“Cool Control” French Bread

Posted 5 months ago by Ben Lester
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Easy “Cool Control” French Bread

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French bread is the ultimate juxtaposition of refinement and simplicity – just fresh ground flour, water, salt, and yeast.  This recipe yields a moist, supple crumb and crackling, caramelized crust. While making bread can challenge home bakers to no end (part of the fun!), the purpose of our “cool control” technique is to eliminate heartbreak and make your baking endeavors easy and delicious.

There are two elements of this technique that make it truly special. It’ hard not to end up with a great loaf and you’re never stuck waiting for the bread to rise or proof. We’ve actually turned the tables and let the bread wait for you. That is the key to “Cool Control” bread making. Never get stuck with late night bread baking again!

This french bread was made with heirloom Red Fife wheat, but the Redeemer, spelt and sirvinta work great as well. All are these varieties are commonly available as part of our grain share.

Ingredients

Units Scale

 

  • 22 oz or 620 g of whole wheat flour
  • 2 tsp or 12 g of salt
  • 1/2 tsp or 3 g instant yeast
  • 2 cups or 472 g warm water (90 degrees)

Instructions

  1. Scale and mix dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. 
  2. Measure the water and warm it to 85-95 degrees. If you’re using freshly milled flour that’s very warm, or flour that’s been stored in your fridge or freezer, you may need to adjust your water temperature to achieve the correct dough temperature.
  3. Add ⅗ of the water and stir until all the liquid is absorbed. There should still be some dry flour stuck to the bottom and sides of the bowl. Add another ⅕ of the water; mix until absorbed. There should still be a little bit of dried flour remaining in the bowl. Add the final quantity of water and mix until absorbed. Now there should be no more dried flour. If there is, you should add just enough water to hydrate the rest of the flour. If at any time during this process, you no longer see any dried flour, stop adding water. You want the dough to cling to itself but not stand up tall or tight. Your spoon should cut through without quite picking up the mass of dough. No kneading. No Mess. Five minutes or less. 
  4. Measure the dough’s temperature. It must be between 80-90 degrees for this method to work. If it’s any cooler, the dough will not rise enough; if hotter, it will rise too much. In either case, you will need to adjust your water temperature accordingly to arrive at the correct dough temperature.
  5. Cover and place in your refrigerator for 3-12 hours. You want it to rise about 50 percent, from 1 quart of dough to 1.5 quarts. It will work fine if the dough rises as little as 30 percent or as much as 100 percent, but 50 percent is the sweet spot. If your fermentation gets stuck because of poor yeast or cold temperature, you can always add time and warmth to move it along. The degree of rise is the most important indicator of dough maturity.
  6. Turn your dough out onto a floured work surface, flour your hands and give it a fold. Gently pat out excess gas, allowing some to stay in the dough. 
  7. Shape it into one large loaf, divide in half to make baguettes, or into 6-8 pieces for rolls of varying sizes. Place in a well-floured proofing basket, or place on a baking tray to rise. In this case, use flour or a silicon mat to prevent sticking. 
  8. If you’re using a proofing basket, cover and return to the fridge for its final rise. It’ll be  ready to bake after 2 hours and up to 8 hours later. You can also leave it on the counter to rise and it will be ready for the oven in about 45-90 minutes. Notice what we’ve done by rising the dough in the cold refrigerator. We’ve made it ferment so slowly that the windows for rising and baking have become very wide. It’s hard to get wrong because it’s all moving so slow, and you can time the process to fit your schedule.
  9. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees 30-60 minutes before you’re ready to bake. 
  10. Turn the oven down to 450 degrees. Slash your fully risen loaf and load it onto a sheet pan, loaf pan, or baking stone. Carefully pour about 1/2 cup of water onto the oven floor and close the door immediately to trap the steam. This will give your bread that caramelized chewy crust and help it to rise unhindered by early crust formation.
  11. Bake for about 20-40 minutes(depending on the size of the loaves) or until the crust is a rich mahogany and the temperature in the center is 200 degrees.
  • Author: Ben Lester
  • Category: bread

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