Crusty Country Bread

Today was another adventure in bread making. This time Jacques Pepin was the teacher. If you haven't discovered his book Jacques Pepin New Complete Techniques, look for it and add it to your library of cookbooks at home. My son Jonathan had a copy that I got to see a couple of years ago and I knew I had to have it. So for Christmas last year I said that was what I wanted. Over the winter break from school I began to explore making beef stock, demi-glace and glace de viande. All of that will have to be another story.

Today was about bread. I wanted to make crusty bread. A very kind young man at Loaf Bakery, in Greensboro, NC told me that I needed to create steam in the oven to get a crust on the bread. Loaf is a great bakery, yummy desserts and all kinds of yummy bread, crusty bread! Worth a trip to South Elm St. to find it.

So this morning, armed with the wonderful directions in Pepin's book, which also has pictures, I began. Bread flour, yeast, water, salt, cornmeal and sugar were all I needed in the way of ingredients. Once the bread was in the oven I tossed two tablespoons of water into the bottom of the oven 3 times in the first 10 minutes of cooking. That seemed to be what was needed to get the crusty bread I wanted. By the end of the afternoon I had 3 baguettes and a beautiful loaf decorated with what looked like stems of wheat with the flowers on the ends. I was ecstatic and could not wait to taste the creation. I sliced into one of the baguettes to serve with the lasagna we were having for dinner. The crust what exactly what I had hoped for and the inside was a soft smooth texture that was easy to slice thanks to a new sharp bread knife. One baguette is now history.

The pictures above and below are the results of today's efforts. Thanks to the young man from Loaf and Jacques Pepin's great directions, I count the day's labors as a success. I won't hesitate to try it again!