Recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart
Notes: I think this bread was the first one I tried from this book, back when I first bought it, around the time it was first published. The details are hazy, but I vaguely remember thinking that I bit off more than I could chew. These days, I'm pretty comfortable with tackling most any baking project, as I have had lots of hands-on experience and repetition under my belt.
This bread uses a preferment, which I made the day before, plus rye flour in the main dough, as building blocks for flavour. I decided to make the epi shape which is supposed to resemble a wheat stalk. Using kitchen shears, I cut the baguette dough on a sharp angle. I didn't go quite deep enough, so I wasn't able to turn each piece as far as I wanted to. I also baked it a bit too long, and as a result, it was quite hard, especially the sharp tips of the cut pieces. With an assortment of cheeses, this bread was the perfect accompaniment.
Leave a comment