Sourdough French Bread

I've been making a daube for the last 3 days and will show it tomorrow when it is ready. A good French daube just has to be eaten with a crunchy loaf of French bread so I made some for the first time using my sourdough starter. I am becoming brave and using my starter more and more and am now much more comfortable with it.


Last night I measured out 1 1/2 cups of my starter then added 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water. I let this sit covered overnight. This is what it looked like this morning.


I poured the starter mix into the bowl of my mixer and added 2 1/4 teaspoons of instant rise yeast, 2 teaspoons of salt, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 teaspoons of oil and 1 cup of water.


Then I added about 6 cups of flour. The amount of flour can vary so add enough until your dough looks like this and is still a bit sticky but pulls away from the side of the mixer bowl.


Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and turn it to cover the surface lightly in oil. Cover and let it double in bulk. This takes about an hour.


This is how it should look once it has doubled.


This is the pan I used for my loaves.


I measured the dough so I had 3 equal balls.


On a lightly floured surface, you roll the dough to form logs.


Then you pull and stretch them gently to fit the pan.


I always line my pans with a bit of parchment to keep them from sticking. These loaves where a bit too sticky so next time I will be sure to add more flour.


Let them rise again then gently slash the surface of each loaf a few times. It took them about 30 minutes to rise this much. Place them in a 400 degree preheated oven with a pan of water on the bottom. The water will create steam which gives you a crispy crust.


Mine baked for about 40 minutes. The front loaf shows what the bottom of the finished loaf should look like. The loaves were a bit large for the triple pan I used so next time I might use individual French loaf pans. I also will take the time to shape them a bit better next time.




However, with a pat of butter and sprinkled with a bit of sea salt, they were still delicious and will be wonderful with tomorrow's daube.

Comments

brokenteepee said…
Nothing much better than homemade bread!
Teresa said…
That looks so good. I love your pan for these loaves--never seen one like that before.
those look great...i used to have a pan like that but it has gotten lost during moving...lost to the moving Gods i guess....

i need to get another one....

can't wait to hear about the daube....

it is daube weather here today too....

kary and teddy
I will get Isaac ready for this creation tonight. The bread looks wonderful. I wish I had a loaf now. Am so looking forward to the daube tomorrow.
Bonnie K said…
Awsome bread pan! I make a New Orleans Bagett that would work perfect with that pan. It looks like I'll be spending some time looking through your recipes. Thanks for the ideas.
SharleneT said…
Love French Bread but never thought about a sourdough one. Gonna have to do this, too. Lordy, you're keeping me busy. Looking forward to the daube, too...
floweringmama said…
This looks great, man you stay busy all the time! Fresh bread is not anything I've ever had the nerve to try.
Suzie said…
Despite what you say about their looks, the bread is beautiful! And I'm sure that it is delicious. Makes my mouth water!!
LaTrice said…
Bread looks delicious(like all of your recipes). . You have got to tell us where you got the awesome mixer, that I assume kneads the bread as well. I need to get me one of those :-D