Pain de Beaucaire
After a number of attempts and a good bit of reseach I think I am close to making a decent Pain de Beaucaire. It's a challenge that's ranks right up there with the baguette. This was my third attempt. It's a really good loaf of bread and has very good flavor. I will continue to experiment with this dough and the special technique required for cutting and shaping and also requires the use of bran flakes sandwiched between the two layers of dough, placed one on top of the other, in order to produce the open effect seen in the photo below, where the loaf appears to be split. The split is part of the character of the loaf. I have also included a little history of this bread, which was the predecessor to the baguette.
Howard
Pain de Beaucaire
Description from: Advanced Bread and Pastry by Michel Suas. “Named after Beaucaire, a region in Southeastern France, the Pain de Beaucaire is one of the first breads to be made “free form”, or not formally shaped. The bread is produced by placing two (2) layers of dough on top of each other and then cutting with a Recle a Beaucaire, strips of dough that are baked side by side, giving this bread its unique appearance. Pain de Beaucaire was very popular until people started to prefer the lighter and crunchier baguette. However, this authentic regional bread is currently enjoying resurgence as a new generation discovers its many appealing characteristics.”Note: Michel Suas gives no details on mixing or shaping Pain de Beaucaire and no photographs.
The following description is taken from the website: http://les7episbio.free.fr/presentation.en.php “Pain de Beaucaire: It’s a sourdough bread which requires a very particular shaping and which gives him [it] a very alveolus [a little cavity, pit or cell, as a cell of a honeycomb] crumb. The pain de Beaucaire has been transmitted for the XV century whereas the town of Beaucaire was the site of the second fair of Europe.” Note: this quoted description is taken verbatim from the website. Bracketed words were added for clarity.
Comments
This really looks appetizing. This would not last long around my house. Hope you make more of these!
Sylvia
Appreciate your kind words.
Howard
It looks just like the one in the link. I can't quite picture the technique. It almost looks like you had a long baguette shape, sliced the middle almost through, then folded one half over the other with the bran flakes sandwiched inbetween and turned it on it's side? In any case, I like it! The pain a la planche looks cool too.
Betty
Betty,
Thanks. You have the idea. After the bulk fermentation you press it down and shape it into a rectangle (3/4 inch thick) and cut it down the middle, lengthwise. Then paint the dough (2 seperate loaves), and side edges (but not the outer edges that will be the top of the loaf, with water, apply the bran to the painted area (avoiding the side edges, fold one side of each loaf onto itself for the final fermentation in a couche. After final proof the open side goes up and you slide it onto the stone with a short blast of steam for the baking cycle.
Howard
I have many fond memories of Beaucaire (the town is a bit "gritty" in my opinion, but they have a wonderful raptor demonstration called the "Aigles de Beaucaire" in the ruins of a castle) but had never heard any mention of a special bread.
Perhaps - as with so many things - when you live in Beaucaire it's just bread an no one makes a big deal about it.
Next time I'm there, I must seek it out.
Great looking bread - as always!
Pat
Thanks for your kind words. According to the write-up this bread originated in the 15th century in Beaucaire. Lots of things change in 500 years :>) The baguette eclipsed this bread. I have a theory that some enterprising baker in Beaucaire decided it was easier to just shape it into one loaf, score it and call it a baguette...au revoir Pain de Beaucaire. Regardless, it's a great tasting bread, truly rustic...and a fun challenge. I lived in France for a while but never made it to Beaucaire. I'll take your word for the grittiness of the town. Actually, I like grittiness it lends character.
Hope your hands and arms have recovered from baking the naan in your tandoor. What are you baking these days?
Howard
Interesting. Well, I will need to do some research next year (hopefully) if the Tarasque does not get me first...
Fall weather has come to the Mile High City and I'm back to baking indoors. I have a certain appreciation for turning a knob and getting heat after working with the tandoor. My last naan was a few weeks back and the arms are recovered.
This is the first year in a long time that I haven't spent my week in the general area of the Luberon. I was in Paris in April for the Coupe du Monde (etc) and it just seemed like too much to go twice in a year (I travel for a living so I have lots of frequent flier miles to burn) especially at the current exchange rate.
These days in addition to the baguettes (can never practice too much) and home ground whole wheat, I am working on Detmolder Rye bread. I have a neighbor who wants 100% rye, but I feel that my rye dough handling skills are not yet ready for that. High percentage rye is a different world as far as I am concerned.
In the near future I hope to be confident enough with rye to use home milled rye. Because I need something else to do :>)
Happy Baking!
Pat
Howard, I also found the description of shaping pain de Beaucaire in Advanced Bread and Pastry to be a bit cryptic. A phone call to one of the contributing authors of the book cleared up a lot for me. Details can be found here:
http://www.breadcetera.com/?p=121
SteveB
www.breadcetera.com
That's a beautiful loaf Pain de Beaucaire you made and great information that you were able to obtain from one of the contributing editors of Advanced Bread and Pastry. It should be extremely helpful to anyone making this bread.
Greatly appreciate you posting the recipe/formula for those who do not have Michel Suas' book.
