Pain de campagne

Last updated
Pain de campagne
Pain de Campagne.jpg
TypeBread
Place of originFrance

Pain de campagne ("country bread" in French), also called "French sourdough", [1] is typically a large round loaf ("miche") made from either natural leavening or baker's yeast. Most traditional versions of this bread are made with a combination of white flour with whole wheat flour and/or rye flour, water, leavening and salt. For centuries, French villages had communal ovens where the townsfolk would bring their dough to be baked, and the loaves weighed from 1.5 to 5.5 kilograms (3–12 lb). Such large loaves would feed a family for days or weeks, until the next baking day.

Before the advent of roller milling, virtually all wheat was milled by stone grinding. In order to produce a lighter, less chewy bread, the whole wheat flour was sifted or bolted using mesh or cloth. This resulted in a whiter flour that still retained some of the bran and germ. The addition of rye flour in some recipes probably originates from the presence of rye growing among the wheat. All the grain was harvested together, and as much as 10 percent of it would be rye. Rye flour ferments more quickly than wheat flour, and it imparts a distinctive flavor to traditional pains de campagne.

With the rise of commercial yeast at the turn of the 20th century, pain de campagne fell out of favor in French cities, where it was replaced by the baguette. [2] However, with the rise of artisan breads in the 1970s, [3] pain de campagne has been growing in popularity, both in Europe and the US.

Today pain de campagne is still made in France, and is enjoying a growing appreciation in the United States and the UK. When made traditionally, the dough is allowed to ferment for several hours, allowing the yeasts to grow and develop the flavors. The dough is then rounded and placed in linen-lined baskets called "bannetons". After the dough has risen, it is dumped out of the basket and onto peel, and slid into the oven where it bakes at around 240 °C (450 °F) for about one hour.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bread</span> Food made of flour and water

Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made foods, having been of significance since the dawn of agriculture, and plays an essential role in both religious rituals and secular culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sourdough</span> Type of sour bread

Sourdough or sourdough bread is a bread made by the fermentation of dough using wild lactobacillaceae and yeast. Lactic acid from fermentation imparts a sour taste and improves keeping qualities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baguette</span> Long French bread

A baguette is a long, thin type of bread of French origin that is commonly made from basic lean dough. It is distinguishable by its length and crisp crust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dough</span> Paste used in cooking

Dough is a thick, malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops. Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes yeast or other leavening agents, as well as ingredients such as fats or flavorings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pumpernickel</span> Type of rye bread

Pumpernickel is a typically dense, slightly sweet rye bread traditionally made with sourdough starter and coarsely ground rye. It is sometimes made with a combination of rye flour and whole rye grains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugbrød</span> Danish-style rye bread

Rugbrød is a very common form of rye bread from Denmark. Rugbrød usually resembles a long brown extruded rectangle, no more than 12 cm (4.7 in) high, and 30 to 35 cm long, depending on the bread pan in which it is baked. The basic ingredient is rye flour which will produce a plain or "old-fashioned" bread of uniform, somewhat heavy structure, but the most popular versions today contain whole grains and often other seeds such as sunflower seeds, linseeds or pumpkin seeds. Most Danes eat rugbrød every day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bread machine</span> Type of home appliance for baking bread

A bread making machine or breadmaker is a home appliance for baking bread. It consists of a bread pan, at the bottom of which are one or more built-in paddles, mounted in the center of a small special-purpose oven. The machine is usually controlled by a built-in computer using settings input via a control panel. Most bread machines have different cycles for different kinds of dough—including white bread, whole grain, European-style, and dough-only. Many also have a timer to allow the bread machine to function without operator input, and some high-end models allow the user to program a custom cycle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rye bread</span> Type of bread made with various proportions of flour from rye grain

Rye bread is a type of bread made with various proportions of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from wheat flour. Compared to white bread, it is higher in fiber, darker in color, and stronger in flavor. The world's largest exporter of rye bread is Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pre-ferment</span> Process in some methods of bread making

A ferment is a fermentation starter used in indirect methods of bread making. It may also be called mother dough.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proofing (baking technique)</span> Process by which a yeast-leavened dough rises

In cooking, proofing is a step in the preparation of yeast bread and other baked goods in which the dough is allowed to rest and rise a final time before baking. During this rest period, yeast ferments the dough and produces gases, thereby leavening the dough.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vienna bread</span> 19th-century baking process

Vienna bread is a type of bread that is produced from a process developed in Vienna, Austria, in the 19th century. The Vienna process used high milling of Hungarian grain, and cereal press-yeast for leavening.

Desem is both a type of sourdough starter made from whole wheat flour, spelt flour or other flours and water, and the resulting bread.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salt-rising bread</span> Style of bacteria-risen bread

Salt-rising bread is a dense white bread that is traditional in the Appalachian Mountains, leavened by naturally occurring wild bacteria rather than by yeast. Salt-rising bread is made from wheat flour; a starter consisting of either water or milk and corn, potatoes or wheat; and minor ingredients such as salt and sugar.[1] Some common ways of eating salt-rising bread include a slice with sugared coffee poured over it, a grilled cheese sandwich, and the most popular preference, buttered toast.[1]

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finnish bread</span> Bread of Finland

Bread is a staple food of Finland. It is served with almost every meal and many different types are produced domestically.

The history of California bread as a prominent factor in the field of bread baking dates from the days of the California Gold Rush around 1849, encompassing the development of sourdough bread in San Francisco. It includes the rise of artisan bakeries in the 1980s, which strongly influenced what has been called the "Bread Revolution".

Bread is a staple food throughout Europe. Throughout the 20th century, there was a huge increase in global production, mainly due to a rise in available, developed land throughout Europe, North America and Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Limpa</span> Scandinavian rye bread flavored with caraway and orange peel

Limpa is a sweet Scandinavian rye bread, associated with Swedish cuisine. The bread is known in Swedish as vörtbröd/vörtlimpa. It is a yeast-leavened spice loaf, sweetened with brown sugar and molasses which comes in a large variety in regard to whether or not butter-enriched, and which spices are being used. Traditional bread spices are anise, caraway, fennel seeds, and bitter orange.

References

  1. Olver, Lynne. "Pain de Campagne". The Food Timeline .
  2. Wood, Ed. World Sourdoughs from Antiquity. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 1996
  3. David, Elizabeth. English Bread and Yeast Cookery. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, UK: Penguin, 1977.