I give you the Pain de Campagne recipe

Hold on to your hats, adoring readers and/or fans!!! Today is the longest post in recent history - yes, here are (detailed) step-by-step instructions for the making of Pain de Campagne, which, when you translate it, becomes the screamingly dull-sounding "Country Bread". Yawn.  This is also the first time that you will see actual moving footage of me (from the elbow down), so it is an exciting day for you all, no doubt.

The recipe looks far more time-consuming than it is because every single little step has been explained in detail so that idiots (i.e. me) can understand it, but once you've done it a couple of times you'll breeze through it.   It is also so delicious (assuming you don't wee in it/forget to put the oven on) that it's worth the effort (and if you want to feel thrifty in your underpants, this is the sort of bread that costs about $13 a loaf at the Farmhouse Organo-La-La Store.)

(Press firmly on the header for the whole thing)



Here goes:

PAIN DE CAMPAGNE

You are going to make a starter, then add more stuff to it to make the final dough.

Starter 

Big bowl (mine has 5L capacity) and spatula

- Instant dry yeast	2g
- Lukewarm water (25-35º degrees)	450ml
- Unbleached all-purpose white flour	400g

My notes say: “Don’t worry about using bread flour. Organic flour can be harder to work because the wheat may not all be from the same source.”  This sounds mysterious, but I am essentially obedient so don't argue. (If the English sounds a bit stilted it's because I'm translating it very quickly from French.)

1. Weigh the yeast and put it in the bowl
2. Add water and mix gently
3. Wait a couple of minutes until the yeast has dissolved
4.  Add the flour
5. Mix it all by hand with a spatula for two minutes
6. Clean the edges of the bowl and cover it with cling film (or a plastic shower cap which is absolutely perfect – you can also buy plastic bowl covers that do the same job)
7. Let the starter ferment for 4 hours at room temperature.  If you like, you can let it rise at room temperature for an hour, then put it in the fridge for up to 24 hours before going on to the next step. 

Now go and do something else for 4 hours. In your absence it will expand. Is magic, a.k.a. 'chemistry'.

All of it together

Spatula,  pizza stone, pizza peel if you have one (if not a light chopping board will do - anything you can flour/put cornmeal on to slip the bread into the oven on). 

Instant dry yeast	4g
Lukewarm water (25-35º)	200ml
Unbleached all-purpose white flour	320g
Wholewheat flour	40g
Rye flour	40g
Malt flour (if you have it)	2g
Salt (cooking salt, nothing fancy)	16g
Starter	850g

1. Add the water to the starter
2. Mix it in gently with the spatula
3. Add the yeast
4. Add the flours
5. Add the salt (on top of the flours)
6. Mix by hand with the spatula for 2 minutes (persist until there are no dry bits left and it looks more or less combined)
7. Clean round the edges of the bowl (i.e. no manky bits sticking to edges); cover with cling film or shower cap
8. Let it rest and rise for 20 minutes
9. Pull the edges of the dough in towards the middle - the dough will still be a bit sloppy

Video interlude demonstrating what I mean by 'pull the edges of the dough towards the middle' - yes, it will be a bit sticky:

(You may have noticed that cunning thing I was scraping with. I can't remember what they're called,
but if you don't have one, a spatula should do it.)

1. Let it rest and rise for 20 minutes
2. Pull the edges of the dough in towards the middle again – by now you will feel the dough getting a bit more elastic
3. Leave it to rest and rise for 60 – 80 minutes
4. Pre-heat the oven to 450ºF and put a baking tray on the bottom shelf and the pizza stone towards the middle of the oven, just above the baking tray
5. Let the dough fall gently from the bowl onto a floured surface
6. Divide it into the desired weight  - I cut the dough into 4 pieces – you get 4 smallish loaves
7. Shape into loose rounds 
8. Leave to rest for 20 minutes
9. Form into desired shape  - easiest is just to form it into a round again
10. Leave to rest for 20/30 minutes on a pizza peel (if you have one) or bread board, with a little flour and cornmeal, if you have it (you want it so the loaf can be slipped into the oven)
11. Dust the loaves with a little flour and then score them with a sharp knife
12. Slip them onto the pizza stone
13. Immediately chuck about a mugful of water into the baking tray
14. Cook until it’s  the colour you like it – about 35 minutes is usually about right
15. Put it on a rack to cool
16. "Déguster", says my recipe, i.e. eat it.

NB: do wait for it to cool down a bit. Is nicer that way.