The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Pain de Campagne

ahhoefel's picture
ahhoefel

Pain de Campagne

Today I baked my first loaf that came from a real recipe; Reinhart's pain de campagne. I had attempted a version of pain a l'ancienne before I had the book in my hands, but found it hard to shape. After reading the real recipe, I found that this is how the dough is intended to be --- pulled instead of shaped in a traditional way. 

The loafs made with the pain de campagne recipe were very easy to shape. I was able to tighten the skin quite readily and when I scored it, the bread peeled away from the cut nicely. The cuts are almost too deep.

So here are a few questions I have:

  • How big should a boule be? This one is 10oz and I found it rather small. I made 2oz buns along with this that also seemed small.
  • Also, how deep should the cuts be?  These seem disproportionately large for such a small loaf.

Cheers, Andrew.

 Pain de campagne from Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice. This is my first attempt at a loaf from this book, as well as my first post.


Comments

Eli's picture
Eli

Andrew,

That looks yummy! I read that boules can be 1 to 1.5 pounds in Peter Reinhart's writings. I think the french may have different rules. It seems baguettes were 12 to 16 ounces and batards 1 to 2 pounds. I would have to say I read all these numbers in different places.

The scores look great, I think you got a great spring.

Eli