| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 7 hr 35 min |
| Active: | 35 min |
| Yield: | 2 loaves |
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- Room temperature water
- 3 grams fresh yeast, crumbled
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
Instructions
- The day before making the bread or early in the day, make the poolish (or biga) by placing 8 ounces of the flour, 7 ounces of room temperature water and the yeast in a large bowl and mixing it well with a wooden spoon. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let it stand for 2 to 3 hours at room temperature or in the refrigerator overnight. The poolish should double in volume.
- Add 1 pound of the flour and 12 ounces of room temperature water to the poolish and mix together well with your hands. It will be very sticky. Cover the bowl with the kitchen towel and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Sprinkle the salt over the surface of the dough and then fold the dough onto itself several times until the salt is incorporated. Cover the bowl with the kitchen towel and let the dough rest for 1 hour.
- Cover your hands with flour and sprinkle flour around the outside edge of the dough. Fold the dough onto itself 6 to 8 times. Cover the bowl with the kitchen towel and let rest for 1 hour.
- Fold the dough onto itself 6 to 8 times, dust a board generously with flour and pour the dough out onto the board.
- Divide the dough into two equal parts and turn and form each part into a ball, stretching the dough to form a smooth top. Sprinkle flour heavily in 2 separate bowls (there should be enough flour to keep the dough from sticking) and turn each ball of dough upside down into a bowl. Sprinkle the top of each ball with flour, cover each bowl with a kitchen towel and let it rise until doubled in size, about 45 to 60 minutes.
- Preheat an oven to 500 degrees F and line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Turn each ball of dough bottom-side up onto its own sheet pan and use a knife or razor blade to score a tic-tac-toe design on the top of each loaf.
- Place the loaves in the oven, immediately lower the temperature to 450 degrees F and bake for 30 minutes. (Do not open the oven door!) The loaves are done when they are golden brown and make a hollow sound when tapped on the bottom. Cool the loaves on a baking rack.
Reviews
Is the water by weight or by fluid ounces?
Increcdible recipe with a beautiful crumb and crust. It’s time consuming, but sooo worth it.
Outstanding flavor! Chewy, irregular interior. I use King Arthur Flour unbleached all-purpose, and I think it really makes a difference in flavor. (Is that wierd?) Per Julia Child, I use a spritz bottle of water to quickly create lots of steam above the loaf when I put it in and again every 4 minutes or so up to 4-5 times to create a great crust. Work quickly to avoid losing heat. You will be well rewarded!
This is the best bread ever. I usually make french baget but no more, now this is my new recipe. Thanks Eli and thanks Ina
Plan on making this week-end, but just for 2 people. Can the ready to bake dough be frozen? How does the baked bread freeze? Anybody????? Thanks
I love the crumb that this recipe produces. My colleagues at work loved it! Even so, the recipe is classified as “easy” and I feel one needs previous experience with bread making to be successful with this recipe. I used 3 Grams of yeast and all the flour and water called for. The resulting dough was excessively moist and more flour was needed to bring the dough to the right consistency. It is hard to explain in a written recipe the “feel” of a good bread dough.
To much water. Don’t go by the time to bake from the show. He says 500 for 30 min. Then 450 for another 30 minutes. I’m disappointed. Lots of work for a ok ending of seven hours.
I’m wondering since there’s no kneading involved in this recipe if it might work with gluten free flour. Has anybody tried or have any idea?
I’ve tried to do this bread, but when I’ve added the 1 pound of flour and 12 ounces of water, the dough doesn’t appear firmly. It was more liquid and very sticky. It seems that 12 ounces of water was too much for the quantity of flour.
It’s really correct the quantities? Tks. Rafael
Pease note that there’s is an error in the amount of yeast. It should be 3 grams of yeast, not seven. Foood Network did not make the change as they said they would.