Rustic Boule Food

MULTIGRAIN BOULE

Steps:

• Make the starter: Stir together flours, yeast, and water with a rubber spatula in a medium bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and let stand at cool room temperature until it has risen slightly and is bubbling, 12 to 15 hours.
• Make the dough: Whisk together flours, wheat germ, seeds, and yeast in a large bowl. Add water and starter, and stir with spatula until mixture comes together in a slightly sticky, loosely formed ball of dough. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rest for 20 minutes.
• Gently turn dough onto an unfloured work surface. Sprinkle with salt.
• To knead: Gather dough, lifting it above work surface. Hold one end of dough close to you while you cast the other end in front of you and onto surface. Pull the end of dough in your hands toward you, stretching it gently, then fold the dough in half on top of itself. Repeat: Lift, cast, stretch, and fold. Knead the dough until it is smooth, supple, and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. Use a dough scraper to clean the surface as needed, adding the scraps to the dough. (Dough will be very sticky, but avoid adding more flour until the end, when it may be necessary to add a very small amount. Add the flour to your fingers, not the dough.) Form dough into a ball.
• Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with oiled plastic wrap, and let rise at cool room temperature for 1 hour. Gently turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface. (Do not punch dough to deflate.) Fold dough into thirds, as you would a business letter. Then fold it in half crosswise. Return to bowl, cover, and let rise until it has almost doubled, 40 to 50 minutes.
• Gently turn dough onto lightly floured work surface. Spread into a rectangle that's roughly 12 by 8 inches. Fold dough into thirds, as you would a business letter, pressing seams with your fingers.
• Roll up dough tightly, starting at 1 short end. Gather edges, and gently pull and tuck them underneath the dough to create a round shape, pinching to seal.
• Place dough on the work surface. Cup hands around dough, and rotate it in circles until a smooth, taut ball forms.
• Place dough, smooth side down, in a colander lined with a generously floured linen towel. Cover loosely with a piece of oiled plastic wrap, and let rise at cool room temperature until it has almost doubled and a floured finger pressed into the side leaves a slight indentation, 40 to 50 minutes.
• Place a skillet on oven rack adjusted to lowest position and a baking stone on middle oven rack. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Turn boule out onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Just before baking, use a lame or a razor blade to make 4 slashes on top of dough in the shape of a pound sign. Pour 1/2 cup hot water into skillet in oven. Slide bread and parchment onto baking stone.
• Reduce oven to 400 degrees. Bake, rotating halfway through, until bread is deep golden brown, sounds hollow when bottom is thumped, and interior registers 205 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 65 to 75 minutes. Let cool on a rack. Bread is best the day you make it, but it can be wrapped in parchment and then foil, and stored at room temperature overnight (or frozen for up to 1 month; thaw at room temperature before serving).

RUSTIC BOULE

Steps:

