Slow Rise French Bread

Proof active dry yeast in 4 tablespoons tepid water.

You can use tiles or a baking stone if you wish. Just remember that
if you make round loaves they will require about 5 to 10 more minutes
longer to bake and to cool down than will baguettes.

MIXING AND KNEADING: Mix all the ingredients except the polenta in a
bowl (reserving a little water for adjustments) until the mixture can
be formed into a ball. Sprinkle a little flour on the counter, turn
out the dough and knead it for 10 to 12 minutes, spraying a little
water on if the dough is too dry and adding a little flour if the
dough is too wet. The dough should become tacky but not sticky and
have a nice elasticity.

Clean the bowl, shape the loaf into a ball and return the dough to it
(it needn’t be oiled.) Cover with either a damp towel or plastic
wrap. Leave the dough out at room temperature or in the oven with no
pilot or light. Let it rise for about 1 1/2 hours. Press 2 damp
fingertips 1/2″ into the dough. If the dough shows resistance, let it
rise a bit more, if the indentations remain completely, it is ready
to deflate. If the dough kind of sighs and sinks beneath your
fingertips, it has probably risen a bit too much (so deflate it.)
Deflate it without tearing the gluten. Reshape it into a ball and let
it rise again, deflate, reshape and let it rise a 3rd time.

FORMING LOAVES: Cut the dough into 2 pieces for flutes or rounds and 4
pieces for baguettes. To make flutes or baguettes, roll out each
piece of dough into a long rectangle. Fold it into 3rds, from top to
bottom, and roll it out again, keeping the seam on the bottom. Fold
the rectangle into 3rds again, crimping the seams with your fingers
so that it will not open. The goal is to create a firm surface
tension that allows the bread to rise without spreading out sidewise.
If the dough becomes too tough to roll, let it rest, covered, for
about 3 or 4 minutes. This lets the gluten relax and then the dough
should be more compliant. If it begins to dry out, spray it with
water. Sprinkle a baking pan or French bread molds with polenta to
prevent the loaves from sticking and give the bottom a nice crackle.
Do not oil the pan as this will brown the bottom of the loaf
prematurely. Place the baguette or flute, seam side down, on the pan.

TO MAKE ROUNDS: If making rounds, roll out the dough into a long
rectangle and fold it up in 3rds, as if making flutes. Before rolling
it out again, turn the parcel of dough so that the folds are running
vertically and the open ends are horizontal and paralel with your
rolling pin. Roll out the dough again into a rectangle. Fold it into
3rds again, from top to bottom and create a ball of dough by bending
the parcel round so that the 2 open ends meet underneath and can be
crimped together to make one seam. Hold the ball in your hand, smooth
it out and pinch the open ends together to seal them at the bottom.
This bottom should sit on the baking pan on top of a good sized
sprinkling of polenta.

After forming the loaves, space them far enough apart to allow room
for rising, and cover the loaves with either a damp towel or plastic
wrap. Allow the loaves approximately 1 hour to rise at room
temperature or after 5 minutes, put them in the refrigerator to rise
overnight.

BAKING: When you are ready to bake , slash the tops of the loaves
either diagonally (3 slashes are useually sufficient) or, for round
loaves, in a tic-tac-toe pattern or an asterisk pattern. Spray the
loaves with cold water and place them in a preheated 425 degree F.
oven. After 2 minutes, quickly spray them again-repeating this
process (spritzing every 2 minutes) 4 times. You may want to rotate
pans 180 degrees after the final spray if the oven is baking
unevenly. About 10 minutes after the last spray look at the loaves.
If they appear golden brown and done, turn off the oven and allow the
loaves to cool in a cooling oven for 10 more minutes. Total cooking
time is 26-30 minutes for baguettes and up to 40 minutes for larger
loaves. Cooking time varies according to both the size of the loaves
and variations in ovens. Remove the bread from the oven and allow it
to cool for between 20 and 45 minutes and serve.

This is absolutely the best home made French Bread I have ever come
across.

Method by Brother Juniper as interpreted by Mary Riemerman