Daring Bakers - 5th Challenge: French Bread - The Julia Way

February 29, 2008 at 12:02 am | In Challenge, Daring Bakers, baking, cooking challenge, recipes, traditional |
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One of the exhilarating aspects of being part of the bakerhood that is Daring Bakers, is knowing that youBread Rising become a better baker after each new challenge. There is always a trick or two to pick up, a new way of looking at a process, a new direction to stretch your skills and comfort zone. This challenge proved this once more.

Hosted by  Breadchick Mary (The Sour Dough), and Sara (I like to cook), we were dared to bake French Bread, the Julia Child way. Well, I’ve baked a lot of bread from scratch, but I have to admit my jaw dropped when I read the instructions. How could a recipe with four (4) basic ingredients take so long!? Eight ( 8) to nine (9) hours?! Whoa! The bread I usually bake entails one proof/rise, shaping and a second shorter rise. Total time from French Breadkneading to fragrant bread out of the oven: 2.5 hours. My curiosity was piqued. We had been warned so many times in cooking school not to let the bread over-rise, that I was a bit skeptical. Nonetheless, on a quiet Sunday, I got up early and plunged in.

I’ve always made bread the old fashion way, kneading by hand. Since the option to use an electric mixer was offered with this challenge, I decided to try it that way. Improvement #1: It’s a lot more efficient to make bread this way. The mixer bowl is ideal for the first proofing. A keeper. Next up? Using the oven, with the light on, as the rising chamber. Brilliant! Even better, wrapping the bowl in a towel. That’s how I’ll be rising bread from now on. French Bread

The whole process was pretty straightforward, just time consuming. I may have gotten a bit impatient at the end. My shaped bread (three ficelles) could have risen a little longer. Still, I was really happy with the final results. I’m not sure I’ll be repeating the whole process in the future, but I’m sure the tricks learned will make my regular method even tastier. Thanks for the challenge, Breadchick Mary and Sara!

The full recipe is available here.

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20 Comments »

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  1. Well those are certainly cute little loaves of bread you have there.

    Comment by Molly W. — February 29, 2008 #

  2. Thank you, Molly!

    Comment by pixeltheatre — February 29, 2008 #

  3. Fabulous bread - love your final proofing box. Maybe next time you should commit to the full 9 hours and use your hands, just as the French would. :)

    Comment by Annemarie — February 29, 2008 #

  4. the cross section of your bread looks incredible, so fantastic!

    Comment by Big Boys Oven — February 29, 2008 #

  5. Thanks AnneMarie. That final rise never really happened. Didn’t seem to want to go anywhere. Same problem you had, I think.

    Thanks Big Boys Oven. I use a bread knife to make the slashes. You gotta be fast, though… :)

    Comment by pixeltheatre — February 29, 2008 #

  6. Beautiful loaves. Congratulations on completing the challenge. I can’t wait to see what next month brings.

    Comment by Amber — February 29, 2008 #

  7. The texture looks incredible. Nice job.

    Comment by marye — February 29, 2008 #

  8. I love the golden colour of your loaves - they look lovely.

    Comment by Joy — February 29, 2008 #

  9. Your bread looks great! Nicely done!

    Comment by Mary — February 29, 2008 #

  10. @Amber: Thanks. I look forward to the next one as well.
    @Marye: Tasted great too. Even reheated after being frozen.
    @Joy: Thank you.
    @Mary: Thanks!

    Comment by pixeltheatre — February 29, 2008 #

  11. Just lovely! I’d expect to see those poking out of a basket at a local bakery.

    Comment by DawnsRecipes — February 29, 2008 #

  12. Thanks Dawn!

    Comment by pixeltheatre — February 29, 2008 #

  13. So glad you enjoyed the challenge. Half the fun of DB Challenges is learning new techniques and your breads look fantastic

    Thanks for baking with Sara and I!

    Comment by breadchick — February 29, 2008 #

  14. Thanks Mary. It was fun!

    Comment by pixeltheatre — February 29, 2008 #

  15. You did a wonderful job on your ficelles. Your pictures are beautiful.

    Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go

    Comment by Sheltie Girl — March 1, 2008 #

  16. Your ficelles are gorgeous! I think they belong in a bakery :)

    Comment by maria~ — March 1, 2008 #

  17. your ficelles look great! i agree…w/each challenge we learn a little something new that we take w/us, even if we don’t make the recipe again!

    Comment by Jaime — March 1, 2008 #

  18. Beautiful bread!

    Comment by Sara — March 2, 2008 #

  19. Ah, you are one of the few to actually make baguettes. I salute you, they look great.

    Comment by JennyBakes — March 2, 2008 #

  20. I learned some tricks from this challenge as well. Great job!

    Comment by Deborah — March 2, 2008 #

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