Description
Pain d’épi (or wheat stalk bread), is a classic and charming French bread shape dating back centuries and is surprisingly easy to make at home. It's a fun and easy way to fancy up your meals at home (but don't worry I won't tell you how easy it was for you to do).
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose (I recommend using the ‘scoop and swipe’ method)
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 teaspoons salt
- 1.5 teaspoons dry active yeast
- 1 Tablespoon honey
For baking the bread
- 1 cup very cold water
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.
- Next, do 3 “sets” of stretch and fold, and flip the dough upside down after each set every 30 minutes. This should add up to a period of 1 hour and 30 minutes.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator overnight.
- Turn the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Divide into 3 equal parts and shape into rectangles. Cover and let rest for 45-60 minutes.
- Start preheating the oven to 500F, with a baking stone positioned in the upper half of the oven and an empty bread pan filled on the bottom rack.
- Stretch each dough rectangle slightly and fold it into a cylinder, sealing the seams. Using your hands, roll the cylinders gently stretching them to the desired length, about 14-15 inches.
- Flour the baguettes, then cover them with a slightly damp flour sack towel or use a couche and proof at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
- Transfer the baguettes to a piece of parchment paper or silicone matte on baking a pan. Just before baking, dust the loaves with flour. Carefully oil the blades of a sharp pair of kitchen scissors with a little olive oil and cut into the dough crosswise near the top of the baguette shape, at a 25° angle to the dough, stopping a quarter inch from the bottom of the dough. Move each cut piece from left to right, alternating sides with each cut. Repeat until the entire loaf is cut. See the blog post for photos.
- Open the oven, and slide the baguettes off onto the baking stone. Pour [wprm-ingredient text="1 cup very cold water" uid="5"] into the empty pan on the bottom rack. Take caution not to get burned doing this. Close the oven immediately, DO NOT OPEN AT ALL, and reduce the temperature to 475℉. Bake for 15 minutes.
- Rotate the baguettes, drop the temperature to 450℉, and continue baking for another 15 minutes or until deep golden brown.
Notes
If you want a “faster” way to make the baguette dough, check out my recipe for French Baguettes in a Bread Machine
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: bread
- Cuisine: French
Nutrition
- Calories: 572
- Sugar: 6
- Sodium: 787
- Fat: 2
- Saturated Fat: 0.3
- Carbohydrates: 120
- Fiber: 6
- Protein: 18