Tabatière or Snuffbox loaf #BBB

Our Bread Baking Babes recipe this month is beautifully simple and immensely tasty. Four thumbs up for our family. "That's flipping good bread!" "This is my favorite kind of bread, super soft and chewy!" "Mmmm, that is good bread, thank you honey!" And I completely love a touch of rye bread. This one was beautifully tender too, with a soft and bouncy crumb. I used a Dutch oven, so the crust was thin, but still chewy. And one of the two little loaves was the perfect size for our family of four to have with dinner and not go overboard.

I forgot to autolyse just the flour and water, so I emphasized that note in the directions! I did add an extra 25g water for my freshly ground rye flour, and to make up for the missing autolyse, I added another stretch and fold. I noticed my little loaves were proofing really fast in the warm house after the pre-shape, so I slowed them down for an hour in the fridge after final shaping due to timing of the bake and picking up people from the bus.

Cathy gave us the option to make these with a poolish instead of sourdough, so anyone with yeast can participate! We would love for you to bake along with us this month and try out these tasty loaves. Check out our Facebook group to see the participants' baking results. We'd love to see your results there as well!

Tabatière
Makes 2-4 loaves (two modest family loaves or four individual buns)

Poolish:
60 g all-purpose flour
60 g water, cool if your kitchen runs warm
a pinch of instant yeast, about the tip of a teaspoon, OR about 12 g active sourdough starter

Final dough:
195 g all-purpose flour
45 g rye, whole wheat, or spelt flour
150 g water at 68°F (20°C), plus 25 to 30 g more for whole grain or home-milled flours
6 g salt
0.7 g (a scant ¼ teaspoon) instant dry yeast
All of the poolish
rye flour for dusting

The night before: poolish

Build this 10 to 14 hours ahead. Options are listed for either yeast or starter.

Mix ingredients to a thick batter, cover, and leave at room temperature. The poolish is ready when bubbly and domed, and just beginning to sink in the center. Use all of it.

Next day: final dough

Mix just the flour and water (autolyse), and rest 1 hour.

Now add the poolish, salt, and yeast, and mix to achieve a shaggy dough.

Perform two stretch and folds 30 minutes apart, then rest, for about 1½ to 2 hours from the initial autolyse.

Divide the dough into two or three balls, cover, and rest for 30 minutes.

Pre-shape each ball into a boule. Rest the dough for 30 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, using a roller, stretch part of the pre-shaped dough: press, slightly less than ⅓ of the dough, and roll/stretch out to form a “tongue” or flap. Make the flap long enough to fold completely back over the top. Dust the flap lightly with rye and fold back over the top. (I brushed the edges of mine with avocado oil so that it would not seal.)

Proof with the flap down, 1 to 1½ hours (or less!). The loaf should be puffy and slightly springy. An indent will slowly spring back partway. (Since my pre-shape rest ended up proofing super fast, I moved my final shape to the fridge. Just pay attention to how fast the loaves are rising in your kitchen.)

Gently flip the dough so the the flap is now on top. Score with a leaf, add steam to the oven (pour about 50g (scant ¼ cup) of hot water into the preheated pan to steam), spray the loaf, and bake at 450°F (230°C), about 20 minutes for small loaves. Make sure there is some form of steam! A baking stone is preferable. (I baked mine in a preheated Dutch oven and added a couple tbsp water before closing the lid.)

Slide them onto the stone and pour about 50 g (scant ¼ cup) of hot water into the preheated pan to steam. Bake 10 minutes. Then move the loaves up to the rack above, onto a baking sheet, rotating them for even color, and bake until deep golden and hollow-sounding, about 10 minutes more for small loaves. Larger loaves need longer up top. (I baked 15 minutes lid on, and 10 minutes lid off, approximately for using the Dutch oven.)