The Country Loaf (Pain De Campagne)

Pull a pain de campagne out of the oven and you have something that resists a simple category. The crust is thick and crackles when you press it. The crumb is open but not irregular; it holds together cleanly when sliced. The flavor is complex, with wheat, mild acidity, and a faint earthiness from the rye. It is the kind of bread that improves over the course of a day as the crumb continues to develop.

The pain de campagne translates literally as “country bread,” which historically referred to any naturally leavened loaf made with a blend of flours outside a city bakery. The version this guide covers is built around bread flour with whole wheat and rye additions, leavened with a levain, and shaped as a round boule or oval batard.

What the Flour Blend Does

The formula uses three flours, and each one matters.

Bread flour (80% of total) provides most of the gluten structure. Its higher protein content supports the open crumb and holds the loaf’s shape during proofing and baking.

Whole wheat flour (15% of total) adds fiber, nutrients, and a nuttier flavor. Whole wheat also absorbs water more slowly than white flour and contributes enzymes that affect fermentation speed. Too much whole wheat makes the crumb tighter; 15% adds character without sacrificing the open structure.

Rye flour (5% of total) contributes a distinct earthy flavor and contains pentosans that help retain moisture, extending shelf life. Five percent sounds negligible, but the flavor difference between a loaf with and without rye is noticeable even to unfamiliar palates. Do not skip it because it seems minor.

The Formula

This produces one large loaf of roughly 900g, or two smaller loaves.

Baker’s percentages:

Ingredient	Weight	Percentage
Bread flour	400g	80%
Whole wheat flour	75g	15%
Rye flour	25g	5%
Water	390g	78%
Active levain	100g	20%
Fine sea salt	10g	2%

The levain contributes flour and water to the total. At 100% hydration (equal parts flour and water), the 100g of levain adds roughly 50g of flour and 50g of water. The formula above treats the levain as a separate ingredient for simplicity; use the baker’s percentages calculator if you want the true flour-adjusted percentages.

Levain build (8 to 12 hours before mixing):

Mix 20g of ripe sourdough starter, 50g of bread flour, and 50g of water at room temperature. Stir until smooth. Leave at 75 to 78F (24 to 26C) until it has doubled and domed, roughly 8 to 12 hours. This is your levain.

Schedule

Morning (7 to 8 AM): Mix all flours and most of the water (hold back 50g). No yeast, no levain yet. Let this mixture sit 30 to 45 minutes (autolyse). This hydrates the whole wheat and rye before adding the levain, making the dough easier to develop.

8 to 8:30 AM: Add the levain and the salt dissolved in the reserved water. Squeeze and fold until fully incorporated. The dough will feel rough at first.

8:30 AM to 2:30 PM: Bulk fermentation at room temperature (73 to 76F / 23 to 24C). Perform four to five sets of stretch-and-fold during the first two hours, one set every 30 minutes. The dough should increase in volume by 50 to 60% and feel lighter and airy. The surface will show small bubbles and the dough will hold its shape briefly when turned out.

2:30 PM: Pre-shape into a loose round. Rest 20 to 30 minutes on the bench, uncovered.

3 PM: Final shape. For a boule, see the shaping guide. For a batard, use the same principle with a longer, tighter fold. Place the shaped loaf seam side up in a well-floured banneton.

3 PM to the next morning: Refrigerate. The cold retard can last anywhere from 8 to 18 hours without over-proofing, which gives you flexibility on baking time.

Next morning (bake day): Preheat the oven to 500F (260C) with a Dutch oven inside for at least 45 minutes. Score the loaf directly from the refrigerator. Lower it into the Dutch oven, bake covered 20 minutes, uncover and reduce to 450F (230C), bake another 20 to 25 minutes until deep brown. See the scoring guide for patterns and angles that work well on this style of loaf.

What Cold Retard Does for Flavor

Refrigerating the shaped loaf slows fermentation dramatically but does not stop it. Over 8 to 18 hours, the bacteria in the levain continue producing lactic and acetic acids at a much slower rate. Lactic acid dominates at warmer temperatures and gives a milder, yogurt-like tang. Acetic acid builds at cooler temperatures and gives a sharper, more pronounced sour flavor.

A longer cold retard at around 38 to 40F (3 to 4C) will be slightly more sour. A shorter retard at 42 to 45F (6 to 7C) will be milder. This is one of the few variables in sourdough where you have direct, controllable influence over the flavor profile without changing the formula.

Common Mistakes

Proofing too warm and losing acidity balance. A shaped loaf proofed at 80F (27C) or above ferments quickly, but the rapid fermentation favors lactic acids and carbon dioxide over the more complex acetic acids. The result is a milder loaf that lacks depth. If you want more sourness, proof in the refrigerator, not on the counter.

Skipping rye because it seems like a small amount. The 5% rye in this formula is not decoration. It changes the way the dough ferments (rye ferments faster than wheat) and contributes flavor compounds that are distinct from wheat. Substituting more whole wheat for the rye produces a fine loaf, but it is a different loaf.

Scoring too timid so the loaf tears along the seam. A shallow score that does not penetrate the skin of the dough will not open properly in the oven. The loaf then finds its own escape route, usually along the weakest point, which is often the seam. Score with a confident, single stroke at a 30 to 45 degree angle and a depth of about half an inch.

Cutting the loaf while still warm. The crumb of a pain de campagne continues to develop for one to two hours after the loaf leaves the oven. Cutting early produces a gummy, wet interior even when the bake was correct. Let it cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Reading the Finished Loaf

The crumb should be open and irregular, with holes that vary in size across the cross-section. The thin crumb walls should look slightly translucent. Dense patches near the bottom often indicate under-fermentation or a cold spot during bulk. Large uniform holes near the top only suggest the loaf was shaped too loosely.

The flavor will be mildly tangy on the day of the bake and develop slightly more depth on day two. The crust softens overnight; store the loaf cut-side down on a wooden board rather than in a bag if you want to preserve some crunch.

For more on how whole grains affect fermentation and dough handling, the whole grains guide covers the differences in detail and includes tips for formulas with higher whole grain percentages.