Pain Complet (Whole Wheat French Bread)

Since we switched to a mostly vegetable and whole grain diet, I've been making whole wheat pita bread instead of my favorite, Pain Complet. But then I realized yesterday that the two breads contain exactly the same ingredients. Duh!

The French bread recipe I use simply calls for a sustained rising period, as with most yeast breads.

In contrast, pitas are ready to bake after only 30 minutes of rising time (don't forget to flip 'em).

And of course pitas bake more quickly because they're thin and small! Plus the oven temperature is 500°F. HOT!

So, here is a photo of my Pain Complet; the dough has been kneaded and is resting in a lightly oiled glass bowl, covered with plastic wrap (a damp towel will work as well).

PAIN COMPLET (WHOLE WHEAT FRENCH BREAD)

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups Whole Wheat Flour

3 cups All Purpose White Flour

1/2 tsp. Salt

1 tbsp. Dry Active Yeast

2 cups Water, approximately 110°F

1 tsp. Sugar

Olive Oil

Additional Flour as needed

METHOD:

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Move the ingredients to the sides of the bowl, creating a large well in the middle.

Pour yeast and sugar into the well. Pour 2 cups of warm water over the yeast. Sprinkle a bit of flour over top. Wait for bubbles to appear in the yeast, approximately 10 minutes.

With a wooden spoon or your hands, gradually incorporate the flour into liquid. This pre-kneading should result in a relatively firm ball of dough. If it's too sticky, add a little more flour.

Remove dough from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Knead it by pushing your palms into and then turning it one quarter. Continue kneading for 7-10 minutes, or until the bread is supple and tacky but not sticking to the surface.

Place the bread in a lightly floured bowl and cover with a damp dishcloth. Let it rise for about 2 hours (depends on the room temperature, you want it to be fairly warm). It should double in size.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Sprinkle a counter top or other surface with flour.

Prepare a baking pan by lightly oiling and flouring it, or bake on top of oiled parchment paper. I like to use a cookie sheet, brushed with olive oil and dusted with corn meal.

Remove dough and place on floured surface. Press it down once with your palms.

Reshape dough into a ball or braid, whatever shape suits your mood. Place dough on baking pan. Using a sharp knife, cut diagonal lines across the top of the bread.

Brush top of dough with olive oil. Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes (more or less, depending on how much you like it browned).

This one is perfectly toasty!

Voilà!

(It's a half recipe, by the way, and I shaped it into an artisan style loaf).

Yes, I still love my pita bread. But nothing -- NOTHING -- compares to the scent of a loaf of bread baking for half an hour, filling the whole house with homemade whole wheat bliss. I can still smell it today!

This recipe is based on my experimentation with ingredients and methods as outlined on the tres fantastique site, FamousFrenchDesserts.com.

Foccacia Mania!

Another weekend of wild weather and I'm back in the kitchen, cleaning and cooking. Ron and I went to Los Angeles the previous weekend, followed by a crazy week of not much cooking and absolutely no cleaning! So I'm making up for lost time.

And what better way than to make homemade bread. Foccacia, actually! I ran out of bread flour, so it turned into a part-whole wheat Foccacia. Here's to health, and practicality. No way I was going to buzz to the market in the middle of bread-making, not to mention the horizontal rain!

Like a good girl, I pre-heated the oven and

baking stone well in advance. I was ready to place my beautiful Foccacia dough into that pre-heated oven. See it there? All glistening with olive oil in its little dimples!

So, other than the substituted 1 cup of whole wheat flour and an accidental extra 2 teaspoons of sugar, I followed the recipe from Food & Wine EXACTLY.

You KNOW this is a rarity for me.

But THIS is how the trouble began....

The directions said to put the pan into the oven on a rack in the lower third of the oven. Which I did. THEN, the directions said to THROW 1/4 CUP OF ICE WATER ONTO THE OVEN FLOOR, and close the door. Which I did.

Then, like a busy girl, I set the timer for the recommended 30 minutes and went to do some graphics work on my computer. After about 10 minutes, Ron came in and said, "Wow! I can smell that Foccacia bread. Smells fabulous!" Indeed.

So, like a frantic girl, I ran to the kitchen, turned the lights on high, and threw open the oven. My heart sank as I looked at the already-golden brown crust. I peered down at the oven thermometer: it was spiking over 550 degrees! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I turned the oven down to 350, closed the door, and shakily reset the timer.

I took the Foccacia out a full 8 minutes before the minimum time for fear it would burn all around, and placed it on two wire racks. SAVED! 

The crust is a bit thick due to the HEAT SPIKE (thanks a lot for the ice water tip, Food & Wine "professional gourmet baking lady") but the inside is sweet and hearty with garlic, herbs and onions!

For real, thanks, Honey, for smelling that bread and saving our Foccacia!

We've already eaten 1/3 and shared some with fave eaters, Bob and the boys!