Howard
Howard, thanks for your compliments and your graciousness in encouraging me to post to this thread. Pain de Beaucaire shaping confusion aside, I've found Advanced Bread and Pastry to be an invaluable resource and encourage those looking to expand their bread baking knowledge and technique to add the book to their collection.
SteveB
www.breadcetera.com
I believe Suas' "Advance Bread and Pastry" is a major contribution to the baking craft and a really great book. I liken it to a sort of gastronomique for bakers.
Howard
Ah! The great ABand P debate! I am still waiting for my copy to arrive, but am sure to have an opinion when I finally get the chance to dig into it.
Until then...
Happy Baking!
Pat
With your talent at the kitchen counter, you should write a bread & pastry book yourself!
Hans, that is exactly what I'm hoping my blog will become... a type of interactive on-line bread and pastry 'book' that is readily accessible to the home baker. It may not read like a traditional book, but I'm hoping that bread bakers everywhere will come to view it as a valuable resource. A lofty goal, to be sure, but one worth aiming for!
SteveB
www.breadcetera.com
FWIW. My personal belief is the book, perhaps in a succeeding edition/publication, should be divided into 2 volumes. Volume I: Bread Baking (or whatever Mr. Suas chooses to title it) and Volume II: Patisserie/Pastry. Mr. Suas should seriously consider providing, as Dougal suggested, thorough instructions and photos to make the book more "user friendly" and appealing to a larger group of bakers including proficient home bakers with no professional experience. One thing that would help immensely is to use grams as his unit of measure for his"Test" batches, which are typically 2 lbs. of dough. I'm sure that a professonal baker, using experience, could divine some of techniques and procedures and understand intuitively what Mr. Suas is attempting to convey. Having said that, I still like the book very much and have had success with the formulas that I have tried, albeit with some fairly rigorous research on some of breads.
Howard
for my Pierre Nury pizzas folding the flattened out dough first in half, pinching the seam, and then folding again and sealing. I cut it with a guitar string. Set the cut on edge and let it fall open.
I can certainly picture this on a baker's scale with 20kg of dough being folded and many loaves cut off, one at a time.
Inspiration came from THIS THREAD.
Mini O
Thanks Mini,
Charlene and I struggled with trying to finally figure out how to get the nice partially open loaf without it completely flattening out and finally did pretty much what you did. Didn't have any extra guitar strings :>) so I used a very large chefs knife that's an old kitchen friend.
Congrats!
Howard
Oh bother - I need to read all the links before I post. The link below was cited by the thread cited by Mini O. - Sorry to add to an already long blog entry, but for what it's worth...
Well, not to get this back to Pain de Beaucaire, but I had some time to some internet searching and found this little link:
http://webfoodpros.com/discus/messages/241/309.html?965600881
Once again, not exactly spelling everything out, but the recipe comes from an MOF.
It seems that the letter fold (or the secret "special folding") is not the fold that we give the thing during proofing, but an integral part of the shaping - sort of what SteveB described, but not exactly - to give it a sort of croissant like make up. I'm not sure, but I think that subtlety has been missed.
Also seems like there is a "to bran or not to bran" controversy, as our MOF does not seem to mention bran.
When will that ABAP book arrive? Now I'll have to bake a couple loaves myself...
Deary dear, so little bread, so much time. (Wait! Strike that - Reverse it!)
Happy Baking!
Pat
Hans, from my rudimentary French, I believe "façon" means "fashion" or "way", as in bread "in the fashion of" Beaucaire. So perhaps it means that it is not strictly the Beaucaire method but more like a method that is similar. Jane... Cendrillon... am I correct?
SteveB
www.breadcetera.com
Yes!
Jane
When in doubt, make a phone call. But unfortunately the artisan baker I phoned at 9am has already gone home! The bakery is close Sunday and Monday, so I have to call on Tuesday.
From what I gather, from some research on the subject, what is really special about this bread is just the shaping. Otherwise, it really is just white bread. It can be made with sourdough or yeast, but seeing that is a bread that dates back to the 15 century, I dare say it is traditionally sourdough!
I will ask specific questions, but from pictures I have seen, the strip of dough is folded over, not cut. It is then sealed on the other side, so that it forms a shape like a wheat grain sort of, in the shape of a bâtard. This actually makes the shaping super easy especially for large quantities. The dough is rolled out, flipped over and cut into logs and then each bread turned on to it's side, proofed and baked.
What's between the layers is a mystery, but I have read that is traditionally ONLY water. No bran, remoulage, slurry. But, the baker will hopefully tell me what he does. I know that Anis Bouabsa gets free remoulage from his flour supplier and he uses it on his couche so the baguettes don't stick. It doesn't stick to his dough.
OK, that's it for now. More news next week.
Jane
Pain de Beaucaire Steps
Proth5 had asked:
So my first question would be - ends sealed or not? Then:
1. How thick should the dough be for the first rectangle 2. In which direction are the first folds made 3. The next fold "Comme pour faire un tour aux croissants" - what fold and in which direction 4. Then which direction do we cut. 5. How is it stacked - which direction for the cut sides And every little detail...Pat,
Here’s a photo collage of the steps I used making the Pain de Beaucaire. Starting at the top , left to right. Then, follow the same (left to right) for each row, like reading the lines of a printed page.
