Country Bread

Ingredients

3 ¼ cups (750g) warm water (about 85°F)

1 cup (200g) ripe leaven* (see Baker's Notes)

7 cups (1000g) Trailblazer flour

½ cup (100g) warm water (bassinage)

2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoon (25g) salt (kosher, medium-fine sea salt, or similar)

To make the starter:

1. First, mix a flour blend to use when feeding the starter. In a large container, combine equal parts Trailblazer flour and whole wheat flour. A good amount to start with is about 5 cups (700g) Trailblazer and 5 cups (700g) whole wheat flour. You will use this 50/50 Flour Blend to feed your starter.
2. In a medium bowl, place 1½ cups (300g) of slightly warm (80-85°F) water. Add 2¼ (315g) of the 50/50 flour blend (reserve the remaining flour blend), and mix with your hand until well combined.
3. Cover the mixture with a clean, dry kitchen towel or cheesecloth and let stand at warm room temperature until bubbles start to form around the sides and on the surface, about 2-5 days. (It's important to maintain warm temperature.)
4. Let stand another day to allow fermentation to progress a bit. More bubbles should form. This is your starter. It will smell acidic and slightly funky. At this stage, it's time to train your starter into a leaven by feeding it fresh flour and water at regular intervals.
5. Start feeding the starter: Transfer 1/3 cup (75g) of the starter to a clean bowl and discard the remainder of the starter.
6. To the 1/3 cup of starter, add 1 cup (150g) of the 50/50 Flour Blend and 2/3 cup (150g) warm (80-85°F) water. Mix to combine; it should have the texture of pancake batter. Cover the bowl with a clean, dry kitchen towel and let stand at room temperature for 24 hours.
7. Repeat this feeding process once every day, at the same time of day, always transferring 1/3 cup (75g) of the starter to a clean bowl and discarding the remainder, then adding the flour and water and letting ferment on the counter until next feeding.
8. After a few days, the batter should start to rise and fall regularly throughout the day. As the starter matures, the smell will change from ripe and sour to sweet and pleasantly fermented, like yogurt. Once this happens, it's time to make the leaven.

To make the leaven:

1. Two days before you want to make the bread, feed the matured starter twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening (the process described above), to increase fermentation activity.
2. When you are ready to make the dough, discard all but 1 tablespoon of the matured starter. To the remaining 1 tablespoon, add 1 1/2 cup (200g) of Trailblazer and a 1 scant cup (200g) warm (85°F) water. This is your leaven. Cover and let rest at moderate room temperature for about 3 hours* (see Baker's Notes).

To make the dough:

