Since you liked the potato bread recipe, you might be ready to give this
one a try. Instead of baking one large round, make a large loaf. And let
rise on the floured table, covered with a towel. Great for toast.

* Exported from MasterCook *

PAIN METEIL (WHEAT AND RYE BREAD)

Recipe By : The Village Baker, Joe Ortiz
Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Bread French

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
THE SPONGE
1 package active dry yeast -- (2 1/2 teaspoons; ¼
ounce)
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup rye flour
1/2 cup organic -- unbleached white
(or all-purpose) flour
THE DOUGH
1 cup warm water
All of the sponge from the previous step
3 3/4 cups organic -- unbleached white
(or all-purpose) flour
2 1/4 teaspoons salt

TO MAKE THE SPONGE,proof the yeast in ½ cup of warm water. When it is
creamy, add it to a medium-sized bowl along with the rest of the water,
which
should be at room temperature. Slowly add the combined flours by handfuls,
while stirring the mixture with a wooden spoon. Set the sponge aside,
covering
the bowl with a dish towel, for between 15 and 24 hours.

TO MAKE THE DOUGH, mix the 1 cup warm tap water into the sponge. Start
adding 2¾ cups of flour, handful by handful, stirring the mixture, gently at
first, and then vigorously with a wooden spoon. Beat in each addition of
flour
with 50 strokes of the spoon. This will take about 15 minutes. Sprinkle
the salt
over the dough and then knead the dough on a table for another 2 or 3
minutes
while adding the remaining cup of flour. The dough should be of medium
consistency but
still feel sticky. Resist the temptation to add more flour.

Let the dough rise, covered, for 2 hours. When it has doubled in bulk,
flatten it out
and shape into a round loaf.

Set the loaf aside on a parchment-lined baking sheet, covered, to rise for
about 11/2 hours. The loaf is ready to be baked when the indentation
made by a
finger does not bounce back.

With an ice pick, puncture the loaf through the top crust about 1-inch
deep, at
least 8 or 10 times. This will serve the same purpose as slashing the
loaf, except
that the crust will not tear and mar the stencil design. Place the
stencil on top
of the loaf. Put a few tablespoons of white flour in a strainer with
fine mesh and
use it to dust the top of the loaf lightly. Remove the stencil.

Place the loaf in a preheated, 425F oven for between 35 and 45 minutes.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

NOTES : During the time when bread was baked in communal ovens,
individual families
mixed, shaped, and set to rise their own breads. When the loaves were
ready to
bake, each French housewife would marked her own loaves to distinguish them
from her neighbors’. In some regions, the family’s signature or
symbol—across,
a circle, an initial—was cut 3n each loaf. Elsewhere a stencil was made
of the
family symbol, the loaf dusted with flour, and the stencil removed. In
other villages decorative patches of dough were placed on the loaves.
Pain méteil was, and in some regions still is, commonly made with the
dusted stencil design on top. Méteil is French for “maslin,” a British
dialect
word for a mixture of wheat and rye, either as grain or flour.
MAKES ONE 21/2-POUND LOAF

--
Alan

"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and
avoid the people, you might better stay home."
--James Michener