I flattened the dough into a rectangle approximately 1” thick (Suas calls for 1 ½ “). This go round I cut the dough in half and folded it.
Anyway, right or wrong that is how I did it. Re: the proper traditional technique, I have a call in to Le Roi de Beaucaire (a.k.a. Leroy Beaucaire from Hoboken :>) I don’t know if this helps but at least it gives you an idea of how I did it…this last time (5th iteration).
Next time I’m going to paint both sides of the halved rectangle of flattened dough with the water, spread the bran flakes on the inside middle 1/3 lengthwise (but not to any edges) of just one side of the wet dough. This leaves the ends and bottom with clean, wet edges. Then, flip the wet side of one side on top of the bran side of the other, then cut the dough in half along the middle where the bran crosses the center lengthwise. The cut edge becomes the top of the loaf after proofing the loaves on their sides. As soon as you turn it over (bran edge up) the loaf will begin to open and spread but will immediately begin to rise after it goes into the oven.
My ends of the loaves, for this iteration, were sealed.
Howard
is a great photo tool..nice! Seeing your montage shows me that what I had envisioned as the technique was not even close. The art of descriptive writing is truly a gifted talent...visuals are so much easier ..for me, at least..
Betty
Informative. When will that ABandP book arrive?
I'm still struggling mightily with this idea of folding. I'm holding on to it because M. Auzet gives very specific steps and timings and doesn't include the folding as part of the pointage, as one would with what we know as a stretch and fold (nor do I see any evidence that he uses this technique on any of his breads - he uses the spiral mixer to completely develop the dough).
Rest 20 mins, flatten the dough, rest 20 mins, "rabbatre le bords vers le centre", flatten again and fold "comme faire un tour aux croissants" (and I find that he uses a tri-fold tour to make batards - so...), let rest for 30 mins.
It is this rectangle that is then rolled and cut. I'm still thinking that it is the formation of the rectangle that is the key to the particular open crumb at a hydration of 60% (and may I say after spending a lot of time getting used to higher hydration doughs, this feels like a big rubber ball). Also, why bother to give instructions that are so detailed if it is just a matter of getting a one inch thick rectangles. I also feel after 15 mins at first speed, this gluten is developed - it doesn't need folds to develop the gluten.
Bernard Clayton, Jr. in the book "The Breads of France..." talks about this bread and insists that the low hydration is a requirement and relates that the boulanger who coached him "scorned" the step where water is brushed on the dough (although he does not reference the folding).
We've got a lot of individual variation on this - which is only right.
But I'm doing a batch even as I type. We'll see.
And booking that trip to Luberon just as soon as possible :>)
Pat
Where did you order AB&P from?
Hans Joakim
I ordered it from TMB Baking - which is connected with SFBI along with a couple of other light items. They told me it would take 4 weeks. I haven't counted carefully, but I think the 4 weeks have almost passed...
Hope this helps.
Pat
Glad you found the photo collage helpful. Guess the old saying: "A picture is worth a thousand words" is correct, espcially for this particular baking exercise.
Howard
Woww, thats a beauty howard; nice rustique crust. Seeing your pics (and steveB's!) I couldn't wait and just setup a levain. I'll try dinner rolls façon beaucaire tomorrow.
Keesmees,
Thanks. One thing I did that I think really helped was I increased the hydration of the final dough mix by approx. 10%. In his "Test" dough (2 lbs. of dough) Suas calls for 9 oz. of water in the final dough mix, but having made the dough 4 times previously, I increased the water by an ounce and put in 10 ozs. and got better results this time around. The dough wasn't too sticky with the increased hydration, but just right in terms of being workable. I mixed everything by hand and did Bertinet's slap and fold, plus the 3 stretches at 20 min. intervals during the 1st. hour of bulk fermentation.
Good luck with you dinner rolls and be sure to post some pix of the results.
Howard
yepp howard, I'll give it a try. and post some pics.
will use a 66% dough. but don't have bran or something like that. but I'll try water (after jane) and maybe some rice flour or slurry for the experiment.
found this one:
http://web.mac.com/atelierpain/atelier-pain/Blog/Entr%C3%A9es/2008/1/4_nouveau_billet_6.html
this site takes about 5-10 minutes to load properly!
it didn't work. I've read jane's last answer and try again in a week or so with a more dry dough and some bran:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31104532@N06/
pfffffft, it is a real challenge to make this pain de beaucaire: rolls don't open proper, dough too wet, dough too dry, too little bran. dough too high to put on its side, etc etc etc.
your blog got me off the streets for two weeks howard. but its almost under control now.
you made my day today. tnx:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9191909@N07/3018211625/
Keesmees,
You did so goooood. Very nice loaf. If it's any consolation I went through 5 iterations before I got something I considered close. I'm thinking, after you've mastered this one it's mostly downhill. Thanks for sharing your results.
Howard