Crust

The other option is to save back a portion of every batch of French bread that you make to use as pre-ferment in future batches. The dough will keep for 3 days in the refrigerator and at least 3 months in the freezer if you store it in an airtight freezer bag.

To make this bread, begin the evening before baking, hand mixing a poolish—a mixture of flour and water with just a tiny bit of yeast. This only takes a few minutes. In the morning the poolish will be bubbly and gassy (I love its goopy texture) and ready to be mixed with the remaining flour, water, salt, and yeast. There is no autolyse stage becaus

Now you can flour your work surface lightly, place the dough on top and form it into a ball by folding each edge in turn into the centre10 of the dough and pressing down well with your thumb, rotating the ball as you go11. Turn the whole ball over and stretch and tuck the edges under12. You will come across this technique in various stages througho

6. Shape your loaf. Sprinkle a handful of bread flour on your counter, and pour the dough out. If you’re making more than one loaf, cut your dough into equal-size pieces. Be nice and gentle with the dough—it has gas in it, and you want to keep most of it there. Gently grab a corner of the dough and fold it up and over into the middle. Do the same thin