French Bread ala the BGE (recipe courtesy King Arthur Flour)

Char-Woody

The following is the recipe for from King Arthur Flour that I adapted to the BGE..Some of the recipe is deleted but you can find the entire original at the KA website. I modified it for my bake last night. All of my modifications, except for unnecessary deleted portions are in (___) parenthesis.
[p]French-Style Country Bread[p]Sponge Starter ---Begin 2 to 16 hours ahead[p]1 cup cool-lukewarm water, preferably spring water (90 to 100°F)
1/2 teaspoon active dry or instant yeast
1 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached Special Bread Flour[p](I used another brand of unbleached I wanted to use up)[p]1/4 cup King Arthur 100% White Whole Wheat or Traditional Whole Wheat Flour (I used the latter)
(I waited 3 hours on the starter base before using it)

---

Dough
All of the sponge starter (above)
1 cup lukewarm water, preferably spring water (l00 to 115°F)
3/4 teaspoon active dry or 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
3 3/4 to 4 cups King Arthur Unbleached Special Bread Flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt
To Make The Sponge: Stir all of the sponge ingredients together to make a thick, pudding-like mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and leave on a counter overnight or for at least 2 to 4 hours. If you're making this in a bread machine, place the sponge ingredients inside, and turn the machine on for just a few seconds to mix the ingredients together. Turn the machine off and close the cover. Let the sponge rest for 4 hours or overnight (anywhere between 2 and 16 hours is fine, the longer the better).[p]To Make The Dough: Stir down the sponge with a spoon and add the water, yeast, sugar, most of the flour (hold back about 1/2 cup to use if required), and salt. Knead the dough, adding more flour as necessary, to make a soft dough, 10 to 12 minutes. [p]Note: You may also do this in your bread machine, using the Dough or Manual setting. After the dough has finished kneading, place it in a lightly greased bowl, and continue as directed below.[p]Big Tip: Mix ingredients together using up to 80% of the flour called for. Mix into a loose, messy mass. Let the dough rest for 12 minutes. Then continue, kneading and adding additional flour as required. Overall, the dough handles better, having had a chance to absorb the flour while resting and relaxing, and you'll tend to add less flour.[p]Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl or plastic container, cover with lightly greased plastic wrap and a damp towel, and let it rise until almost doubled (depending on the weather, this could be l to 2 hours). If you're going out, or if you prefer, let the dough rise slowly in the fridge. If your dough has been refrigerated, allow it to come to room temperature; it'll warm up and rise at the same time. After its first rise, deflate the dough gently, but don't knock out all the air; this will create those "holes" so important to French bread. Form the dough into a round ball. Place two cookie sheets atop one another, and place a semolina- or cornmeal-dusted piece of parchment paper on top. [p](At this point, I discarded the pans and went for simply a parchment paper and dough..nothing else, no cornmeal. I followed the paragraph below, with the exception I place the dough very gently on the parchment paper and then lifted onto my pizza peel and let it rise the second time.)[p]
Gently place the ball of dough on the cookie sheets, seam-side down. Cover it lightly with a tea towel, and let it rise the second time until it's puffy and about 40% to 50% larger, anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes (depending on the weather, luck, and magic). Slash or cross-hatch the bread with a sharp knife or lame. Dust it with a little flour.[p](Preheat your BGE to 400F with a drip pan and 4 or 5 cups of water directly on the grill and place a tri stone (plate sitter) over the pan and allow the heat to condition the stone to 400F. If no tri legged stone, then use 3 firebricks on edge to support a thick pizza stone. Insert the loaf and parchment paper directly on the heated stone and allow the bread to bake for 25 to 35 minutes at 450F, or until it's well-browned. Replace solid cap and close lower vent. Continue to bake until completely done, about 5 more minutes.)[p](The results in the BGE were very good, with a nice light tanned crust on top, and the bottom crust just a slight bit more brown..very nice. I coated the top with a light coating of Ghee, courtesy Spin and RRP or RhumAndJerk from earlier postings.) [p]
Nutrition information per serving (1 hearty slice, 1/12 of recipe, 97g): 180 cal, .5g fat, 6g protein, 38g complex carbohydrates, 1g sugar, 2g dietary fiber, 534mg sodium, 74mg potassium, 2mg iron, 89mg calcium, 56mg phosphorus. [p]
Copyright 2001 The King Arthur Flour Company, Inc.
1-800-827-6836
Norwich, VT 05055

Chuck

Char-Woody,
The bread sounds great. I was reading my bread book yesterday to find a good recipe for french bread. I will be trying yours though, since it came out well. ( i promise i won't use any foil) [p]Chuck <><

Char-Woody

Chuck, haaaaa...I been foiled again! [p]Don't get JJ and I wrong on the foil, its a handy way to get a easy to do rib cook. I have been doing foil for years, 3 hours low and slow indirect, and 1 hour in foil either in sauce or the rubbed rib. It tenderizes em like steaming..Old cook stove methods of boiling works too. But it's a art form to do ribs either direct or indirect and learn when the ribs bark.."hey, I'm ready to eat".
Nuff preachin...!! :-)
Go to King Arthur flower (I will post it) and zip to the breads recipes..you will find the original down in the French and Italian. BTW..DR. Chicken has is also a bread hound and some great recipes of his own.
Good luck!
C~W

[ul][li]French Bread[/ul]

Char-Woody

Chuck, haaaaa...I been foiled again! [p]Don't get JJ and I wrong on the foil, its a handy way to get a easy to do rib cook. I have been doing foil for years, 3 hours low and slow indirect, and 1 hour in foil either in sauce or the rubbed rib. It tenderizes em like steaming..Old cook stove methods of boiling works too. But it's a art form to do ribs either direct or indirect and learn when the ribs bark.."hey, I'm ready to eat".
Nuff preachin...!! :-)
Go to King Arthur flower (I will post it) and zip to the breads recipes..you will find the original down in the French and Italian. BTW..DR. Chicken has is also a bread hound and some great recipes of his own.
Good luck!
C~W

[ul][li]French Bread[/ul]