If you take a simple bread dough and employ some “advanced” technique you can create something pretty special just like this crusty bloomer.

I feel there is a natural point in everybody’s bread making journey where you’ll want to break out of the mould. Step away from the tin and the baking tray, and learn a new skill to take your bread to the next level and stone baking opens up a door to the kind of busted open crusty loaves you see in a bakers shop window as well as pizzas, baguettes, sourdough and much more.

The foundation of this bloomer recipe is not dissimilar to a tinned loaf, in fact the dough is EXACTLY the same, and as you upgrade your skills to stone baking this bloomer is a great place to start.

 Crusty Stone Baked Bloomer

Notes

This recipe will makes two bloomers, feel free to half the recipe if you need to

Difficulty: Easy Peasy

My Kitchen Temperature: 21°C/70°F

Start to finish: 4-4.5 hours

Ingredients

14g Dry Fast Action Yeast

640g Room Temperature Water

900g Strong White Bread Flour

100g Wholemeal Bread Flour

16g Salt

30g Olive Oil

Method

Making the dough

In a large mixing bowl mix together the yeast and water until the yeast has softened.

Add both your flours and salt and use your dough scraper to mix it together.

As the dough starts to come together drizzle over the olive oil. Dimple it in with your fingertips and mix again with your scraper until everything is combined.

Turn your dough out onto the table and knead for 8 minutes with ZERO additional flour.

Shape your dough into a ball and place back into your bowl, cover with a cloth and rest for 60-90 minutes.

Dividing and pre-shaping

Turn your dough out of the bowl upside down onto a lightly floured surface and use the flat side of your dough scraper to cut it down the middle into two equal half moon shaped pieces.

Fold each piece back up into a tight ball, 10-12 folds should be plenty ;-) Employ a little cup ‘n’ turn technique to neaten them up.

Rest your balls under a cloth for 10-15 minutes to relax ready for the final shape.

Final Shape

Remove the cloth from the top of your dough. The dough balls should have relaxed and spread slightly. One by one, shape up your loaves:

Slide your dough scraper underneath to unstick a dough ball from the table and flip it upside down onto a lightly dusted surface.

Press once again with fingertips and knuckles to push the dough flat into a circle. Slide your fingers, palms up, underneath each side of the dough. Grip the dough and pull to stretch the dough sideways. At an angle fold one side over the dough and the other side overlapping the first, making a capitol A shape.

Fold a little top flap down and then roll, push, roll, push, roll, push, all the way to the end.

Pinch the seam to stick and finally give your loaf a palm roll up and down the table to even and lengthen it slightly.

Liberally dust an area of your table and place both loaves on that patch seam side down, cover with a cloth and rest for 45 minutes.

Prepare your oven; preheat to 220C Fan with a baking stone on the middle shelf and a deep tray below for making steam. Half fill the kettle with water.

Scoring & Baking

Carefully manoeuvre your two loaves onto peels being gentle so as not to loose any of the gas within, boil the kettle.

Slash from end to end with a Grignette paying close attention to the ends making sure it will open up nicely.

Slide your loaves naked bottoms onto the hot stone, carefully tip the boiling water from the kettle into the tray beneath and close the oven door.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, cool on a wire rack.