly fed sourdough starter, bread flour, sea salt, sugar, food oil and a small amount of cornmeal for dusting pans.

Liquids:

350 grams (1-1/2 cups) freshly fed and active sourdough starter at room temperature
50 grams (2 TBS) oil, melted lard, or butter
115 grams (4 ounces) of warm water

Dry Solids:

500 grams (4 cups) bread flour
10 grams (1-1/2 tsp) sea salt
25 grams (2 TBS) any kind of sugar

Mix the ingredient thoroughly, and knead, stretching and folding, until slightly shiny.

In a bread machine, add the liquids first, then the dry solids. Set the machine for the ‘Dough Cycle’ and start the machine. You will need your spatula to ‘help the machine along’ at the beginning of the cycle. Once all the ingredients are incorporated, close the lid and let it work.

Adjustments to doughball texture after the ball comes together can be achieved with tiny sprinkles of flour if too wet, and a spritzer/mister if a bit too dry. You are looking for a shiny texture, not too damp, not too dry.

Plop the doughball into a big bowl that has been greased liberally. Flop it over, and turn it around until all sides are coated. Cover with a damp cloth or cloche (I use a very large plastic bowl as a cover for the dough bowl) and leave in a warm place to proof. When the dough is doubled in bulk, or when you can push a finger into the dough and it does not immediately spring back, punch it down and remove the dough from the bowl transfering it to a lightly floured work surface. You may now shape the dough for final rise. You have a bit more than a kilo of dough, 1110 grams, if you follow these weights exactly, so now would be the time to divide your doughball for shaping. That amount of dough would make one very large family-sized batard or boule, two 555 gram (24 ounce) batards, two 555 gram (24 ounce) loaf pan loaves, or three 370 gram (16 ounce) baguettes.

Prepare your baguette or batard trays with oil and cornmeal to avoid sticking. For loaf pans, rub the inside of the pan with food oil, then sprinkle lightly with cornmeal to avoid sticking. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise a second time.

You will need to preheat your oven to 230-260 degrees C (450-500 degrees F) just before the shaped loaves have finished rising. The second rise for the dough will not take as long, in a warm kitchen, perhaps only 60-90 minutes. When the dough has again doubled in bulk, or a bit more, use a lame, a single sided razor blade, a razor box knife, of other very sharp implement to slash the tops of the loaves. Be artistic! This will allow the loaves to bloom in the hot oven and not rip at the sides, or across the tops.

Before sliding them into the hot oven, spritz the tops with water. You will also need to provide steam inside your hot oven. You can do that by spritzing your oven walls vigorously, or by putting a shallow cake pan, or similar with an inch or so of water on the floor of the oven. If you use the spritzer method, respray the oven three or four times during the first 15 minutes while the oven is at the highest temperature. This will give the crust a nice crunchy bite.

Set the timer for 15 minutes. At the end of that time, the loaves should be fully expanded, and the crusts will have set permanently and have coloured slightly. Turn the oven down to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F) and reset your timer to 25 minutes.

At the end of that time, your bread should be done. Tap the crusts with your finger nail to be sure that they make a nice hollow ‘TOCK’ sound. If they are done remove them from the oven. (If you are not sure they are done, you can use a needle thermometer to check that the interior temperature of the loaves is a bit less than 100 degrees C (200 degrees F). My personal criticism of that method is that the loaves will start out-gassing steam through the puncture, and part of the internal structure will collapse. The crust tapping method works just fine. Color is a matter of taste. I happen to prefer a slightly less brown color. Others like the color to be a reddish tan color, or even a very rich, dark brown colour. ‘De gustibus …’ and all that, is what I have to say on the matter.

I do not use a milk or egg and water glaze, as that is, in my opinion, gilding the lily, and it detracts from my minimalist approach to ingredients and methods. It is purely a cosmetic addition, done near the end of the baking time, but if *you* like that pretty, shiny glaze, go ahead and use the wash.

After a minute or two out of the oven (if you used loaf pans) overturn them onto a cooling rack. They should drop out and fall free after just a moment or two. Cool at least twenty minutes to half an hour before cutting your loaves, or what’s more likely, ripping off chunks to slather butter on and scarf down, hot. Let the steam inside cool INSIDE the loaf. I’ll guarantee that you’ll like the texture of the loaves a lot better.

Questions or comments are always welcome!

Miz Parker is an inquisitive old soul, who enjoys cooking and feeding her friends. Her maternal grandmother taught her to cook, with an emphasis on Central and Eastern European foods and methods. Miz Parker has enjoyed cooking and baking for her family and friends since she was very young.