Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Country Bread - TWD: Baking with Julia

 Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia - 48th installment. The recipe is Country Bread.

This bread is great!  It took all day (6 hours for the sponge, and then two rising periods) but we really liked it.  I baked it on the pizza stone, and the crust had a great texture.  The inclusion of some rye in the sponge and whole wheat in both the sponge and the dough give it a good flavor.  The directions were clear and easy to follow.  I did wonder if it needed to rise in a flour-covered towel inside a colander, but it did make the loaf a nice round shape.

The salt-free dough
This recipe had so much potential, I made it twice, in an effort to get it right. The first time around, I forgot to include the tablespoon of salt that goes into the dough when you mix flour into the sponge.  I never knew how essential salt is to the taste of bread - it was tasteless.   I really wondered why the dough exploded out of the bowl when it rose, but I have read that salt counterbalances the yeast, keeping the yeast growth under control, so maybe that's the explanation.  The loaf rose and baked just fine, but alas, needed a thick layer of salted butter in order to make it taste like anything.  Even without the salt, the texture and crust of the loaf was quite good - it looked amazing, but just didn't have any taste. 
  I refused to be defeated, and tried again, and was glad I did, because it's definitely a recipe I will prepare again.
The salt-free loaf

7 comments:

  1. You managed to make two loafs...great! The bread looks wonderful. Yes anything without salt tastes.....well....salt less :-).

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  2. The salt-free loaf looks great! And yeah for salted butter :)

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  3. Beautiful loaf if bread! Kudos to you for baking it twice…interesting fact about the salt…I never knew that it counter balanced the yeast!

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  4. Kudos indeed!! That's great that you made it twice! Love the look of your bread...so pretty! I didn't realize the salt counterbalances the yeast. (interesting) This really was a great bread to make. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

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  5. Wow, making the recipe twice! I was lucky to get this done in time, and the date was extended! Interesting fact about the salt having an effect with the yeast; never heard of this before. So much to learn!

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  6. In Toscany they make the "pane sciocco", a nice looking bread without salt, but I cannot eat it: I need the salt in my bread! Kudos for making it again. It turned out perfect.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pane_sciocco (just in case)

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  7. Yes, definitely a great bread. Loved the crust. I have done that - left out something important. So frustrating. Glad you did it again.

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