Pain de Campagne

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Kitchen scale
• •Large mixing bowl
• •Bench scraper
• •9-inch banneton or bowl with linen towel
• •Dutch oven (5-quart or larger)
• •Razor blade or lame
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Wire cooling rack

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the poolish

   The night before baking, combine 150g bread flour, 150g room temperature water, and 1/8 teaspoon instant yeast in a medium bowl. Stir until no dry flour remains. The mixture will be thick and shaggy. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature (65-72°F) for 8 to 12 hours. You'll know it's ready when the surface is domed and covered with bubbles, and the whole mass jiggles when you tap the bowl. It should smell pleasantly tangy, almost like yogurt.

   In a warm kitchen above 75°F, reduce the yeast to a tiny pinch or refrigerate the poolish after 4 hours to prevent over-fermentation.
2. 2

   Mix the dough

   Add the 200g water directly to the bowl with the poolish and stir to loosen it. Combine the bread flour, whole wheat flour, rye flour, and instant yeast in a large bowl and whisk together. Pour in the poolish mixture and stir with a wooden spoon or your hand until a shaggy mass forms. No dry flour should remain, but don't worry about smoothness. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. This autolyse allows the flour to hydrate fully and begins gluten development without any effort from you.

3. 3

   Add salt and develop gluten

   Sprinkle the salt over the dough. Wet your hand and use it to pinch and fold the dough, working the salt throughout. The dough will feel tighter immediately. Now perform stretch and folds: grab one side of the dough, stretch it upward until you feel resistance, then fold it over the center. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat. Continue for 3 to 4 minutes until the dough becomes smoother and more cohesive. It should feel slightly tacky but not stick aggressively to your fingers.

   Keep a bowl of water nearby to wet your hands. Wet dough doesn't stick to wet skin.
4. 4

   Bulk fermentation with folds

   Cover the bowl and let the dough rise at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours total. During the first 90 minutes, perform a set of stretch and folds every 30 minutes (three sets total). Each set takes only 30 seconds: four folds, one from each side. After the final fold, leave the dough undisturbed. It's ready when it has increased by 50 to 75 percent, feels airy, and you can see bubbles through the side of the bowl. Poke it gently; it should spring back slowly, leaving a slight indentation.

5. 5

   Pre-shape the loaf

   Turn the dough onto an unfloured surface. Using a bench scraper or your hands, gently fold the edges toward the center, then flip the dough seam-side down. Cup your hands around the dough and drag it toward you, allowing the friction of the counter to create surface tension. The dough should form a rough ball with a taut top. Don't worry about perfection here. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let rest for 20 minutes. This relaxation makes final shaping easier.

6. 6

   Final shape

   Generously dust a banneton or a bowl lined with a well-floured kitchen towel with rice flour (it resists sticking better than wheat flour). Flip the pre-shaped dough seam-side up. Fold the bottom third up to the center, then fold the top third down to meet it, like folding a letter. Roll the dough toward you, tucking gently to create tension. Place seam-side up in the prepared banneton. The seam will become the bottom of the loaf when you flip it for baking.

   Shape with confidence. Timid handling produces slack loaves. The dough can take more pressure than you think.
7. 7

   Final proof

   Cover the banneton with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Let rise at room temperature for 1 to 1½ hours, or refrigerate for 8 to 16 hours for a slower proof and deeper flavor. The dough is ready when it has grown by about 50 percent and the poke test shows slow spring-back with a slight indent remaining. Over-proofed dough will feel very soft and will not spring back at all; under-proofed will feel dense and spring back quickly.

8. 8

   Preheat for baking

   At least 45 minutes before baking (an hour is better), place a Dutch oven with its lid on inside your oven. Heat to 475°F. The cast iron must be searingly hot to create the initial steam that gives this bread its crust. If proofing in the refrigerator, take the dough out when you start preheating; it can go into the oven cold.

9. 9

   Score and bake covered

   Carefully remove the screaming-hot Dutch oven. Cut a piece of parchment paper to lower the dough. Turn the proofed loaf onto the parchment, seam-side down. Using a razor blade or very sharp knife held at a 45-degree angle, score the top with a swift, confident slash about ½ inch deep. Don't saw; one decisive motion. Lower the dough into the pot using the parchment as a sling. Cover immediately. Bake for 25 minutes. The trapped steam creates the blistered, crackly crust.

   Score quickly after unmolding. The dough's surface dries within seconds of exposure to air, making clean cuts harder.
10. 10

    Bake uncovered until deep golden

    Remove the lid. The loaf will be pale and matte. This is correct. Continue baking uncovered for 18 to 22 minutes until the crust is a deep chestnut brown, darker than you think it should be. The color you're scared of is the color you want. An internal temperature of 205 to 210°F indicates a fully baked crumb. Trust the thermometer over appearance if you're uncertain.

11. 11

    Cool completely

    Transfer the bread to a wire rack immediately. You'll hear it sing: the crackling of the crust as it cools and contracts. This sound is your reward for proper baking. Do not cut into this bread for at least one hour, preferably two. The interior continues cooking as it cools, and cutting too soon releases steam that should be reabsorbed, leaving you with a gummy crumb. Patience now. You've waited this long.

Chef Tips

• •Weigh your ingredients. Volume measurements for flour can vary by 30 percent depending on how you scoop. A $15 kitchen scale will improve your bread more than any expensive equipment.
• •The windowpane test confirms gluten development: stretch a small piece of dough thin enough to see light through without tearing. If it tears immediately, continue working the dough.
• •Store at room temperature cut-side down on a board for 2 days, or wrapped in cloth inside a paper bag for up to 4 days. Never refrigerate bread; it stales faster at refrigerator temperatures than at room temperature.
• •Day-old pain de campagne makes the finest toast and the best French onion soup gratinée. Plan for leftovers.

Advance Preparation

• •The poolish must be made 8 to 12 hours before mixing the final dough, typically the night before baking.
• •Shaped dough can be refrigerated for 8 to 16 hours before baking, allowing you to shape in the evening and bake fresh in the morning.
• •Baked bread freezes beautifully for up to 2 months. Cool completely, wrap tightly in plastic and foil, and freeze. Thaw at room temperature for 2 hours or refresh in a 350°F oven for 10 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 56g)