Pain de Campagne

Wow, it's been a while.  My wife recently decided to splurge on a 2lb Zojirushi bread machine, so I figured I'd see how it does kneading and rising artisan dough.  I decided to try a recipe that I've had a lot of success with in the past, Pain de Campagne from The Bread Baker's Apprentice.

Turns out it's pretty darn good!  I put the ingredients together in the morning before leaving for work, set the program for 16 minutes of kneading and 2 hours of rising, then set the timer.  When I came home from work I had beautifully kneaded and risen dough waiting for me!  How awesome is that?

After shaping and an hour rise, I slashed them...

They seemed to laugh at their imminent trip to the oven...

And onto my Fibrament stone they went, conveyed by the fantastic Superpeel.

20 minutes later, out they came, crusts crackling as they cooled.  I baked these for a friend, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what's inside...

I did learn a few things.  First, you need more kneading time than in a regular recipe.  The first batch I only set to knead for 6 minutes, and the dough was not kneaded well enough.  You can see in this picture, the first batch is in the center.  There's no surface tension to the dough and it didn't rise as well.

I also went on the high end of the water for the recipe, and am really pleased with the result.

-Joe