Baking with Julia and Peter
This month's Daring Baker's challenge was French Bread. Mary and Sarah picked a classic Julia Child's recipe. I've made the Peter Reinhart version a few times, and the recipe is drastically different. I decided to make both and compare the two outcomes.Like all my breads, I take a very hands on approach. I don't use mixers, I like the feel of the dough, and I can tell when it is ready by how it feels in my hands. The Julia Child's recipe was the first batch I made, so I will start with that. The recipe was pretty straight forward, the bread proofed up well the first day, but because of my work schedule, I had to take one liberty with the set of instructions. I retarded the second rise in the refrigerator. To make this all in one day is a VERY time consuming venture. Some of the other Daring bakers were quoting 9 hours or more to get the bread into the oven. With work and the little one, there is no way I was going to find that time in one day.
The dough was very supple and easy to work with. It formed up well, and the last rise was effortless. I used a kitchen towel rubbed down with flour - one tip - If you do this, make sure the towel is not treated with fabric softener. The smell can pass over into the dough, I've had trouble with getting dough to release from my slip, so I bake all my dough on parchment now. About halfway through cooking, I pull the parchment out. This prevents the bunches of seminola from forming on the bottom of the bread. I formed three shapes. 2 baguettes and one 'mini loaf'. I use a lame to make my slashes, and cook on a bakers stone.
The Julia recipe looks beautiful, came out with a great crust and a good crumb, but it was a little too salty for my taste, and the bread did not have a lot of heartiness to it. Two of my loaves came out perfect, the other one split lengthwise. It still looks good from one angle, and tastes just like the others. It had the smallest crumb, that is because the steam decided a quick side exit was the easiest way to get out. I thought I had the surface tension correct on that one, but apparently, I misses a pinch somewhere. Overall, the bread was quite nice and easy to make, but lacked something in the flavor category.
I attempted the Peter Reinhart version a week later. This recipe uses both bread and AP flour, this changes the crumb, flavor, and gluten creation. It also uses a pan fermentate - this adds a lot of flavor to the final recipe. The preferment is a mixture of instant yeast, water, and flour. You mix it up, let it rise for a few hours, then cool it overnight. This allows a little fermentation to take place, and adds a lot of that 'bready' flavor. This recipe uses less salt, which removed the saltiness that was present in the Julia's recipe. The final product was not as light as Julia's recipe, but it had more depth.
Which one do I like better? I'm not sure. Both recipes can be broken into two day events without affecting the final product. One was salty, but that is easily corrected by using less salt. I do think there is a disservice to the Julia recipe by not utilizing a preferment, but the lightness of the inside was great. I think I will try a hybrid batch in the future. Take the bread flour preferment and salt content from Peter's recipe, and the yeast and AP ratio from Julia's.All in all, I had fun, and the house was full of bread for a few weeks. Check in tomorrow to see how my new sourdough starter turns out! I've got a loaf forming up in a brotform now :D
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Wonderful idea to compare recipes!
I'm surprised that you felt the Julia loaf had less flavor than the other thought. I was totally delighted with the flavor of this one especially with slightly less salt.
Your loaves are lovely.
the pre-ferment adds a more complex flavor to the mostly white bread flavor of the french.
Really nice looking bread, sketchy! Interesting you did two recipes!
I like the PR recipe as well. Julia Child's recipe doesn't call for a pre-ferment as do few if any of her earlier recipes. Just a difference in the way two bakers approached things.
Also, the salt ratio was a nod to an earlier time in American cuisine to salt everything. I reduce the salt to 1 3/4 tsp when I make this bread now.
Thanks for a compare and contrast post! Your bread is lovely!!
Your bread is gorgeous! I love the distinct slashes. I had problem shaping mine.