La Recette du Jour

The recipe needs tweaking to account for flour (the book is American, so it assumes US flour); my first loaf was rather dense, so I adjusted the water in the second batch. Even with this over-stiff dough, I had better results by shaping the loaf in the evening, letting it rise in the fridge overnight, and baking it in the morning.

The recipe is here, but although it's simple, you need the background information and notes on techniques to succeed. The authors are a pastry chef and a scientist, and they combined their expertise to arrive at a formula that works if you are using American flour. The critical feature is the protein content of the flour, which affects how much liquid it absorbs; it should be around 10-11%, and French plain flour is only around 9%. I was hesitant about how to adjust for this, so I posted a question on the authors' website and they responded personally within hours! They have very active discussions going on there, which give another dimension to the book. There are also some handy videos which helped to confirm that my dough was the right consistency.

Here are my notes on what I've discovered so far:

1. Oven thermometer: the authors insist you should verify the temperature of your oven with a thermometer, so I did. And it was fine, so I haven't bothered with it since.
2. Baking stone: it really does make a difference. I bought a cheap pizza stone, and the crust is fantastic, streets ahead of bread-machine bread. You also put a roasting pan in the bottom of the oven and pour a cupful of water into it just as the bread goes in. This is a technique used by French bakers to produce good crust (except they have steam ovens so they don't need this low-tech method).
3. No need for a pizza peel as specified in the book. I just put the dough on a flat, edgeless non-stick baking sheet sprinkled with polenta, and it slides off fairly easily; I nudge it with a spatula if it doesn't.
4. Measurements: of course all the measurements are in cups (groan). I finally cracked and bought a set of cup measures. As a result I discovered that an American cup is significantly smaller than I thought it was, only about 220 ml. I had thought it was 250 ml, which could explain why my attempts at American cake recipes have been so unsuccessful.
5. Flour: this is the main conundrum. French plain flour is quite soft. I started with 3 cups plain flour to 3 1/2 cups bread flour, and the dough was too stiff. For my next batch I kept the amount of water the same, and reduced the bread flour by half a cup. The crumb is still a little dense, so I'll continue to tweak. It's better when risen overnight in the fridge.

Must go, I have to make some brioche!

Edit: I'm now using the following proportions with organic plain flour:
by experimentation I have arrived at 72% hydration:

800 g flour
576 g water
12 g salt
2 sachets yeast

This works out to 72% hydration. I also roll the ball of dough in the flour when I'm shaping it, to stop it sticking and pulling, and use baking parchment on the tray when it's rising.

I also made the wholewheat sandwich bread in the book, and it was delicious; I used pain de campagne flour and it worked really well, despite being abandoned for several hours before going in the oven.