Rouge De Bordeaux Sourdough Breads Recipes

ROUGE DE BORDEAUX SOURDOUGH BREADS

Steps:

• Tips on building an overnight levain in summertime are in the blog post above.
• Combine all the ingredients in a medium size bowl and mix until well incorporated. (If you're making both formulas, use two different bowls.)
• Cover the bowl or transfer the dough to a straight-walled bucket and let the dough rest for about 30 minutes. Then do four rounds of gluten development with half-hour rests in between.
• Let the dough continue to rise until it's about 40% larger than its original size. Depending on the room temperature and your starter strength, the dough may need a total of about 4-8 hours for this bulk fermentation.
• My dough fermented three hours in my kitchen at ~79F, followed by 2 hours in the refrigerator to cool down.
• Scrape your dough out onto a floured countertop and shape it into a boule, batard, or oblong loaf, depending on your proofing basket and baking vessel shape. I pre-shaped and bench-rested the dough to let it warm up a little from the refrigerator, but if your dough is warm or tending toward over fermentation, you might skip the bench rest altogether.
• Transfer the dough to a well-floured proofing basket and cover it.
• Let the dough proof 30-60 minutes at room temperature (possibly longer in a cold kitchen) and then refrigerate it for several hours to overnight. Or do the entire final proof at room temperature for 1-2 hours, again depending on your kitchen temperature and the dough's appearance. See the photo gallery above for target dough expansion in the basket.
• Preheat your oven and baking vessel for 30 minutes at 500°F.
• Flip your dough out of the proofing basket onto parchment paper and score it.
• Transfer the dough to your baking vessel, cover, and bake for:
• 20 minutes at 500F with the lid on
• 15-20 minutes at 450F with the lid off
• When the bread is done, the internal temperature should be over 205°F and the bread should sound hollow when you knock on the bottom of the loaf with your fist.
• Let the bread cool at least 2 hours before slicing.

BORDEAUX RUSTIC BREAD (PAIN RUSTIQUE BORDELAIS)

Steps:

• You will need 2 jelly roll pans, dusted with cornmeal.
• The starter: in a bowl, whisk the yeast into the water and then stir in the flour; cover with plastic wrap and allow to ferment for 8 hours in a cool place.
• If the room is warm, let the sponge rise at room temperature for 1 hour, then for the remaining 7 hours let it rise in the refrigerator.
• When the starter is done, make the dough--place the water in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk in the yeast by hand.
• Use a rubber spatula to scrape the starter into the water and mix it in.
• Add both flours and the salt, and use the rubber spatula to mix the ingredients into a rough dough.
• Place the bowl on the mixer with the dough hook and mix on lowest speed for 2 minutes; allow the dough to rest 10 minutes.
• Mix on medium speed until dough is smooth, elastic, and slightly sticky, about 2 minutes.
• Scrape the dough into an oiled bowl and turn it over so that the top is oiled; allow the dough to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
• To form the loaves, scrape the dough onto a floured work surface; shape the dough into a 12-inch square; cut into three 4 x 12 inch rectangles, using a knife or bench scraper.
• Transfer the loaves to the prepared pans, placing 2 on one pan and 1 on the other.
• Cover the loaves with cloth or plastic wrap and allow them to rise at room temperature until doubled, about 1 hour.
• About 15 minutes before the loaves are completely risen, set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 450°.
• Place the pans in the oven and bake until the loaves are beginning to color well, about 20 minutes.
• Turn the pans from back to front, then place the top pan on the lower rack and the bottom pan on the upper rack; close the oven and decrease temperature to 350°.
• Bake until the loaves are deep golden and the internal temperature reaches about 200 degrees, about 20 additional minutes.
• Cool loaves on racks.
• Serve: cut the bread into 1-inch slices.

SAN FRANCISCO SOURDOUGH BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, salt, and dry yeast. Add milk and softened butter or margarine. Stir in starter. Mix in up to 3 3/4 cups flour gradually, you may need more depending on your climate.
• Turn dough out onto a floured surface, and knead for 8 to 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turn once to oil surface, and cover. Allow to rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in volume.
• Punch down, and let rest 15 minutes. Shape into loaves. Place on a greased baking pan. Allow to rise for 1 hour, or until doubled.
• Brush egg wash over tops of loaves, and sprinkle with chopped onion.
• Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 30 minutes, or till done.