Hello Everyone!
Welcome to my very first blog submission on my Sweet Treats and Healthy Eats blog. By the title you can tell that I like to cook healthy food, but really, what's life with out the sweet stuff??
This recipe comes from a book simply called, Baking, given to by my dear friend Maryam. I've had it for a while but never ended up using it until now because most of the recipes are in grams. But now I finally have a digital kitchen scale! Woohoo!
This Pain de Campagne recipe caught my eye because it has no yeast in it, instead you make your own sourdough starter by letting a little bit of dough sit out for a couple days and letting it ferment. You then add a little more to the dough each day continuing to let it ruminate (ew?). Yea I guess it sounds a little gross but this is how sourdough is made and how bread used to be made! Super cool! :)
This Pain de Campagne recipe caught my eye because it has no yeast in it, instead you make your own sourdough starter by letting a little bit of dough sit out for a couple days and letting it ferment. You then add a little more to the dough each day continuing to let it ruminate (ew?). Yea I guess it sounds a little gross but this is how sourdough is made and how bread used to be made! Super cool! :)
Isn't she a beauty? <3 awwww
So if you have the time to invest or are just looking for a fun project this one is for you! It's not very hard and it actually doesn't take thaaat long just a little bit of maintenance everyday. Soooo:
There's different French name for each step of the process the first one is the chef
For the chef
Mix together in a small bowl
2 oz of whole wheat flour
3 T of warm water
Knead for 3-4
Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place for 2 days
........ 2 days later.......
Its time for the next step!! the levain
Apparently there's supposed to be a crust that formed on top of the chef, but mine didn't have one it just looked kinda grey on the outside (ew), but either way you carefully scoop two Tablespoons of gooey dough out of the center and place in a new bowl.
Add:
4 T of warm water
3 oz bread flour
Cover with plastic wrap and let is sit for 1 day
2nd Refreshment
Pull off the crust (if there is one) and discard then add:
4 oz of warm water
4 oz bread flour
1 oz of whole wheat
Then you let this mixture sit covered for 10 hours,
(mine sat overnight)
Final Stage
Add:
5-6 oz of warm water
12 oz of bread flour
Mix, knead until smooth
and transfer to a lightly oiled bowl,
cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap.
Rise for 1-2 hours
Punch down
Knead,
adding flour as needed
And place in a well floured kitchen towel,
sprinkle with flour on top and let rise for 2-3 hours
Preheat to 450
Transfer dough to floured baking sheet
(I let mine rise again for another hour the baking sheet
cause it had stuck to the kitchen towel and deflated a bit)
Bake for about 30 minutes until golden
and until it sounds hollow when you tap the bottom!
Let cool for at least 10-15 minutes
And enjoy with a generous amount of butter!!!
:) Hope you guys enjoy this one
And for the not so adventurous bakers out there if you know me in person I will gladly give you some of my starter or you can just beg me for some of the finished loaf :)
~ Thanks for reading have a marvelous day! ~
~ Thanks for reading have a marvelous day! ~
