Pain de Campagne
A country loaf of white and wholemeal flour raised with a levain, baked dark. The crumb should be open and the crust should crackle as it cools.
Photograph credit: Stand de Pain (19574196605) by Edar (edar) · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
The loaf is baked in a covered pot for the first two-thirds, which traps the steam the dough releases and keeps the crust soft enough to expand — take the lid off too early and the crust sets before the loaf has finished rising, giving a dense crumb and a torn side. The autolyse before the salt goes in matters too: forty minutes of flour and water alone lets the gluten begin forming without any work, which is most of the kneading done for free.
Quick Answers
How long does Pain de Campagne take to make?
40 minutes of preparation and 45 minutes of cooking, plus 15 hours 30 minutes of the autolyse, bulk rise and cold overnight prove, so allow 16 hours 55 minutes from start to finish. The method also needs time for cooling completely, which it does not time, so treat that as a minimum. The recipe serves 10.
The Method for Pain de Campagne
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Mix the flours with 340 ml of the water until no dry flour remains. Cover and leave 40 minutes — this is the autolyse.
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Add the starter and work it in, then the salt with the remaining 20 ml water. Squeeze it through until fully incorporated.
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Over the next 150 minutes, give the dough four sets of stretch-and-folds at half-hour intervals, then leave it to rise until it has grown by about half.
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Tip it out, shape it into a tight round, and rest it 20 minutes on the bench.
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Shape again more tightly and put it seam-side up in a banneton dusted with rice flour. Refrigerate 720 minutes.
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Heat a covered casserole in the oven at 250°C / 480°F for 45 minutes. Tip the cold loaf in, score it deeply, and put the lid on.
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Bake 20 minutes covered, then lower to 220°C / 430°F, remove the lid and bake 25 minutes more until very dark. Cool completely on a rack before cutting.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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Worth Getting Right
- Lid on for the first twenty minutes. It is the steam that lets it rise.
- Bake it darker than feels right — pale crust means flat flavour.
- Cool completely. Cutting it warm ruins the crumb.
Serve It With
Salted butter · Any of the terrines · Soup
Keeping and Reheating
Cut-side down on a board for 3 days. It freezes sliced for 3 months.
The Numbers per Serving
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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