farm bread

the traditional loaf of the french countryside. beautiful basket weave crust and a chewy, gently sour crumb. ari and frank's favorite bread. (frank carollo is the managing partner of zingerman's bakehouse)

Imagine sitting around a French farmhouse table waiting for dinner. This would be the bread the family would serve. Like French pain au levain, it's a white-wheat mix made with a sour starter. Its crust is crisp, its flavor subtle and never tiring. The 1.5 lb loaf is pictured, but the 3 pound round loaf is my favorite. Cut it into quarters and freeze what you don’t eat.

This signature farm bread requires the longest rise of any, 18 hours. The leavening is a small amount of the natural yeast "starter" called a levain. A levain is no more than a flour/water mixture providing working conditions the wild yeasts like. They get busy producing enzymes that turn starch into sugar. Good bacteria feed on this sugar and work with the yeast to produce the gases and distinctive flavor that time and the right conditions permit. The farm bread is chewy and a little sour, with a honeycomb texture like French country bread.

Carolla explains what sets artisan bread apart.

"The biggest difference is time. Any loaf can take two days to complete. We use much less yeast. And really, really cold water. That's a paradox. You think of proofing yeast in 120-degree water.

"But if at home you did nothing more than cut down the yeast, use cold water and give it time. ... It's the way bread was made long ago. Incredibly laborious."

Ingredients
Yield: 1 lg. loaf or 3 baguettes

Dough
2 c. tepid water
1-1/2 tsp. active dry yeast or 1 cake fresh yeast
1/2 tsp. sugar
4-1/2 c. bread flour, plus extra flour for kneading
1-1/2 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. cornmeal

Preparation
For the main dough:
Put 1/2 c. of water, yeast, and sugar into a large food processor and process enough to mix. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Add flour and salt and begin processing dough. With processor running, pour in remaining 1-1/2 c. water and process 30 seconds.

Turn the dough onto a board with additional flour and knead. After 2-3 minutes of kneading, the dough should be smooth but strong. Put the dough in a large bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap, or a plastic container with a lid, and let rise in a warm place for 3 hours.

When risen, the dough should have doubled in volume. Bring the sides of the dough to the center and knead gently to deflate and make it into a ball.

For the country French bread:
Roll the dough tightly on itself into a ball, then press and mold it into a large oval-shape loaf (~11"×6") with the seam underneath. Line a baking sheet with a nonstick mat. Sprinkle cornmeal on the mat, and place the loaf in the center of the sheet.

Let rise at room temperature for 1-1/2 to 2 hours in a proof box. It is important for bread dough to be left to rise in an area that is fairly warm, draft-free, and moist. To make a proof box, cut the top and side off a cardboard box large enough to accommodate the baking sheet holding your formed loaf. Insert the box into a large plastic garbage bag, and close the bag. Alternatively, turn a large cardboard box or plastic bin upside down over the proofing bread.

Preheat oven to 425°. Sprinkle the loaf with flour from a sieve, and, using a razor blade, make a few slashes to the top. Carefully slide the baking pad onto the hot bread stone and bake for 1 to 1-1/4 hours. During the first 10 minutes of baking, create steam by spraying water into the oven at 3-minute intervals.

When the bread is brown and hollow-sounding, remove it from the oven and let cool 1 hour before slicing.