Sunday Bread - French Bread For Fondue!

by: Bill Egnor AKA Something The Dog Said

Sun Apr 10, 2011 at 08:18:31 AM MST

Happy Sunday Bread Heads!

This week we're going to make a French style bread that I developed for Fondue. I have always thought that the best part of the bread for Fondue is the crust and the first inch inside the bread. When you use a Baggett you really don't get enough outer curst.

In order to get around that problem I modified a French bread recipe. It is braided which gives more area for crust, but it still wasn't quite right. The crumb needed to be airier with more little pockets.  To get this effect, I used a technique that I was taught in a peasant bread recipe. By deflating the rising dough six times before letting it complete its first rising, the bread develops many of the little air pockets and gives this light crumb.

As a final added step I bake it on a pizza stone. This gives a little more bounce to the bread as it bakes. If you don't have a pizza stone, don't sweat it, I have made this recipe on just a baking sheet and it is 95% as good.

Now that you have an idea of what has gone into the creation of this recipe, let's bake!  

Ingredients:

3 ½ cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 packages (4 ½ teaspoons) yeast
1 ½ cups hot water (120- 130 degrees)
2 tablespoons butter
Egg wash - 1 egg white beaten with 1 teaspoon of water

Baking Pan - 1 sheet pan, covered in parchment paper or greased and dusted with cornmeal

Method:

In your large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, measure our 2 cups of flour, the salt, the sugar and the yeast. Stir to combine them. Pour in the hot water and then add the butter. With a wooden spoon or the flat paddle attachment of your mixer, stir vigorously for 2 minutes. You will now have a nice smooth batter.

Add the rest of the flour ½ cup at a time, stirring until it is completely absorbed by the developing dough before adding the next portion. When all the flour has been added the dough should be a shaggy mass.

If you are kneading by hand turn the dough out onto lightly floured work surface and knead for 10 minutes, using the push-turn-fold method. A couple of times in during this process lift the dough completely off the work surface and slam it down hard. This not only lets you get out some aggression, it helps the gluten to form.

If you are doing this in your stand mixer, use the dough hook attachment and set the speed to low. There is not a lot of flour in this bread and if you knead it at a high speed you can actually break the forming gluten stands and that will release the water back into the dough. You don't want that. Knead for 10 minutes.

Place the dough in a large greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Now comes the fun part. Set a timer for 7 minutes.  When it goes off, uncover the bowl and press the dough down with your fingers. It will have only risen a little bit, but that is just what we want.

Now repeat that last step another five times. After the last time you've pushed the dough down (Six times altogether) cover the bowl and let it rise unmolested for 30 minutes. At this point the dough will have doubled in volume.

Remove the plastic wrap and punch down the dough (poor little abused dough). Turn it out onto your work surface and divide it into three equal portions. Form the portions into balls and cover with a tea towel. Let them rest for 4 minutes.

Uncover your dough balls and one at a time roll them under the palms of your hands. Take your time with this your are trying to get ropes that are 16" long and about 2" in diameter. If anyone of the dough balls is fighting you, just set it aside to relax a little and work on another one.

When you have three equal length ropes it is time to braid them. Now if you are going to cook this bread on pizza stone the instructions are just a little different. I have a peel that I use to put the bread on the stone, but I don't like to take chances that it will not slide off the peel or might slam into the back of the oven. So I put a piece of parchment paper on the peel and then pull that over the stone and get a perfect landing every time.

If you have a pizza stone but no peel, no problem. Just use the back of a sheet pan as your peel.

To braid the bread, either on your peel or if you are not baking it on a pizza stone on your sheet pan; place the ropes next to each other. Starting in the middle braid the ropes towards you; then flip the pan or peel around and braid the rest of the loaf towards you again. Pinch the ends together tightly and fold them under the dough (not too much, just tuck it under so it does not show).

Cover the dough with a clean tea towel and allow to rise for 30 minutes.

Twenty minutes before baking, set a rack in the middle of your oven and (if you are using it) place the pizza stone on the rack. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

When the dough is fully risen paint it with the egg wash. Slip the dough into the hot oven and bake for 35 minutes.

When the bread is done it should have a hard golden brown crust. To test doneness turn it over and thump it with a forefinger; it should have a hard hollow sound and feel very light for its size. If it is not quite done return it to the oven for another five minutes (this almost never happens, but about once in 30 loaves just need a little more time).

Allow the loaf to cool on a wire rack.

Once you have your Fondue ready, just tear this bread into little chunks and dip in that cheesy goodness! Or you could just slather it in butter and tear into it like ravenous wolves, your call.

The flour is yours!