Eating Healthier in Today's World

Shaping French Bread

When you consider what shape you want for your French Breads, one of the first things to think about is your oven and the utensils you have at hand for baking the bread, because the quality of the bread depends quite a lot on how good the crust is.  The traditional shapes we associate with French loaves maximize crust area, and if our equipment and oven can accommodate them, you will have wonderful bread indeed.  It is true that the round loaves have less crust, but I like them very much because there is no need to worry about keeping the oven hot enough, or controlling the steam, (we will talk about this in the next post):  it is all there in the casserole dish.  The bread is plenty pretty, too, and makes great sandwiches.

Rounding:  To continue on with our French Bread making and baking, after we have the dough risen a few times we need to shape the loaves.  Before shaping the loaves or rolls, you will want to round the dough in loaf size pieces.  This invigorates the yeast and structures the dough for the best possible rise.  If you are making rolls, make one or two rounds.  Protect the dough from drafts as you work. 

Turn out the dough onto a floured board and press out the gas.  Divide into 3 to 4 pieces and shape into a ball or round by pressing dough into itself. Turn the rounds seam side down and let them rest until they are soft.  Use this time to wash the bowl and prepare the baking pans or whatever else you will be using to proof the bread.

Round Hearth Loaf:  Simple and surefire, and our favorite, is the traditional countryside style round hearth loaf.  Round the loaves and let them rest and then, when they get a trifle saggy, round them in the same way a second time, and place each one in a deep 2 1/2 qt. lidded clay or glass casserole, greased and dusted with cornmeal.  Alternately, you can proof them upside down on a flour dusted canvas for later transfer to baking tiles or pizza stones or place them on a baking sheet dusted with cornmeal for proofing and baking.

Classic Long French Loaves or Batard: Shape the rounded loaves into the long loaves by taking the rested soft puffy round and press it to 1"thick and making an oblong about two-thirds as long as you want the loaf to be.  Fold the sides into the middle and press or roll again to 1 inch thick.  Fold lengthwise and seal the edge.  Turn the loaf seam-side down.  Roll back and forth under your palms until it is nearly as long as you want the loave to be. 

The object of the long thin shape, and other even thinner version or baquette is lots of crust.  The flavour of any bread is largely derived from the magical happenings in the complex chemistry of the crust as it bakes.  More crust means more flavour, and the crust of French bread properly bakedwith stem is among the best.

Baguettes:  These slim long loaves are splendid for picnics, served with soft smelly cheeses or on a wintery night with a hearty soup.  Again is takes a good hot steamy bake to provide the best crust possible.  Use either a flat baking sheet or the dippy long baton pans that are sold in every kitchen shop.  Shape the loaves like the batards but use only half as much dough in each use and make each of them as long as your pan and very skinny.

Rolls:  You can make them small for dinner rolls or large for lunches.  The traditional shapes are like a batard loaf, only smaller, or round like a tiny hearth loaf.  Make 6 to 12 from half the dough,and treat as you would the loaves except that the smaller the bread the crustier it will be, and the shorter the time it will take to bake.

Grease and Cornmeal: When French or other lean breads are to be baked as hearth loaves on a baking sheet, you can dust the sheet generously with cornmeal and not greased:  the loaf will not stick.  Please note that a really thick layer of cornmeal, say one eigth of an inch, can provide such effective insulation that the ovenheat won't reach the bread and its bottom will not bake.  A too thin layer with much of the pan showing through, of course, can't keep the bread from sticking.

If the bread will touch the sides of the utensil, then that part at least will have to be greased because the cornmeal won't protect it.  When grease is used a dusting of cornmeal is optional, but it does add a nice touch to the finished loaf and has the virtue of absorbing excess greaein the placesthe dough doesn't cover, which save you from having to scrub off burnt grease.  If you don't have cornmeal, other low-protein flours or meals can be used, but corn is the best.

We will discuss proofing and slashing in the next post.