We survived the chicken pox, we got our new spiral mixer and started baking again! The first two batches where two loaves of Pain Rustique which is our favourite recipe for a white yeast bread (see Jeffrey Hamelman and his excellent book Bread). With the second batch we made two loaves of sourdough using a rye starter. Both batches of bread came out beautifully. Our new Haussler Alpha mixer kneads the dough much better and fluffier in a shorter time than our KitchenAid mixer.

How to make a Pain Rustique based on the Hamelman recipe, adapted for the use of European flour; This bread is made in two stages, the first stage is the making of a poolish which is water and flour fermenting together for about 12 hours. The second stage is the actual making of the loaf.

1. Stir together in a bowl (stainless steel or plastic) the ingredients of ‘Fase 1′ for 45 seconds, until you get a wet kind of paste and all the flour and water has been combined. And yes the amount of 0,2 grams of yeast is correct! Cover the bowl with cling film and let it rest on your kitchen table for about 12 hours. I normally do this in the evening so the next day the poolish is ready to be used. The poolish gives the bread its nice full taste, a good colour and a nice crumb.

2. After 12 hours the poolish should have a lot of bubbles (perhaps even some foam on top) and has risen a lot. This is where fase 2 starts! Put the poolish in your (kitchenaid) mixer bowl together with the flour (226 grams) and water (67 grams) of fase 2. Mix for about 1 minute until all the ingredients have been combined into a shaggy mass and all the water and flour have been combined (do not yet put in the salt and the yeast!). Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for about 25 minutes (this is called the autolyse fase).

Our new spiral mixer – a Haussler Alpha mixer with a 6 kilo dough capacity and removable dough hook and removable bowl

3. After the 25 minute autolyse fase, sprinkle over the yeast and the salt evenly and knead the dough for 3 minutes until the dough is fairly well developed and feels supple and moderately loose. The dough is still a bit sticky at this stage. Put the dough in a big bowl and cover with cling film. The next fase (bulk fermentation) is 70 minutes and consist of a few steps.

4. After 25 minutes you need to stretch and fold the dough. Try to keep most of the air in the dough during the folding. This is how you stretch and fold; Sprinkle a little flour evenly on your work top. Put all the dough onto your work top and carefully stretch the dough into all direction so you get a flatter and rectangular shaped piece of dough. Do this quick, forceful and strict without being careless and tough for the dough. This was the stretch part. Now fold the dough back into a ball. First you fold a third of the dough rectangle (post letter style) from ‘south to north’, secondly fold the remaining third of the dough over your first fold from ‘north to south’ and do the same from ‘west to east’ and from ‘east to west’. Put the dough ‘ball’ back into your bowl and cover with cling film. This whole stretch and fold business should take about 30 seconds once you have got some experience with it.

Our new spiral mixer – a close up of the spiral

5. After another 25 minutes you need to stretch and fold the dough for the second time.

6. After 20 minutes the dough is ready to be shaped and put in a well floured banneton to prevent sticking. I normally shape my dough into a batard (a kind of torpedo shape) and use an oval banneton for the final proofing. Try to keep all of the air in the dough during shaping. Do not press the dough down, you want big irregular holes in the crumb of the bread. Cover the bannetons with cling film.

7. After a 25 minute of final proofing in the bannetons turn over the bannetons on a peel covered with baking paper. Slash the dough length wise at a 30 degree angle (like you want to cut a slap of dough) with a sharp knife or a lame (kind of bread razor or bread scoring knife) to about 1 cm depth to give it room for expansion.

8. Bake in an oven (preferably on a stone surface) at about 235 degrees Celsius for about 35 to 40 minutes and lightly presteam your oven.

Pain Levain – a sourdough bread with a little bit rye flour