Crusty Boule

Following up after making the dough the other night, I proceeded to bake a loaf of bread. There was a weird crust on the cold dough that was a little worrisome. The magazine said to expect this, not to worry, the crust would be fine; it turned out to be true as evidenced by the imaged bread above.

Crusty Boule

from Cooking Club of America

1-lb. (grapefruit-size) portion of Master Recipe

Using a knife, I cut the dough in half and that half into halves, allowing for an accurate quarter to be teased out of the bowl.

Hold dough and dust top with flour; quickly shape into ball by stretching surface of dough around to bottom on all four sides, rotating dough a quarter turn as you go.

Place dough on pizza peel or baking sheet liberally sprinkled with cornmeal or lined with parchment paper; cover loosely with lightly floured plastic wrap.


Let stand in warm draft-free place 1 hour or until dough is slightly puffed and no longer chilled.
I used my oven as a sort of proofer. The dough was placed on a rack over a large bowl of hot water.

Thirty minutes before baking, place baking stone on center oven rack; place empty broiler pan on bottom oven rack. Heat oven to 450°F.

Dust loaf with flour.


With serrated knife, make 2 or 3 (1/4-inch-deep) slashes in top of loaf.


Slide loaf (with parchment paper, if using) onto baking stone. Immediately pour 1 cup hot water into broiler pan; quickly close oven door to trap steam.

Bake 30 minutes or until deep golden brown and loaf sounds hollow when tapped on bottom. Cool completely on wire rack.



I'm impressed! The bread was simple to make and it came out quite well. The time requiring effort is about 5 minutes; additional time spent is essentially waiting for the dough to rise and then bake. This is going to go very well with the California Beef Stew with Zinfandel.

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