Pain D’epi
Good Monday morning from California (Covid lockdown land). Today is April 13, 2020, and I’ve been cooking up a storm for my little family of three. One of the things I‘ve made is my favorite bread.
This bread I measure with weight, so you do need a good scale, and I use metric for this one (because I worked outside of the USA for years and prefer metrics). So you need a scale you can switch to grams for this one. If you don’t mind being less precise, and just can’t figure out metric weight, I did include American Standard equivalencies for the mathematically timid. You also need:
A pizza peel
Pizza stone
Parchment paper
I made two versions from the starter; a Boule and a Pain D’epi. Today I’m going to share the method for the Pain D’epi; which loosely translates as “stalk of wheat bread” from French. I’ve recorded the Boule method yesterday so just scroll to that recipe if your like to try something easier. Enjoy!!!
French Wheat Stalk Bread
340 grams lukewarm water (1 1/2 cups)
5 grams granulated yeast (1/2 Tbs)
12 grams kosher or sea salt (1 3/4 tsp.)
455 grams All purpose or bread flour ( Either one works-3 1/4 cups)
In a large sealable container whisk together the water, yeast, and salt. Add the flour and mix together with your fingers (yes this is messy, but the easiest way).
Once you have a loose, shaggy dough, cover loosely and let rise on the counter 2 hours.
Place the starter in the fridge for 24hours-5 days. The longer the dough rests, the more complex the flavor.
Remove the dough from the fridge and cut it in half. Roll out your dough into 2 long thin “ropes” 18-20 inches long. I usually just make one, and save the other half of the started for another day. Place onto a sheet of parchment paper.
If your pizza stone isn’t big enough for this length, just cut the dough in half again and make 2, 10” loaves instead. Cover lightly with oiled (I used pan spray) plastic wrap. Place your pizza stone onto the center oven rack. Place a metal baking dish (DO NOT USE GLASS IT WILL SHATTER) on the bottom of the oven. Preheat your over to 525F, once the oven is hot, set a timer for 30 minute to ensure your stone is fully heated through.
Once your stone it hot, remove the plastic wrap from your loaf, slide a pizza peel under the parchment. Liberally dust the dough with all purpose flour. Make shallow diagonal cuts ever three inches or so along the entire loaf, and gently pull each “petal” alternating left and right like so:
Heat about a cup of water to boiling. Slide the dough and parchment paper onto your pizza stone, very gently so as not to disturb the delicate shape. Pour the hot water in the baking dish, and shut the oven door quickly-trapping the steam.
Turn the over down to 450F, and bake 20-30 minutes until your preferred brownness is achieved( usually pull my bread out at 25 minutes). Remove the Pain D’epi from the over and cool before eating (if you can wait that long).
This bread I measure with weight, so you do need a good scale, and I use metric for this one (because I worked outside of the USA for years and prefer metrics). So you need a scale you can switch to grams for this one. If you don’t mind being less precise, and just can’t figure out metric weight, I did include American Standard equivalencies for the mathematically timid. You also need:
A pizza peel
Pizza stone
Parchment paper
I made two versions from the starter; a Boule and a Pain D’epi. Today I’m going to share the method for the Pain D’epi; which loosely translates as “stalk of wheat bread” from French. I’ve recorded the Boule method yesterday so just scroll to that recipe if your like to try something easier. Enjoy!!!
French Wheat Stalk Bread
340 grams lukewarm water (1 1/2 cups)
5 grams granulated yeast (1/2 Tbs)
12 grams kosher or sea salt (1 3/4 tsp.)
455 grams All purpose or bread flour ( Either one works-3 1/4 cups)
In a large sealable container whisk together the water, yeast, and salt. Add the flour and mix together with your fingers (yes this is messy, but the easiest way).
Once you have a loose, shaggy dough, cover loosely and let rise on the counter 2 hours.
Place the starter in the fridge for 24hours-5 days. The longer the dough rests, the more complex the flavor.
Remove the dough from the fridge and cut it in half. Roll out your dough into 2 long thin “ropes” 18-20 inches long. I usually just make one, and save the other half of the started for another day. Place onto a sheet of parchment paper.
Turn the over down to 450F, and bake 20-30 minutes until your preferred brownness is achieved( usually pull my bread out at 25 minutes). Remove the Pain D’epi from the over and cool before eating (if you can wait that long).
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