Bread 3.0 or what ferments for a long time finally becomes good

"Well, I always make a pre-dough at home, so you don't have the problem with the yeast flavour..." says Thomas Doetkotte, bakery instructor at the Richemont Competence Centre. I only understand what he's saying. "It's quite simple. You take 100 grams of flour and 100 grams of water, plus a pinch of dry yeast. You mix this together and leave the pre-dough to form bubbles in the fridge overnight." I then add the pre-dough to the rest of the usual ingredients the next day, along with half a teaspoon of yeast. "Then always fold the dough nicely!" What please?

Help from the expert

Thomas knows what he's talking about. Among other things, he was on the jury for the best bread in Switzerland. I called him after my breads never turned out really well. "Folding means folding the finished dough in the bowl from the side inwards. Repeat this process around the bowl." I do this once every hour while the bread is rising, so I don't have to knead much at all. Brilliant. And what about my decision to use dry yeast because fresh yeast was no longer available? "Today, dry yeast is much better than its reputation. It used to be of poor quality. That has changed. It's almost comparable to fresh yeast. You simply need much less. We always say 1:3 - a third as much dry yeast as fresh yeast."

After 12 hours, I put the finished dough in the fridge overnight so that it doesn't ferment too much. This is not absolutely necessary, but "better safe than sorry", says Thomas. In the morning, the dough has to get used to room temperature again for two hours.

I wasn't completely on the wrong track

By the way, I have done three things right so far: the ratio of flour and water was and is "quite good" at 65 per cent water, says Thomas, 2 per cent salt is also "absolutely standard" and baking in a casserole at 220° is "the easiest method for good results" in my normal oven. So not everything was wrong with bread 1.0 and 2.0.

But now, the bread 3.0 in cross-section!

It looks fantastic, no longer has an overly yeasty flavour, the crumb is perfectly airy without being crumbly and the crust is still crispy even after two days. This bread is better than bread you buy from the supermarket or the petrol station. Of course, handmade breads from the bakery are still in a different league. But I am where I wanted to be and a bit proud of myself. After all, it only took three weeks.

So here's the recipe for my bread 3.0

Vorteig

Mix these ingredients together, cover and refrigerate overnight:

• 100 g white flour
• 100 g / 1 dl water
• Dry yeast on the tip of a knife

Dough

• 1 starter dough
• 400 g white flour
• 225 g water
• 10 g salt
• 0.5 tsp dry yeast

Mix the dough with your hands or a wooden spoon until no more flour sticks to the bowl. Cover and leave to stand at room temperature.

After two hours, remove the dough from the bowl from all sides for the first time and fold it over on itself.
Repeat the process over and over again for a few hours.

Place the dough in the fridge overnight.

Set the oven to 240° and preheat the casserole with lid.

Shape the dough into the desired loaf shape, dust the bowl with flour and leave the dough to rise again.

After an hour, remove the casserole from the oven and place the bread on a sheet of baking paper in the casserole.

Cut the bread and place the casserole with the lid on in the oven on the centre shelf. Turn the oven down to 220°.

Remove the lid after 30 minutes and bake the bread until it is well browned. This is about 15 minutes.

Immediately after baking, remove the bread from the casserole and leave to cool on the baking rack for an hour.

There it is. The bread.

Because it was an odyssey and I had a lot of time to think about it, I had graphic designer Severin Keller modify the film poster for the classic film "Das Boot".

White flour is not white flour

I used to bake with white flour, but now I'm trying my hand at bread with farmer's flour. I managed to get hold of this type of flour, whereas white flour has been out of stock in the shop round the corner for a few days now. There was a simple reason why I baked white bread in the first place. I thought I couldn't go wrong because white flour is, after all, white flour. It's available everywhere and it's always the same. But that's not true. Bread expert Thomas Doetkotte explains to me that there is white flour that is more suitable for bread and white flour that is better for cakes and biscuits. Depending on how much gluten the flour forms, there are different applications. I don't know how to recognise the exact type of flour on the packet. The white flour I bought didn't have any information printed on it about what type it is.

My experience over the last few days and weeks shows that it makes sense to always use the same flour if possible. This eliminates potential sources of error. It doesn't matter whether it's farmer's flour, semi-white or white flour. If I know my flour, I can bake good bread with it.

My next baking adventures are already being planned. I'm going to try sourdough and puff pastry. The odyssey begins anew. <p