Feather Bread-Take 1

A&S 50 Project #2:  Feather Bread

Here's the recipe, from "Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Breads." (1995 edition)

Ingredients:

• 4 to 4.4 cups bread flour
• 2 pkgs dry yeasr
• 1 TBSP each salt and sugar
• 1.5 cups hot water (120-130F)
• 1/3 c. butter or other shortening, room temperature
• 1 egg white, slightly beaten, mixed with 1 TBSP water

In mixing bowl, place 3 cups flour, the salt, yeast, and sugar.  Stir to blend.  Pour in the hot watrer, and stir with a heavy spoon for 2 minutes, until batter-like dough is smooth.  Cut the butter into 2-3 pieces and drop into bowl, stirring until butter is absorbed into the mixture.

Add the rest of the flour, 1/4c at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition.  When the dough is a "shaggy mass" and can be lifted from the bowl, place on a floured work surface.

Knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.  Add sprinkles of flour is the dough is sticky.  place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until it doubles in volume, approx 1hr.

Remove plastic wrap and knead for 30 sec to press out the bubbles.  Divide into two pieces.  Roll pieces out under your palms, into 18-20" baguettes.  Place on greased baking sheet, and cover lightly.  Allow to rise until loaves are doubled in volume, approx 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425F 20 minutes before baking. 

Make a 1/2" deep slash down the length of the loaves with a razor blade or sharp knife.  Or, cut diagonal slashes like you would for a French loaf.  Brush the loaves with the egg mixture and bake until they are shiny brown, about 25 minutes.  Turn over one of the loaves and tap firmly.  A hollow sound means the bread is baked.

Remove from the oven, and place on metal rack to cool.  (Clayton says this loaf freezes beautifully for later consumption.)

My thoughts:
When starting off, 2 cups of flour would be a better starting point.  Three make for too stiff of a dough right off the bat, and there's no "batterlike" consistency at all.  I was able to simply knead the dough until all the flour was incorporated, however.  Also, my kitchen was a bit cold, and it took *forever* for this dough to rise, so the finished product ended up with a slight "sour-doughish" hint, which is delightful, but not what I was looking for in this batch.  I'm going to try this again with a warmer kitchen, and see what impact that has on the bread.  Overall, however, this is a lovely bread.  I made a much deeper cut, to create more surface area for some toppings, and sprinkled coarse kosher salt on one loaf, and raw sesame seeds on the other, and they turned out very pretty.  (Sorry the picture is fuzzy, my camera doesn't like heat, I guess!).  The "Quality Assurance Engineers" (ie, the kids) approve of the flavour!  It's denser than a typical baguette, but it's also softer on the outside, which is nice.  I will definitely make this again, regardless!  It's PERFECT to go with our pasta dinner tonight!