France Boule (Ball-Shaped Bread)
A boule, appropriately meaning "ball" in French, is a ball-shaped bread that is quite quick and easy to make. It customarily contains only four basic ingredients: flour, yeast, salt, and water. The time it takes to make the dough itself is a mere 30 minutes, but the bread must rest through two proofing periods that total 16 hours and undergo 30 minutes of baking, so the total time is closer to 17 hours. While customarily made with wheat flour, boule can be made with any kind of flour.
Recipe Servings: 12
Prep Time
30 minutes
+ 16 hours resting
+ 16 hours resting
Cook Time
30 minutes
Total Time
17 hours
Vegetarian
Vegan
Gluten Free
Dairy Free
Kosher
Halal
Ingredients
- 6½ cups (780 g) bread flour, more as needed for dusting
- 2½ Tbsp (50 g) salt
- 1 Tbsp (15 ml) active dry yeast
- 3½ cups (820 ml) water
Directions
- Combine bread flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl, mixing well.
- Pour water in slowly while mixing until the dough becomes smooth and elastic, approximately 4–5 minutes.
- Transfer dough to a lightly-floured surface and shape it into a ball, dusting with flour if needed.
- Place dough in a floured bowl, cover, and let rest at room temperature for 4 hours.
- Punch down the dough and scrape out onto a lightly-floured surface.
- Shape dough into a ball a second time, dusting with flour if needed, and place in a heavily-floured bowl.
- Cover dough and refrigerate for at least 12 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 500°F (260°C) with a baking stone on the middle rack.
- Transfer dough to a heavily-floured rimless baking sheet, reshaping it to make it round.
- Use a sharp knife to make three parallel slits across the dough, cutting ⅛-inch (3 mm) deep.
- Transfer dough to the baking stone and bake until golden brown, around 25–30 minutes.
- Remove bread from oven and let cool completely before slicing.
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