According to Jane Mason in Perfecting Sourdough, sourdough bread fell out of favour in French cities after the turn of the twentieth century when commercial yeast became available. However, it is now popular again and can be found at markets all over France. I have used the recipe for French bread to make a dough that can be frozen.
Head straight on to the Recipe For French Bread Dough For The Freezer ♥
What would you do in order to make sure you won something? We recently took part in a few competitive activities. One involved being blindfolded and smelling various items. I admittedly did very badly on this test, which was quite surprising as my sense of smell is usually quite good. But afterwards I realized that the items had been cut up hours before we were tested and placed into glasses. Having been left uncovered I wonder how much of the scent actually remained when we got to smell them? And I also had a few doubts about how well the blindfolds were applied. The next day we participated in a skills test which involved shooting clay pigeons. There was no way to fudge this and luck was on my side and I was the best of the ladies.
Today’s inspiration ♥ Recipe For French Bread Dough For The Freezer♥ can be found on Lavender and Lime Share on X
Our next test involved a blind tasting and I came third, having muddled up two of the glasses. But I got a sneaking suspicion that the person who won cheated. The bottles for this test had been put aside and I am convinced they were found when the person who did the best went out of the room. It would never have occurred to me to go looking. But it all fell into place when the winner was announced. I took all the activities as just a bit of fun and was not serious about them. But I am serious about my bread making. I like to know I can make my French Bread whenever I feel like it. However, during the week I don’t have the time that a sourdough loaf needs. So I froze some dough and was seriously impressed with the results. A true winner for me.
Click on the links for conversions and notes.
French Bread
Ingredients
for the starter
- 50 g sourdough
- 50 g bread flour
- 50 g water
for the French bread
- 425 g bread flour plus extra for dusting
- 225 g water
- 7 g fine salt
Method
for the starter
- Place the sourdough, flour and water into a stand mixer bowl
- Whisk to combine, cover the bowl with cling film and leave on the counter for 8 hours *
for the French bread
- Add the flour, water and salt to the starter
- Using a dough hook on your stand mixer, knead the bread for 10 minutes
- Cover the bowl with cling film or a shower cap and leave to prove overnight **
- Generously dust your work surface with flour and tip the dough onto the flour
- Divide the dough into 2 and gently shape into a ball
- To use straight away, place each ball onto a well floured kitchen towel, flour the tops and cover with cling film and leave to rest for 30 minutes
- If you want to go ahead with freezing the dough, dust the dough with flour, wrap in cling film, place into a freezer bag and put the dough in the freezer
- To defrost, place the dough into the fridge overnight and then remove from the fridge and allow to come up to room temperature
- When it is at room temperature, remove from the bag, shape into a ball and place the dough onto a well floured kitchen towel
- Flour the top, cover with cling film and leave to rest for 30 minutes
for baking
- Gently roll the dough onto a floured work top and shape into a baguette shape, as long as your baking sheet
- Place the dough back onto the floured kitchen towel, flour the top and cover with cling film
- Leave to prove for 2 hours
- Preheat the oven to 230° Celsius
- Check that your dough passes the probe test and gently turn the dough onto a lined baking tray, inverting the dough
- Slash your bread a few times and bake for 20 minutes
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing
Notes
** it must prove for at least 4 hours but I find it easier to do overnight until 8am the following morning
Inspiration published on Lavender and Lime December 8:
-
- 2014 – Chocolate Candies
- 2013 – Tell No Lies
- 2012 – Stollen
- 2010 – Crayfish Bisque
You can’t go wrong with a classic loaf like this, I bet the crust is so good!
It is 🙂
How annoying about the cheaters! It’s so frustrating when you aren’t a cheat yourself and play by the rules and people cheat and sail in and win things.
It is very annoying!
There’s nothing quite like homemade bread and having dough on hand to whip some up whenever you need it is brilliant!
Thanks, I thought so too 🙂
Sounds like you competed in a few fun contests. Love the French loaf, looks delicious!
It is a great loaf.