• Scrap Dough.
• Mixing: On the evening before you plan to bake the bread: In a small glass bowl, mix the yeast in ½ c lukewarm water (do the baby's bottle test on your wrist) and make sure that it bubbles (about 10 minutes).
• In a medium size bowl, mix flour, salt and 1/3 c of the yeasted water (reserve the extra for the Poolish).
• Kneading and Fermenting: Without adding extra flour, knead until smooth (about 5 minutes).
• Cover the scrap dough tightly with plastic.
• Leave to ferment at room temperature for about 3 hours, then refrigerate until the next morning.
• Poolish.
• Mixing: On the same evening before you plan to bake the bread: Put the flour in another medium size bowl.
• Add 1 Tbsp of the yeasted water from the Scrap Dough ingredients to 2/3 c lukewarm water and beat.
• This will be quite sloppy.
• Fermenting: Cover the bowl with plastic and ferment in refrigerator until the next morning.
• Actual Dough.
• Mixing: In the morning of the day you plan to bake the bread: In a small glass bowl, mix the yeast in 2 Tbsp lukewarm water (do the baby's bottle test on your wrist) and make sure that it bubbles (about 10 minutes).
• Put the flour in a large bowl.
• Pour the water into the fermented Poolish and stir it around a bit.
• Along with the yeasted water, pour the Poolish water into the large bowl with flour.
• Using a wooden spoon, mix until it is just combined.
• Knead it a few times to combine well.
• Cover with plastic and let it rest (Glezer uses the term"autolyse" for this) for about 20 minutes.
• Break the scrap dough up into smaller pieces.
• Add it with the salt to the rested dough.
• Turn the dough out of the bowl onto an unfloured work surface.
• Wash and dry the bowl.
• Kneading: Without adding extra flour, knead the dough until it is silky (about 10 minutes).
• Let your dough scraper (a spatula works) be your friend if the dough is sticking to the board.
• The dough should be soft and smooth.
• If it feels too stiff during mixing, add 1 or 2 Tbsp water.
• Proofing: Put the dough in the large bowl (should be large enough to allow the dough to expand by at least 3 times).
• Cover with plastic.
• Let it ferment at warm room temperature for 20 minutes.
• After 20 minutes has passed, lightly sprinkle the work surface with flour.
• Carefully turn the dough out and lightly sprinkle the top of the dough with flour.
• Gently spread the dough out (try not to disturb the bubbles).
• Fold the left side into the center, then the top, then the right side then the bottom.
• Turn the dough over and fold in half once more.
• Place it back in the bowl smooth side up.
• Cover with plastic.
• Let it ferment at room temperature for 20 minutes again.
• Repeat this step twice.
• (This step is done at 20 minutes, 40 minutes, 60 minutes after the first kneading.) After those 20 minute sessions have passed, cover with plastic and let the dough rise undisturbed for about 2 hours until it has doubled and is light and bubbly.
• Shaping: Sprinkle a tiny bit of flour on the work surface.
• Gently turn the dough out, disturbing it as little as possible.
• Lightly sprinkle the top of the dough with flour.
• If you are making two boules, cut the dough in half.
• Gently spread the dough out (try not to disturb the bubbles).
• Fold the left side into the center, then the top, then the right side then the bottom.
• Turn it over.
• Continue to fold it underneath itself to form an even tight ball without actually deflating the dough.
• Place it seam side down on a parchment covered peel.
• Sprinkle generously with flour.
• Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for an hour or more- until the dough is about doubled.
• To test, flour your finger and press gently on the edge- it should very slowly spring back.
• For comparison, try pressing early on to see how it quickly springs back when the dough has not risen enough.
• Baking: Thirty minutes before you are going to bake, put the baking stone on the second from the bottom rack.
• Pour water into a broiling pan and place it on the bottom rack of the oven.
• Turn oven to 475°F.
• At the time of baking, spray the top of the boule liberally with water.
• Put the bread in oven and immediately turn the oven down to 425°F.
• Bake the bread on the second lowest rack for 40- 45 minutes or until it is hollow sounding on the bottom.
• Half way through the baking, remove the tray of water and turn the bread around to account for uneven heat in the oven.
• When the bread is done, turn off the oven.
• Put the finished bread back in the oven and leave with the door ajar for 5 or 10 minutes.
• Remove to cool upended on cooling rack.
• Wait til the bread is completely cool before cutting it.
• If you want to eat warm bread, it is advisable to reheat the bread.
• The broiling pan of water in the oven is to create steam at the beginning of the baking time to make very crusty bread.
• Uneaten bread should be stored at room temperature.
• Bread can also be stored in the freezer- double bagged airtight plastic.
• Take it out of the freezer and leave it in the bag until the bread has thawed.
• To reheat the bread, turn the oven to 500 degrees F for 5 minutes or so.
• Turn the oven OFF.
• Put the bread in the oven for ten minutes.

ARTISAN BOULE

Steps:

• Poolish: In a small bowl, stir together yeast, water, and bread flour until it has the consistency of thick pancake batter. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature 8 to 12 hours.
• Dough: In a liquid-measuring cup, stir together yeast and water until yeast is dissolved. Place poolish and both flours in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Add yeast mixture and mix on medium-low speed until a sticky dough forms, about 2 minutes. Add salt and increase speed to medium-high; mix until dough is smooth and elastic, and cleans sides and bottom of bowl, about 9 minutes. Scrape dough onto a lightly floured surface and gather into a ball with oiled hands, then transfer to a large oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
• On a lightly floured surface, pat dough into a 12-by-10-inch rectangle with one short side parallel to edge of work surface. Fold dough into thirds, aligning edges carefully. Fold dough in half. This completes one turn. Flip dough so seams are facing downward and gently shape into a ball. Return to oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees with a pizza stone on center rack, and a cast-iron skillet on rack below. Be sure to remove any additional racks from oven.
• Place a sheet of parchment on a pizza peel or unrimmed baking sheet and lightly dust with flour; set aside. On a lightly floured surface, repeat folding process to complete a second turn. Gather corners of dough and pinch together, then flip dough over, shaping into a tight ball. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to prepared pizza peel, adjusting shape as needed. Loosely cover with oiled plastic. Let stand in a warm spot until puffy and full of air, about 45 minutes.
• Lightly dust surface of bread with flour. Using an oiled razor blade or a very sharp knife, score surface in a decorative pattern. Working as quickly as possible, carefully slide parchment from peel onto pizza stone. Pull just enough of heated skillet out of oven to add ice before closing oven door. Bake until bread is deep golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted into center reads 205 degrees, 45 to 50 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving.