M&S French Country Loaf

This is the classic country loaf that I have read about from the Tartine books  and the bread that inspired Paul Hollywood to bake.  Well, this is M&S interpretation of the bread, but it does have a uniqueness about it.

The crust on top seems to have an almost skin like translucent cover, it’s slightly shiny to look, although tricky to see in my photo above.  Cutting into the loaf, and it can be seen that the crumb is quite dense, this is not a hole filled bread.  It’s a quite a compacted crumb, it’s ‘strong’ bread in that it compresses and stretches, but instantly returns to it’s original form.  The colour of the dough is off white and leans on the wholemeal side of tone.

The taste is that of a slightly sour wholemeal bread, perfectly pleasant with a chewy crust.  However, toast this bread and it comes alive with flavour, it makes great a slice of toast.