Pain a l'Ancienne

A few simple ingredients: bread flour, salt, yeast, ice water & cornmeal for dusting...
Ingredients combined & mixed by machine for 6 minutes on medium speed...I was expecting a much more wet dough as the book suggests...but the end result was sticky - yet dense & firm...Into the fridge to retard overnight...
The next morning - taken out of the fridge to dechill for a few hours...
Three hours later...
Ready to shape...
Lots of flour...
Rectangle...
Cut in half...
Then one of the halves cut into three...scored & into a 550'degree oven with steam pan in place for hearth style baking...
The result: beautiful!
Golden & light...
Crisp & airy...
I had to bend one of the bagettes because it was falling off the side of the pan...
The inside was moist & the outside very crunchy...
A wonderful bread to "mop up" flavors of sauce from pasta or just plain olive oil & balsamic & olives...
I decided to use the other half of the dough for foccacia...carmelizing onions...
Golden brown...
Prepping the pan...
Toppings of olives, carmelized onions, goat cheese, provolone cheese & garlic olive oil...Then proofed at room temperature for only 30 minutes...the book states to proof for 2-3 hours...but I just wanted to see what happened...if it became more like pizza or a flatbread...or actually foccacia...
Beautiful! Baked at 500'degrees for a couple minutes & then turned down to 475'degrees for an additional 15 minutes...
The crust was unbelievable! So golden & crisp!
YUM~!
Here is a slice from the inner pan - the bottom crust was light & the dough very airy & held the toppings well...I would say it turned out most like a deep dish pizza crust with a softer foccacia-style bread in the middle...

I will definitely be making this bread again...it was wonderful...the actual flavor of the bread was a bit lacking...but I think the texture & crumb made up for it...