French country sourdough bread
Description
It goes perfectly with tea and coffee. French sourdough bread is characterized by long cold fermentation of the dough, which gives the finished bake a rich flavor and aroma. Serve warm or chilled. Perfect with tea.
Instructions
- 1
Step 1
To make French bread, prepare your ingredients. For this kind of bread you can use any whole-grain flour along with top-grade wheat flour. The water should be cold so the loaf keeps a more stable shape.
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Step 2
Pour water into a bowl, then add the starter, salt, and sifted flour.
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Step 3
Mix the dough ingredients until the flour has absorbed all the moisture and there are no unmixed spots. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 5–10 minutes. You do not need to knead the dough for long. It will be quite wet and sticky. When working with it, dampen your hands for ease.
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Step 4
Transfer the rested dough to your work surface and stretch it into a rectangle, then fold it from all four sides into an envelope shape and place it in a container for 2 hours, covered with plastic wrap.
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Step 5
After 2 hours, remove the dough from the bowl, place it on the work surface and, again by stretching and folding, fold it from all four sides into an envelope.
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Step 6
Place the folded dough in a container lightly greased with vegetable oil and leave it to rise.
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Step 7
Put the container with the dough in the refrigerator. Proofing time depends on the refrigerator temperature: the lower the temperature, the longer the dough will take to proof. In total, fermentation will take 12–20 hours. When ready, the dough will have increased in volume and air bubbles will have formed all over the surface.
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Step 8
Remove the finished dough from the pan. On the work surface, fold the dough into an envelope again and round the shaped piece.
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Step 9
Cover the dough and leave it to rise. Before baking, score the loaf.
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Step 10
Preheat the oven together with the baking dish to 250 degrees.
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Step 11
Transfer the shaped dough together with the parchment into the pan and mist the top with water from a spray bottle. Cover the pan with a lid and bake the bread for 15 minutes at 250 degrees. Then remove the lid, lower the temperature to 220 degrees, and bake the bread for another 20 minutes.
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Step 12
Cool the finished bread on a rack.
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Step 13
The simplest recipe for making fragrant and delicious bread.