Bread Wreath

A cute variation on a pain d’Epi or a baguette

Source

I probably saw this somewhere on the internet and don’t remember where, or maybe even came up with the design myself...

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients

- 3 3/4 cups white all purpose flour (1670 cal)

- 3/4 tbsp active dry yeast

- 1/2 tbsp salt

- 1 1/2 cups of water

Total 1670 cal, 3 wreath breads or baguettes, 555 cal / bread

Instructions

1. Mix all the ingredients in a container that has a non-airtight lid. Knead with your hands for about 5 minutes the dough is uniform.

2. Cover with the lid and allow to rise for about 2 hours until doubles in volume. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. 

3. Cut about 1/3 of the dough with kitchen scissors. Follow the directions for making pain d’Epi here. Once the pain d’Epi is formed, slightly flour baking sheet lined with a parchment paper, move the bread there and brings the ends of the bread together, pinching them to create a wreath. 

4. Let the bread rest for about 40-50 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 450F. If you’re using the stone, place it in the oven before you begin the preheat. You also need an empty broiler tray in the oven to generate steam.

5. You can brush the top of the bread with egg white wash right before baking (1 egg white + 1 tbsp water) for a shining finish.

6. Slide the bread with the parchment paper onto the baking stone. Or simply place the parchment with the bread on top of a baking sheet and slide the sheet into the oven. Very carefully pour about 1/2 cup of hot tap water into the broiler tray and immediately close the oven door. 

7. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the bread is golden brown. Remove from the oven, peel off the parchment paper and let cool on a rack.

Afterthoughts

I tried to make similar recipes with the original Master Recipe from the Artisan Bread in 5, but the dough is so wet, that I can barely shape it into anything other than a boule. So I added more flour and kneaded the bread a little bit to boost gluten development.