Sep. 17, 2009 6:21 pm
Updated: Oct. 31, 2009 3:29 pm
Seattle has such great bakeries that I almost never bake my own bread. Last week, though, during a spate of cool weather, I got the bread-baking bug. I wanted a nice crusty European-style loaf with a long, slow fermentation to develop the best flavor. I chose the French Country Bread recipe. As…
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Pain de Campagne (French Country Bread)
Loaf in the brotform: I dusted it well with light rye flour before putting in the dough seam-side up
Risen loaves.
Scoring the loaf with a baker's lamé, a razor blade with a slight curve in it.
Baked loaf
I'm a professionally trained baker/pastry chef and also, as a friend would say, an intrepid eater. My favorite foodie character in literature? Ben Gunn, the marooned pirate in "Treasure Island": "You mightn't happen to have a piece of cheese about you, now? No? Well, many's the long night I've dreamed of cheese—toasted, mostly—and woke up again, and here I were."
My favorite things to cook
Laminated doughs. Elaborate dishes that require a day of prep work. Comfort foods, spicy foods, all kinds of food. (Although I am also happy eating a bowl of cereal.)