Raymond Blanc Seasons Winter 2008/9

RAYMOND BLANC’s SEASONS BAKERY
The sourdough
loaf
“Just before eight
loaves go into the
Makes: 1 large 950g loaf
ovens, we’re shown
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 70 minutes how to make the
Ingredients
cuts in the top of
75g rye ﬂour and mix it with:
the loaf—those
275g strong bread ﬂour (wheat)
incicions that
400g sourdough starter (see p.70)
give the loaf that
160–175ml hand-warm water
10g sea salt
professional ﬁnish.”
10g fresh yeast or one pack instant yeast
Method
Mix all ingredients, adding the salt last, after
the ﬂour, water, sourdough and yeast have
been combined. Turn it out onto a work
surface, kneading it vigorously until you have
clear dough.
Shape it round and put it into a bowl. Allow it
to double in size, cover with Clingﬁlm and let
it rise at room temperature.
Once double in size, punch it back into the
bowl and repeat the rising.
Turn it out onto a work surface and shape it:
round or long into a cob or bloomer shape
or make two loaves out of the dough. Place
onto a ﬂour/semolina dusted baking sheet.
Cover the dough and, while the oven is The Raymond Blanc Cookery School
preheating to 220°C, let it rise until nearly The Raymond Blanc Cookery School will nurture your natural love of food and provide you with
double in size. Put a tray of hot water into the the skills you need to translate this love into beautiful and imaginative cuisine.
bottom of the oven. Choose the length of your course, from a range of one, two and four day courses, taking in the
With a sharp knife or razor blade, give the selection and preparation of a wide range of foods...
loaf top a quick slash and put it into the oven. Or decide on a specialised course, in order to create the perfect dinner for your party, update your
Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce temperature repertoire with a little Fusion cooking or create exciting dishes packed with perfectly balanced nutri-
to 200°C and bake for another 60 minutes or tional goodness.
until the loaf is brown and sounding hollow For further details: Call +44 (0)1844 278881 or email lemanoir@blanc.co.uk.
when tapped onto bottom of loaf. http://www.manoir.com/web/olem/olem_c5c_courses.jsp
our mixing bowls to cover the dough while it fragrant basil leaves from Le Manoir’s kitchen
works its alchemy. “Why do we do this, cover garden. “The classic margherita pizza!” enthuses
it? Why?”—“Er, to stop the dough from drying Dan. And, indeed, this is our lunch. Into the
out?” says the one professional chef in our party. oven they go, onto Gaggenau’s hot, hot baking
“Correct! Why? Because if a skin forms on the stones—and these baking stones give bread
dough this will inhibit its capacity to expand.” I had and pizzas a terriﬁc boost of heat. The results are
long forgotten about classroom competitiveness delicious, and we’re pizza heroes!
and pretty soon we’re all vying to be ﬁrst with the Now comes the time when our round bread
right answers. loaves have their glass mixing bowls removed
A portion of our dough has been put to one and the moment of truth is near—baking
side and we are now deftly shown how to make the bread! We’re told that “Dough is pretty
a pizza base. Soon there’s a range of assorted forgiving,” — although I have to admit that’s not
pizza base shapes, smoothed with fresh tomato always been my experience—and now we’re
puree, mozzarella cheese and wonderfully manoeuvring the dough onto ‘peels’ which is a
www.raymondblanc.com RAYMOND BLANC’s SEASONS 73
RBS10_CookeryS 65-68.vp.kj.indd 73 1/12/08 9:20:36 am
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