Pain de Campagne
A country-style bread made from a French bread dough with added whole wheat flour, typically baked as a large round loaf.
Ingredients
French Bread dough (page 78, made with 1 cup whole wheat flour replacing one of the cups of white flour in the first dough, prepared up to the end of step 7)
1 batch
cornmeal (for dusting pans)
to taste
Instructions
1
Divide the dough
Scrape the dough onto a work surface lightly dusted with flour. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions using a dough scraper or knife.
2
Initial shaping
Cup your hands around a piece of dough, pushing from the bottom inward while rotating, to round it and tuck the irregular edges underneath. Repeat with the second piece of dough. Cover the rounds with a towel and let rest for 10 minutes.
3
Final shaping
After resting, gently repeat the rounding motion to ensure the dough is a perfect sphere.
4
Second rise
Place one dough ball on each baking sheet and cover with a towel. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 to 2 hours.
5
Preheat the oven
About 20 minutes before the dough finishes rising, position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 400°F (200°C).
6
Score the loaves
Using a single-edge razor blade, score 5 evenly spaced lines across the top of each loaf, holding the blade perpendicular to the dough. Be careful to cut only through the surface. Score another 5 lines perpendicular to the first set.
7
Bake
Bake for about 15 minutes, then swap the top and bottom baking sheets and rotate them front to back. Continue baking until well risen, deep golden brown, and firm to the touch, another 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer the baked loaves to a rack to cool.
