Artisan Bread Course Day 4

The final day of our bread course was a whirlwind of activity as we made tons of bread, from finishing our croissants to stuffed rye fougasse, wood-fired oven baked pizza and our sourdoughs. The sourdoughs were the same dough as we had baked off on day 3, but this time with a night in the fridge to help build up acetic acid, and therefore give the final bread more tang. The fougasse involved building out our dough from the pre-ferment and letting it proof, followed by rolling out and actually stuffing it. The term fougasse comes from the Latin for "focus", which apparently implies the hearth as the focus of the home. I have made plain-jane fougasse from bread flour, but never stuffed one before. What makes it a fougasse is not so much the dough, but how it is shaped. Once it is shaped into a square or round, but flat dough, various holes and cuts are made into it, which are then pulled apart. We stuffed ours with roasted beets, caramelized onions and goats cheese, folded them over and then made ladder cuts (parallel cuts through the dough) that we pulled apart. It's a bit like a calzone, but with holes in it.

The final work on the croissants involved rolling out to a seven-inch wide piece and then measuring off four-inch lengths to cut and shape. At this point, the dough should be about a quarter inch thick. We were able to get about three or four four-by-seven inch squares out of the dough. I used one slightly irregular end to make a chocolate and marzipan-filled croissant, which is folded over itself, rather than rolled like a traditional croissant. One important note at this point is that the filled croissants should be rolled thinner than a quarter inch, which I forgot to do. Hence, I ended up with a very large croissant (not that I was particularly complaining -- it made a fantastic breakfast sitting on the porch of the Inn the next morning in the cool breeze and with my coffee). Once they had risen one more time (ideally in a proofing box at 80-82 degrees), we brushed them with an egg wash and in the ovens they went. The dough can also be spread thin and used to make a very rich flat-bread pizza or sorts with cooked bacon, onions and cheese.

Finally, we made our pizzas and got to use the large wood-fired oven. I tend to think that you can get very credible pizza at home, but the wood-fired flavor is a bit like barbecuing on real coals versus on gas -- there is a difference, though both are good. At the end of the day, we had quite a haul of baked goods. Those in my class who were locals had plenty to share with their families -- I ended up stopping at Norwich Wine and Spirits for a nice bottle of Rosso di Montalcino to sip with my pizza for dinner. Then I had to triage my bread for what I could reasonably take on board my Southwest flight in a carry-on bag.

I really enjoyed the four days at King Arthur Flour and learned a lot. Just by using the preferred dough temperature formula and what I learned about shaping and slashing dough yielded much improved baguettes this weekend. I still would like to learn a lot more about sourdoughs and baking with whole grains, but this class has given me a great foundation to build upon.