Pain d'Epi

This is one of my favourite breads to make, it almost always turns out and it is very easy to do... yet it has a certain flair.  It is great when eating with friends to just tear off a piece of the "stock" and spread it with butter.  Use the Rustic Bread (not Rustic Italian, the earlier version, I've never tried it with the Italian but that might work too), recipe posted below but make baguette size loaves.   Then with a pair of scissors make 45 degree cuts 1/2 way through the loaf and fold oven to alternating sides.   Bake as for the Rustic Bread but 5-8 minutes less (watch for burning, internal temp should be about 200).

A fun day Baking

It was a fun day of baking this past weekend.  I started out to make some bagels and a Rustic Loaf (the recipe is earlier in this blog).  Then started to play around with a braid and an attempt at a bunny bun.  I'll keep working on the bunny bun :-)
If you would like to do the braid it is very simple.  Just use some of the dough you made for the rustic bread, divide it in 3 and roll each piece about as thick as a large hot dog and braid the 3 pieces together.  Let it rise for about an hour then give it an egg wash (egg white and a table spoon of water brushed on the top of the dough) Sprinkle with seeds (I used poppy on one strand of the braid and sesame on the other two) and bake at 450 for 20-25 minutes (until the top is brown and it sounds hollow when tapped on bottom).  We tried to let it cool but it was still warm when we started pulling pieces off and smearing them with butter.