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This is bread. If you have never tried this bread before, you're in for a treat. In The Bread Baker's Apprentice, Peter Reinhart gives the simplest of ingredients here and makes use of a slow cold fermentation in the fridge to extract sugars from the wheat. According to Mr. Reinhart, this develops loads of flavor from the dough and creates a final product that is oh-so complex. Naturally, the Bread baker's apprentice Challenge folks does not wish for me to share the recipe, but it's all over the internet already, like if you look here.
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This was a VERY wet dough. The original recipe says that: "The dough should be sticky on the bottom of the bowl, but it should release from the sides of the bowl." I wasn't sure quite what that meant, but I just mixed until it looked a little "stringy".

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The dough was allowed to ferment in the refrigerator overnight and then left out at room temp to double in bulk. Because I used my wild yeast(Adam) here the rise was a bit different from the pictures from other bloggers.

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When I first saw the recipe, I realized that it made up to 6 baguettes, so I halved the ingredient list and ended up making only 2 or 3 instead. After scoring the loaves, I baked them at 500 degrees and sprayed the oven twice at one minute intervals at the beginning baking cycle. I then turned down the temp to 375 degrees and baked until done, which took me about 24minutes or so.

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The final bread was delicious and crusty, and I was a little disappointed to see the lack of a BIG open crumb, but it was tasty, nonetheless. A definite keeper in the bread making repertoire.
yeastpotted.

 
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Since I did French bread last week, I have been wondering what the difference is between Italian bread and French bread, and so here I am at bread number 15 in the book : Breadbaker's Apprentice. Although we usually consider Italian bread to be softer than french bread, Peter Reinhart gives the difference between the two as being very little; since Italians seem to use an old dough(biga) method very closely resembling the pate fermentee used by the French. In his recipe found here, Reinhart has also recommended the use of diastatic barley malt, only I couldn't find any locally, so I went with using the barley malt syrup. I have to say, however, that that little flavor difference made all the difference in the world to our tastebuds. Nic, being Italian, said that this bread was WAY better than the so called Italian breads found here in the US supermarkets. I'll be sending this also over to yeastspotting.
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The dough was mixed up with the biga and the wild yeast(Adam) until it formed a smooth dough.

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Here is the dough ready for the first bulk ferment.

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Wow! It actually rose and almost bubbled out of the bowl. I think the temp was a little too warm!

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So, Here are the formed loaves ready to be proofed again and baked in the oven.

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The loaves came out deliciously brown and oh so crusty. The addition of the barley malt syrup was definitely key. We ate the loaves so fast, that I forgot to take a crumb shot.

 
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Baking french style bread according to Peter Reinhart's recipe is all about preferments. In fact, In his Bread Baker's Apprentice book, He describes the bread as being a lean dough that is about 70% old dough. It's quite amazing how passionate the French are about their bread, but when you taste a home-made loaf, I think you could understand the passion. I adored this bread and want to share it with yeastpotting.
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Here is the preferment after being taken out of the fridge.

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Mixed in the pate fermentee with the flour, salt, water and more wild yeast starter.

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The sticky dough left to rest and rise. Since I use wild yeast, the rising took a little longer than usual.

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After about 3 hours, the dough was separated and then made into the banneton and the epi as seen here.

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The finished epi out of the oven. The crust was a beautiful golden color, and the taste was divine. I will be making this one again for sure!

 
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Nick's fav so far. This bread was sensational. The crust was not too crusty but the crumb was light, and chewy with a hint of honey aroma. The problem here was trying to stop eating more than a few slices. Nic and I in fact ate a whole loaf in one night. Here's another one for Yeastspotting
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Adam before forming into dough
This was actually a very wet and sticky dough. Much more than any of the other breads that I've made so far. After Adam was fully hydrated, the dough was pretty goopy and wet.

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after first strech and fold
The directions said to stretch and fold the dough, so I did. It was then allowed to rest for about 2 hours to proof.

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second strec
The same stretch and fold technique was used for a second time, and again the dough was allowed to rest. This time, I sprayed a little oil on top.

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formed ciabatta loaves
The loaves were shaped and put on a piece of parchment to get final rising. Since it was so sticky, the shape looked a little crazy.

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crumb shot
The crumb could have been a little better, but it tasted wonderful!