Friday, April 15, 2011

Botched Bread

Midday Snack
In The Bread Baker's Apprentice, one of the breads that Peter Reinhart celebrates is the pain Poilâne, a whole-grain country loaf that world-famous baker Lionel Poilâne and his Paris apprentices make by hand each day, start to finish. Reinhart even shares a recipe that approximates Poilâne's ingredients and techniques for the home baker. Never having had the opportunity to go to Paris and make the pilgrimage, I can't tell you how they compare. Heck, I can't even tell you whether all that kneading (over three pounds of dough!) is worthwhile, Poilâne-like or not. That's because I let my dough seriously overproof, like kneaded-it-together-in-the-morning-and-didn't-make-it-back-until-11-because-of-the-Brad-Mehldau-Trio overproof. Oops. Needless to say, it's very much on the sour side. But, with a few flaky grains of Maldon and a generous slathering of butter, it's still quite enjoyable. And what wouldn't be?

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