1. Prepare the leaven as directed above. The leaven is ready when it passes the float test** (see Baker’s Notes).
2. Measure the water into a large mixing bowl. Use the appropriate temperature water for a target dough temperature of about 85° A few degrees in temperature can make a big difference in how long it takes your dough to ferment. Keep a kitchen thermometer handy, but also practice being patient, using your senses, and getting a feel for the right temperatures in the context of the conditions.
3. Pre-mix the dough. Add the leaven to the water (alternatively, you can pre-mix without leaven and extend the autolyze. To do so, add the leaven in the next mixing phase instead.) Add the flour and mix with your hands until no dry clumps remain. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and autolyze for 20-40 minutes.
4. Mix the dough. Turn the dough in the bowl by gently lifting and stretching up the sides and folding them into the middle. Repeat this action for about 3 minutes to build strong gluten bonds. Then let the dough rest for 3 minutes.
5. Add the salt and a little bit of the bassinage (a French term for extra water added after mixing) and continue to mix the dough. Mix well with your hand, squeezing the salt in and then gently stretching and folding the dough as it comes together. Trickle in some or all of the bassinage as you mix. Use as much of the bassinage as feels appropriate: you don’t have to use all of it. You want to add enough water that the dough feels soft and extensible but not so much that the dough gets waterlogged or starts to fall apart. When I am getting it right I always think it feels marshmallowy at this point*** (see Baker's Notes).
6. Let the dough ferment in bulk. Cover the dough with a clean dish towel and let rest in a warm (about 80°F) draft-free place for about 3 hours from the time you added leaven the dough. Every 30 minutes, wet your hands and give the dough a series of several turns in the bowl, using the same gentle lifting, stretching, and folding technique you used when mixing the dough. This builds strong gluten bonds in the dough without deflating it. The last turn should be a gentle one, turning the dough just until it has all been gently folded over once.
7. Divide and pre-shape the dough. When the dough has finished its first rise, it will look domed and feel elastic, billowy, and bubbly. A well-developed dough will have noticeably increased in volume. You can check the dough’s readiness by performing a float test** (see Baker’s Notes). Once it is ready, transfer the dough out of the bowl onto a clean, un-floured work surface. Lightly flour the top of the dough and use a bench knife to cut it into two equal pieces. The dough should sit on the work surface, sticking to it, with the lightly floured side on top. Using barely floured hands and the bench knife, work each piece of dough into a round shape, creating some taut tension on the surface without causing any rips. Let the rounds rest, uncovered and tucked closely together for 20-30 minutes.
8. Shape the loaves. Generously flour the top of the dough rounds. Gently flip the first one over, taking care to maintain the round shape and all the aeration. The floured side is now on the bottom, and the top, now facing up, is un-floured. To form the final loaf shape, start by folding the third of the dough closest to you up and over the middle third of the round. Then use your right hand to gently stretch out the dough on the right side and fold it over the center. Use your left hand to do the same stretch and fold action with the left side. Finally, stretch out the third of the dough farthest from you and fold this flap toward the center, over the previous folds, creating a rectangular package with the edges at the top and bottom being slightly narrower than the length of the sides. Using just the tops of your fingers and grabbing the thinnest portion of the dough possible, stitch the edges of the sides together in a few places to make your rectangle a little more oblong and to create an even, strong, tension along the sides of the loaf. Grabbing the top edge very gently, roll the whole package lengthwise toward you until the seam is on the bottom. Let the shaped loaf rest while you repeat the shaping with the second round.
9. Place the loaves in the baskets and let rise before baking. Line two proofing baskets or medium bowls with clean kitchen towels and lightly flour the towels with rice flour. Using your bench knife as an extension of your dominant hand, and working quickly so the dough doesn’t stick to your hands, transfer each shaped loaf to a basket, placing it smooth-side down and seam facing up (the bottom of the loaf is now the top, and will become the bottom again when you tip it out to bake). Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rest in a warm, draft-free spot for about 3 hours, until it has risen again a little more and feels full of air. Alternatively, you can choose to delay the final rise by placing the loaves in their baskets, covered with a kitchen towel to keep the tops from drying out, in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours. The cool environment will slow the fermentation and create more complex and mildly acidic flavors in the dough.
10. Prepare to bake the loaves. Thirty to forty minutes before you are ready to bake, place a cast-iron double Dutch oven in the oven and preheat the oven to 500° Dust the top surface of one of the loaves with flour. Put on oven mitts and very carefully remove the shallow lid of the preheated Dutch oven and place it, upside down, on the stove top. Leave the deep pot in the oven. Invert the loaf in one basket onto the upside-down lid. Don’t worry if the dough sticks to the kitchen towel, just gently separate them and remember to use a little more flour next time.
11. Score the loaf. Use a lame, razor blade or sharp scissors to score the top of the loaf, being careful not to burn yourself. I suggest a simple pattern of four cuts. Cutting or scoring a loaf helps it to expand fully in the oven. If you do not score a loaf, it will not rise to its potential and will likely burst open along the sides.
12. Bake the loaf. Put oven mitts on and carefully remove the deep pot from the oven, invert, and place it over the loaf. You now have an upside-down double Dutch oven with the loaf inside- a little bread oven inside your oven. Return the Dutch oven to the oven. Immediately decrease the oven temperature to 450° Bake the loaf for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the top part of the Dutch oven. Be careful to open it away from you, as it will release a cloud of steam. Return the loaf in the shallow portion of the oven to the larger oven and continue baking, uncovered, until the crust is a burnished, dark golden brown, about 20 more minutes. The bread is done baking when it has a deeply caramelized, crackling crust. The edges of the ears might even be nearly black. The loaf should feel light for its size and will sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.
13. Transfer the bread to a cooling rack to cool.
14. Repeat the baking instructions with the second loaf. Let the loaves cool almost to room temperature before slicing.
15. Store in a bread box at room temperature for up to 3 days.