Country Loaf
Total time: Between 18-24 hours. Hands on time: 45 minutes.
Ingredients:
400g bread flour
100g whole wheat flour
375g water (divided into 340g and 35g)
100g levain (at 100% hydration)
10g salt
This recipe is for the intermediate baker. For my beginners’ all purpose recipe, you can find that here.
Method:
Mix 340g water and the flours well. You can do this by hand, or with a mixer. Let this mixture rest for 30-60 minutes.
After resting, mix in the levain/active starter, the extra 35g water, and salt until the dough comes together. It will feel stringy and fall apart before it comes back together. Let it rest for 30 minutes.
Perform one stretch and fold. Here is a demonstration of how to do a stretch and fold. After the fold, transfer the dough to an oiled container, that has a lid. This step is not necessary, but it makes clean up and coil folds a bit easier. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
Over the next 2 hours, give your dough 4 coil folds. Here is a video on how to do coil folds. Give your dough 30 minutes in between each fold to rest.
After your folds are over, let your dough finish fermenting. The amount of time it takes to ferment depends mostly on temperature. Reference this chart by Tom Cucuzza, or use your instincts. The dough should roughly double in size, have small and larger bubbles on the surface, and jiggle when you gently shake the container.
Shaping. Lightly coat the dough in a layer of all purpose flour and tip it onto your work surface. Do not use an excess of flour, but ensure it doesn’t stick to your counter. Using a bit more flour to make sure it doesn’t stick is more important than over flouring. Here is an example of shaping. Fold in the left and right sides, creating a long cylinder like shape. Dust off excess flour as you go. Roll the dough onto itself, being careful not to rip it. Flip it so the seam is up, and roll it in rice flour or all purpose flour. If you are using all purpose flour, make sure to also dust your bread basket or banneton with flour. You can also use a bowl from your kitchen that is lined with a tea towel and dusted with flour.
Put the dough in the fridge until the next day.
Preheat your baking vessel to 500 degrees F. Once it is preheated, turn your loaf out onto parchment paper, a bread mat, or if you’re open baking, whatever you’ll slide it into the oven on. Score with one single slash, or decorate it with a wheatstalk, you can find an example of that here. Lower the heat to 475 and bake for 23 minutes, covered. Take the lid off or release the steam and bake for an additional 18-25 minutes, depending on your preference of color and crust thickness.
If you want your bread to be as moist as possible, and to last for days, wait to cut it until it completely cools. If you can’t wait and you just want a really nice, warm piece of bread, just wait 20-30 minutes to cut into it.