Ah… cool weather – finally!
We started the month breaking records for heat – a few days later, rain and cool weather, with windows open and a lovely breeze wafting through the house. It was the perfect excuse to make a pot of soup and a loaf of bread. I do love the cool Fall weather… Soups, casseroles, and fresh bread are my happy place…
The night before I had cooked a whole chicken, with plans to use it for several meals. First, I made a chicken and biscuit casserole – with leftovers for lunch. Last night was clean-out-the-‘fridge chicken soup.
I love soup for the very reason that you can put absolutely anything into it – all of those little containers of whatevers go right in the pot with whatever else you have on hand. I made a vat – we’ll have lunches set for the rest of the week, at least.
Soup, of course, calls for a crusty loaf of bread…
This particular loaf was a riff on a King Arthur recipe. The original recipe made two loaves. I just made a single, because I wanted a larger loaf.
If you don’t have a scale, you really should go get one – they’re cheap and extremely easy to use!
Easy French Loaf
adapted from King Arthur Flour
- 575g (about 4 3/4 cups) Bread Flour
- 11g (about 1 tablespoon) sugar
- 7g (about 2 1/4 teaspoons – 1 packet) instant yeast
- 12g (about 2 teaspoons) salt
- 380g (about 1 2/3 cups) lukewarm
- cornmeal, for coating the pan
ix all of the ingredients (except the cornmeal) in mixer bowl with dough hook attachment.
Knead the dough at medium speed for about 7-8 minutes, until it’s smooth, elastic.
Form into a ball, place in lightly greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled – about 1 1/2 – 2 hours.
Place dough on a lightly floured board and pat out to an 8×12 rectangle.
Fold letter-style from short end, pat down, spin, and repeat.
Roll dough into a 15″ log and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment and sprinkled with cornmeal.
Lightly cover, and allow to rise another 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450°F with rack in middle and another rack on the bottom with a pan for water.
When your bread is risen, use a sieve to dust the loaves with a thin coat of flour. Then make three or four 1/2” deep diagonal slashes in each loaf. Boil 1 cup water. Place the bread in the oven and pour the boiling water into the pan below. Quickly shut the oven door.
Bake the bread for 35-40 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and a loaf sounds hollow to the touch.
Turn the oven off, crack the door open, and allow the bread to remain inside for 5 additional minutes; this helps keep the crust crisp.
It really did come out good – and it really was easy! Perfect for soup and perfect for toast for breakfast – and it will be perfect with tonight’s dinner, as well – chicken and mushrooms with buttered noodles.
And speaking of perfect cooler weather and love of baking…
We have a new cookbook arriving October 15th…
James is a Scottish Doctor who was a runner-up in Season Three of the Great British Bake Off. Besides being cute as a button, his scientific approach to baking was really fun.
And speaking of fun, half the fun of baking bread is baking bread from different cultures and countries. It is simply amazing how the same basic ingredients can be manipulated into creating such different foods. And it’s amazing how much we can learn about different people if we just take a moment to step into their kitchens.
It’s going to be a fun fall and winter!