Benoîton

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 16 pieces, you will need:

• 1 75 g flakeds almonds
• 2 380 g water
• 3 100 g leaven
• 4 200 g rye flour
• 5 300 g plain white flour (French Type 65)
• 6 9 g fine (or table) salt
• 7 10 g yeast
• 8 300 g raisins
• 9 50 g Pearl sugar
• Total weight: 1,424 grams

Times:

Preparation	Resting	Cooking	Start to finish
2 hours 25 min.	1 hour 30 min.	37 min.	4 hours 32 min.

Step by step recipe

1	Put 75 g flakeds almonds in a non-stick frying pan on high and toast for 5 to 7 minutes. They should only just begin to colour. Set aside. You can also do this in the oven at 360°F (180°C): spread the almonds on a baking sheet and toast for 8 minutes.
2	In bread-making, the water temperature is always important. It's not a fixed value, but related to 3 other temperatures: 1) the temperature of your flour, 2) the room temperature in your kitchen, and 3) the basic temperature of this recipe, which is 56-60°C. You can calculate the temperature of the water for this recipe in one click, using this small calculator.
3	Put into a mixer bowl: 380 g water at the correct temperature, 100 g leaven, 200 g rye flour, 300 g plain white flour (French Type 65), 9 g fine (or table) salt and 10 g yeast.
4	Knead on slow speed for 12 minutes, adding 300 g raisins and the toasted almonds 2 minutes before the end of kneading. Note: For the best way to knead, see: A few tips for effective kneading at home..
5	Gather the dough into a ball and transfer to a large, clean bowl. Cover with a plastic sheet and leave to rest for about an hour and a half. It's pointage (starting).
6	After this time, flatten out the dough by hand, or with a rolling pin, into a large rectangle about half an inch (a generous centimetre) thick. Scatter 50 g Pearl sugar over and press gently into the dough by hand or with the rollling pin.
7	Cut the rectangle in half.
8	Cut each half into rectangles about 1x4 inches (2x10 cm) and arrange these on a baking sheet.
9	Cover with a plastic sheet and leave to rest for 2 hours.
10	Preheat the oven to 460°F (240°C) and bake for about 30 minutes. Note: As when baking any bread, you should ensure that the oven is filled with steam for the first 15 minutes of baking. This page shows you how; it really is the secret of golden-brown, crusty loaves..
11	Leave to cook on a wire rack.

Remarks

You can vary the fruit content of your benoîton by using pistachios, cranberries, etc.
The name benoîton came no doubt from a nineteenth century play, La Famille Benoîton by Victorien Sardou, which portrayed a nouveau-riche bourgeois family. At the time, it was common to name patisseries after famous plays. Poires Belle-Hélène is another example.

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