Bacon Epi Bread - Epi aux Lardons+

Yield: 6 sticks
about 5h?

Oven temperature and cooking time

• 450 F (230 C) for 12 minutes

Equipment

• Danish Dough Whisk
• Kitchenaid or stand mixer with a Dough Hook
• Flour duster 
• Rolling pin
• Baker's Couche
• Baguette Transfer Peel
• Small pot with a long handle
• Parchment Paper
• Rectangle Pizza Peel
  
• Kitchen Shears
• Rectangular Pizza Stones
• Enameled oven-safe, or cast iron pan, preferably having a large cooking surface with a short rim (I use a Staub serving dish)
• Oven without Convection

Ingredients

• 400 g All-Purpose Flour
  
• 2 g Instant Dry Yeast (I used 2.5 g Frozen Yeast)
• 2 tsp (14g) Honey ... 2g malt?
• 270 ml water (67.5%)
• 8 g salt >> 6.4 (1.6%)
• 6 slices of Bacon
• 2 tbsp (?) Olive Oil
• 3/4 tsp Black Pepper, Coarsely Ground

Directions - Make the Dough (2 hour 20 minutes)

1. Dissolve honey and yeast in water. Mix in flour with a dough whisk until mostly smooth. Autolyse (Let it sit) for 15 minutes.
2. Sprinkle salt, and knead with a stand mixer for 4 minutes at speed 2.
3. Scrape dough off the side of bowl. Cover and let it rise until almost doubled, for about 80 minutes (if at 84 F (29 C)).
4. Place the bowl in refrigerator for 30 minutes (this will make it easy to form the dough later).

Directions - Form the Dough (1 hour 20 minutes ?)

1. On a floured surface, divide the dough into 6 pieces (about 116 g each or so). Gently deflate then roll each piece into cylinder shape.
2. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
3. Dust a piece of dough, placing the seam down. Roll it out into a 3.5" by 10" rectangle.
4. Spread 1 tsp olive oil down the center lengthwise. Sprinkle 1/8 tsp black pepper over the oil. Place a slice of bacon lengthwise.
5. Fold one side of the dough over the bacon, aligning the edge 1/4" from the edge of the dough beneath. Firmly seal the top edge of the dough.
6. Fold over the top part of the dough holding the bacon and seal the dough firmly.
7. Lightly flour the surface of couche. Place the dough on the couche, lifting the sides of the couche to support the dough.
8. Repeat the process to form all the dough.

Directions - Second Raise and Dough Decoration (50 minutes?)

1. Preheat the oven to 475 F (245 C), placing pizza stones on the top and middle racks and a pan on the bottom rack, close to the front edge.
2. Allow the loaves to rise until they're slightly puffy, for about 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, boil water in a small pot so that the water is boiling when dough goes into oven.
4. Cut two sheet of parchment paper to the size of the Peel.
5. Using the baguette transfer peel, arrange three dough sticks in parallel and evenly spaced on a sheet of parchment paper.
6. Lightly dust the top of the dough.
7. Make V-shaped cuts on the top of each loaf at 1-inch spacing, keeping the shears at a 45-degree angle from the board; each alternate cut should be perpendicular the previous cut, creating a herringbone pattern. 
8. Repeat the process to form all the bread sticks.

Directions - Baking (25 Minutes)

1. Preheat the oven to 475 F for 10 minutes.
2. Using the pizza peel, transfer the parchment paper with the three bread sticks onto the middle rack pizza stone.
3. Using the pizza peel, transfer the parchment paper with the three bread sticks onto the top rack pizza stone.
4. Pour hot water in the bottom rack enameled oven-safe, or cast iron pan, and immediately close the oven door.
5. Reduce the oven temperature to 450 F and bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Transfer bread sticks out of oven on the parchment paper using the pizza peel.

Notes