Peter Reinhart's Pain a l'ancienne

All right! Off to a great Start :) I am beginning 2010 by baking a batch of bread! How more rustic can you get?

My previous and my very first attempt at baking bread got a fabulous response and I was just itching to try new recipes. So this time I tried out Peter Reinhart's Pain a l'ancienne recipe. This is a type of rustic bread that can be modified to into my favorite Ciabatta. So obviously I had to try it out!

Pain a l'ancienne is an absolutely gorgeous bread that just begs to be cut for being the base of a beautiful sandwich or just brushed with olive oil and garlic to make bruschetta.

I used P. Reinhart's 'stretch and fold' technique which made the whole process so much simpler and less time consuming than the old world bread making recipes. Although I have to admit messing with the dough made me feel quite uneasy, I was pleasantly surprised and pleased with very evident gassing. No! it doesn't mean that the dough was smelly. The gasses released by the yeast is called gassing. This is also what creates the holes in the dough and helps in its rising and as well as its composition.

Just look at the beautiful craters, medium sized (last time I had large), but this time I achieved an even distribution. Besides all that, the main point is - it was YUMMY! Yes! That's the technical term for it :) I wish I could have y'all over for to have a taste of this, but for now, enjoy the pictures.