The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book_ A Guide to Whole-Grain Breadmaking - Laurel Robertson [31]
If, on the other hand, you want your loaf to resemble American French bread—chewy and airy, with the clear ivory flavor of gluten—don’t blend flours, but use only bread flour, finely ground. Be sure to knead the dough thoroughly.
A toothsome version of the recipe is achieved by using rough stone-ground flour in place of finely ground. When it is made with freshly home-ground flour, the bread has to be one of the best in the world. We call it Country French.
Last, for Peasant French, use rye flour in place of the pastry flour. If your flours are freshly ground, you can close your eyes and just about be transported to northern France. This is a good keeper with remarkable flavor.
Whole Wheat French Bread
Getting down to business, there are a few things to remember when you are making this bread: technique, one might say, has to replace the fat and sugar! Most important of all is the one cardinal rule most often ignored (maybe it is just hard to believe): the dough must be kept cool throughout the whole rising period until it goes into the hot oven. If the temperature of the rising dough goes over 70°F, the fermentation changes, and the loaves will simply not have the character, the rise, or the flavor that they should have.
To keep the dough cool, the water used to mix it—except for the yeast-dissolving water—should be quite cold. For hand kneading, cold tap water is usually fine—providing that it is cold. In the summer, our own tap water is about 65°F, and by the time the dough is mixed, it is way too warm. Under these circumstances, or if you will be kneading by machine, be sure to refrigerate the water beforehand, or ice it. Machine friction heats the dough 20° to 50°F!
The dough should be kneaded until it is exceptionally silky and elastic. If you use all bread flour, allow longer than usual for the kneading.
Decide before you begin what shapes you will want to make of the risen dough, and how you will bake them. Since this bread is at its best only when it bakes very hot and steamy, check out the steaming methods to see which one suits your equipment and the shape you want. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.
Stir the flour and salt together. Add the cold water and the yeast and mix together. The dough will be stiff. Add at least half a cup more water by wetting your hands as you knead. Take care to develop the dough very fully; the time that takes will depend on which flours you have used: the high-gluten American version will take at least 20 minutes, others somewhat less. The dough should be quite soft when you finish, and silky.
Cover the dough and let it rise in a cool place, never over 70°F at any time. The cool rise makes the splendid flavor of this bread possible; if it is hurried at all by warming the dough, the bread will be astonishingly uninteresting. The first rising period takes about 2 ½ to 3 hours. If you wish, you may keep the dough cooler, and give it longer, but don’t let it go faster. After about 2 ½ hours, poke a wet fingertip into the dough about ½ inch deep; if the mark stays without filling in at all, the dough is ready to deflate. (If it sighs and collapses slightly, it is too warm. Don’t worry, all is not lost, but take steps to make the next two risings cooler.)
Deflate the dough by turning it out onto a lightly floured board and, with wet hands, pressing out all the accumulated gas. Try to handle the dough gently to avoid tearing it. Fold it into itself to make a smooth ball and place the ball again in the bowl to rise. Cover and set it again in a cool place, as before, using the same test to determine when the dough is fully risen. The second rise takes about 2 hours; now it is ready to shape. It should be lively, elastic, not at all sticky on the surface, and still very soft. If the dough still seems a trifle sticky, allow a longer resting period in the next step.
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (¼ oz or 7 g)
½ cup warm water (120 ml)
5 ½ cups whole wheat flour, a combination of: 4