Pain Polka Bread
This pain polka bread was such a pretty bread. It was crusty on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. I really enjoyed it toasted with butter and jam on top but it was just a generally delicious bread. Would be great as a sliced bread with dinner as well. You can’t go wrong with this loaf.
Pain polka bread is a bread from central France that gets its name from the deeply cut slices in the dough on the top of the bread making the finished bread look as if it has polka dots.
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- Small saucepan
- Stand mixer
- Mixing bowls
- Mixing spoons
- Baking Sheets
- Optional Silicone baking mat
- Wire Cooling Rack
- Dough Scorer
- Oven mitts
- Apron to keep your clothes clean
- Plastic wrap
- Bread knife
- Cutting board
to keep your clothes clean
Ingredients For Pain Polka
- 2- 2/3 cups of bread flour
- 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp Himalayan salt
- 1 Tbsp Coconut or Olive Oil
For the bread machine:
Add to your bread machine 9 oz of spring water, sugar, and oil. To this add your flour and salt reserving the yeast. Make a well on top of the flour and place your yeast there. Set to the dough setting.
When the cycle ends remove onto your lightly floured countertop and shape it like an oval or circle. Put onto a greased baking pan and cover with oiled saran wrap and place someplace warm and draft free. When it has doubled in size (about an hour) preheat your oven to 425F.
Remove the plastic wrap, dust the loaf with flour, and slash the top with your sharpest knife or blade in a crosshatch design. Go a little deeper than the surface to get the large “dots”. Let sit for an additional 20-25 minutes to rest.
Place the bread on the baking sheet in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped with a knife on the bottom.
Remove the Pain Polka bread from the oven and sit your bread on a wire rack to cool. This will keep your bread from sweating on the bottom as it cools and gets mushy.
Pain Polka By Hand
Put your water, oil, and sugar in a small saucepan and heat it until it is 100 F.
Pour the water mixture into a large mixing bowl and sprinkle with yeast. Cover it with a lint-free cloth and let sit in a warm draft-free spot until the yeast is puffy.
Measure the rest of your ingredients into another bowl and stir the salt into the yeast.
Add the dry ingredients slowly to the wet ingredients little by little, kneading in and adding a little, kneading in and adding a little.
If you have a stand mixer, use dough hooks on the machine to knead the dough for about 8 minutes. If you do not have a stand mixer, once you have a nice ball of dough, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured countertop and knead the dough for 8 minutes. Get a piece of plastic wrap large enough to cover your mixing bowl and put a little oil on your hand. Wipe the oil on one side of the plastic wrap. Cover the mixing bowl with oiled plastic wrap and place it in a warm draft-free spot. Let the dough double in size for about 1 1/2 hours.
When it has doubled in size punch down the pain polka bread dough and again place it on the floured counter.
Shape the dough into an oval or round and place it onto a greased baking pan and cover it with oiled saran wrap and place it someplace warm and draft free. When it has doubled in size (about an hour) preheat your oven to 425F.
Dust the loaf with flour and slash the top with your sharpest knife or blade.
Bake the pain polka bread for about 40 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped with a knife on the bottom.
Sit your bread on a wire rack to cool fully.
Pain Polka Bread Recipe
Pain Polka Bread
Ingredients
- 2- 2/3 cups of organic flour
- 1/2 tsp yeast
- 1 tbsp organic sugar
- 1 tsp Himalayan salt
- 1 Tbsp Coconut or Olive Oil
Instructions
For the bread machine:
Add to your bread machine 9 oz of spring water, sugar, and oil. To this add your flour and salt reserving the yeast. Make a well on top of the flour and place your yeast there. Set to the dough setting.
When the cycle ends remove onto your lightly floured countertop and shape it like an oval or circle. Put onto a greased baking pan and cover with oiled saran wrap and place someplace warm and draft free. When it has doubled in size (about an hour) preheat your oven to 425F.
Remove the plastic wrap, dust the loaf with flour, and slash the top with your sharpest knife or blade in a crosshatch design. Go a little deeper than the surface to get the large "dots". Let sit for an additional 20-25 minutes to rest.
Place the bread on the baking sheet in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped with a knife on the bottom.
Remove the Pain Polka bread from the oven and sit your bread on a wire rack to cool. This will keep your bread from sweating on the bottom as it cools and gets mushy.
By Hand
Put your water, oil, and sugar in a small saucepan and heat it until it is 100 F.
Pour the water mixture into a large mixing bowl and sprinkle with yeast. Cover it with a lint-free cloth and let sit in a warm draft-free spot until the yeast is puffy.
Measure the rest of your ingredients into another bowl and stir the salt into the yeast.
Add the dry ingredients slowly to the wet ingredients little by little, kneading in and adding a little, kneading in and adding a little.
If you have a stand mixer, use dough hooks on the machine to knead the dough for about 8 minutes. If you do not have a stand mixer, once you have a nice ball of dough, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured countertop and knead the dough for 8 minutes. Get a piece of plastic wrap large enough to cover your mixing bowl and put a little oil on your hand. Wipe the oil on one side of the plastic wrap. Cover the mixing bowl with oiled plastic wrap and place it in a warm draft-free spot. Let the dough double in size for about 1 1/2 hours.
When it has doubled in size punch down the pain polka bread dough and again place it on the floured counter.
Shape the dough into an oval or round and place it onto a greased baking pan and cover it with oiled saran wrap and place it someplace warm and draft free. When it has doubled in size (about an hour) preheat your oven to 425F.
Dust the loaf with flour and slash the top with your sharpest knife or blade.
Bake the pain polka bread for about 40 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped with a knife on the bottom.
Sit your bread on a wire rack to cool fully.
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