Weekend bread adventure: Heart shaped pain de campagne for my FIL (photos)

M

mariadnoca

Moderator
I've already posted the recipe above, but made this again to take today to my FIL for his birthday today along with a jar of Aleta's Spicy Peach Preserves in T&T. So far that's my favorite jam I've made.

I forgot to take a side shot, but I got great oven spring using a sheet pan and wet roasting pan for cover/steam.

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/Food/Bread/Heart%20shaped%20pain%20de%20campagne/IMG_2687_zps49009bdb.jpg

http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/Food/Bread/Heart%20shaped%20pain%20de%20campagne/IMG_2689_zpsa78ff4ef.jpg

 
That is my favorite method to get steam... (a question inside)

how did you shape it as a heart?

love it!

 
To get the heart shape..

Well, I wanted to use a basket I thought I had, or the cake pan I thought would work, but was too big.

So, I shaped for a round, then just sorta used the palms of my hands to pat it into a point on one end. Then I used my bench cutter to split the top to get the two sides of the top of the heart (shaping only doesn't stay shaped). Then I smooshed it into place while trying to tuck the top under to make it as tight as possible on top.

What I did wrong was shaping it as a heart for the first rise out of the fridge. Next time I'd just shape as a round and save the heart detail for the final proof as I ended up completely reshaping it because you lose the tightness on top during the first rise and as the dough was a bit dry on the surface it was more difficult to get as good a shape as the first time, so I'd cover with plastic and not a towel. Because I redid it I had lots of big bubbles on top of the dough after reshaping and I'd rather them be more inside. Since it was a gift I didn't get to see the crumb, but I got great oven spring and am sure it's fine. However, I'll do better next time.

 
Maria, bet our FIL was touched! What a wonderful, and delicious, gift!

I have a SIL who can and does buy anything his heart desires. The most appreciated gift for him is something I've made that I know he will love. These gifts from the heart are treasures!
Thanks for sharing! I'm going to look up that jam recipe, too! smileys/wink.gif

 
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