Pain Brié

This is our favorite currently. Even with the lower hydration than what we are used to, it’s a delicious bread! 

This is Bertinet’s version: 

Preferment (Fermented white dough 10 - 12 hours) 

• 3g instant yeast 
• 500g all purpose flour 
• 350g water 
• 10g salt 

Dough 

• All of the preferment 
• 3g instant yeast 
• 50g water
• 250g all purpose flour 
• 50g unsalted butter 
• 5g salt 

and this from Bake-Street.com

Preferment (10-12 hours) 

• 450g bread flour 
• 270g water
• 1g instant yeast
• 8g salt 

 Dough

• 690g preferment
• 250 g bread flour
• 65g water
• 45g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2g dry yeast
• 4g salt

Day 1 evening:

1. Mix all preferment ingredients until just combined with no traces of flour. 
2. Cover and let it stand at room temperature for 10 to 12 hours. 

Day 2 morning:

1. Add flour, salt, yeast, butter and water to the preferment. Mix until a homogeneous dough forms. 
2. Then, knead the dough by folding it on itself and pressing down hard with the heel of your hand. Continue kneading for about 10 to 15 minutes until the dough is smooth. 
3. Alternatively, the dough can also be kneaded by bringing a rolling pin down hard across the dough, then press the dough down to flatten. After that fold it on itself. Repeat this for 10 to 15 minutes until the dough is smooth.
4. First proofing: Form the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl. Cover and let it rest for 1 1/2 hours.
5. Pre-shaping: On a clean counter (no flour), shape the dough into a ball. Cover and let it rest for 15 minutes. 
6. Final shaping: Shape the dough into a boule or bâtard. Lay it seam side down on a lightly floured cloth-lined tray.
7. Second proofing: Cover with and let it proof for 1 hour at room temperature. 
8. While the dough is proofing, place a tray or dish on the lowest shelf of the oven and a bake sheet (for the loaf) on the middle rack. Preheat the oven to 450ºF/230ºC. 
9. Gently transfer the proofed dough to a piece of parchment paper or a floured peel. 
10. Score the dough: Begin by scoring a deep line (about 1 cm deep) in the middle of the dough. Then score shorter lines (about 2 or 3) on either side of the middle line. 
11. Pour about 1 cup of boiling water into the tray at the bottom shelf of the oven and spray the walls of the oven with water.
12. Quickly transfer the scored loaf to the bake sheet using the parchment paper or peel. 
13. Spray the walls of the oven again before quickly closing the oven door. 
14. Bake at 450ºF/230ºC for 10 minutes. 
15. Then, lower the temperature to 420ºF/220ºC and bake for 10 to 15 minutes until the loaf is golden brown and registers at least 190°F/88°C. 
16. Turn off the oven. Remove the loaf from the parchment and baking sheet. Then, let it cool in the slowly cooling down oven on the middle rack with the oven door partially open. Let the loaf cool for at least 2 hours before slicing.