Daring Bakers Do Dough

I have  a much greater appreciation of Julia Child's work  after reading the book My Life In France .  The research that went into her books is astounding. And I thought she'd just fired off a book in her spare time.  I doubt she had any spare time. Each recipe was tested over and over until perfect. Which is why I find her recipes always work. 

Breadchick at The Sour Dough  and Sara at I Like To Cook  have chosen the Julia Child method for  French Bread from her book From Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Volume Two by Julia Child and Simone Beck.

I decided on the one big loaf. My sous chef was home for the weekend so he helped with the kneading.  I also needed a photo for this event which  I'm hoping you will all join.

Unfortunately I was little impatient and didn't give the final rise the treatment it deserved. Which is why I have a small dense loaf. It didn't detract from the taste in any way. The bread had almost a hint of sour dough with just the right amount of chewiness and crispness in the crust. We had it for lunch today with some excellent Australian washed rind cheese from Tasmania.

Thanks Mary and Sara for hosting the February Daring Bakers (check out the other entries). Thanks also to the Daring Bakers creators Ivonne  and Lis .

Comments

[Sarah]

Great job! Your bread looks great!

[ilva]

But it's the taste that counts, isn't it?

[chrisb]

What I would give for a slice of that bread right now. I've just got back from swimming and have worked up an appetite!

[Andrea]

Enjoying this bread with cheese is definitely the way to go! Your loaf looks great.

[Meeta]

I had a feeling mine was a bit on the dense side too - still the thing that matters is that we gave a master class recipe a good go. Nice one!

[baking soda]

Oh yes, some salted butter and good cheese...yum!

[Jenny]

Ah, nice to have a sous chef there to do the heavy part of the recipe. :) I don't know about you, but I got impatient towards the end, so the last rise is the hardest part!

[Ivonne]

Glad to have you back, Barbara! Great bread!

[courtney]

My first one was dense due that final rise.Im learning so much reading all the posts.

[Gilli]

Hi Barbara Isn't Julia's book great.
Very inspirational.
Your bread looks fine...taste is really important. Hard to get that airiness that commercial baguettes achieve...it's all that machinery you know.
Cheers

[Katie]

Your bread looks great and doesn't seem to have suffered from one less rising.

[Ulrike aka ostwestwind]

Interesting to see how different the crusts and crumbs look over the whole world.

Cheese and butter, yummy!

[Joan]

ah..can smell the yeast...Barbara one of the great joys of my life was spending a few hours (all I 'had') at the Smithsonian...and there it was...Julia Child's kitchen! almost hit the floor with faint I did..
http://americanhistory.si.edu/juliachild/

[Joy]

Bread + cheese = perfection. Lovely looking bread.

[Deeba]

How lovely the loaf looks...I have enjoyed the challenge a lot too, but must admit, more after it was done!! Cheers

[breadchick]

Yup, French bread is all about patience isn't it! Your loaves look like they tasted pretty darn good

Thanks for baking with Sara and I

[Cakelaw]

Your bread looks wonderful Barbara. I too had issues with the final rising.

[lina]

Great job! It's really hard to be patient with so much waiting, but as long as the taste is right in the end it's good :)

[Sara]

Bread and cheese, is there a better combination?

[Sara]

Bread and cheese, is there a better combination?

[joey]

Your bread looks great even without the final rise :)

Mine was a little too dense also...

[Tartelette]

Wonderful job on the bread, it turned out gorgeous!

[barbara]

Thanks everyone for visiting and leaving a comment.