Rosemary Lemon Pain de Campagne

This Rosemary Lemon Pain de Campagne is a large, naturally leavened loaf flavored with fresh rosemary, lemon zest, and extra virgin olive oil. 

The Bread Baking Babes are baking versions of Pain de Campagne. Our host kitchen is My Kitchen in Half Cups. This marks 18 years of baking bread together. 

This bread began as one of the signature loaves created by Kathleen Weber of the iconic Della Fattoria Café in Petaluma, California. 

Kathleen Weber developed a passion for bread baking after reading Carol Field's book, The Italian Baker. She immersed herself in baking bread and soon began selling bread to restaurants from the family ranch. Early clients included The French Laundry. In fact, the forward to her book was written by Thomas Keller. Kathleen Weber passed away in 2020 and her family continues to run the bakery and café. 

This recipe appears in Della Fattoria Bread: 63 Foolproof Recipes for Yeasted, Enriched & Naturally Leavened Breads (2011) as well as Richart Hart's Bread: Intuitive Sourdough Baking. 

This is a naturally leavened bread that calls for a firm starter, about 50% hydration. I used to try to maintain various starters of different hydrations until I realized that keeping just my 100% hydration starter is perfectly fine. All I need to do is feed a portion of my existing starter with whatever hydration level I need (as well as flour type) and then use that for the bread I am baking. 

You will end up with some leftover starter, which you can use to make sourdough crackers. 

This version of the Della Fattoria pain de campagne includes a rosemary, lemon zest, and olive oil filling that is supposed to be worked into the loaf so that it is a layer just under the crust, flavoring each piece of bread. I had some success with this process, however some of the olive oil, zest, and rosemary escaped and dribbled throughout the bread, leaving a few streaks here and there. It's the same process used to make garlic and cheese country bread. 

Tip: Make sure you capture all of the olive oil mixture when enclosing it before shaping. If it does escape, the bread will still be very tasty. 

Ingredients in This Pain de Campagne:

Flours: Unbleached all purpose flour, and whole wheat flour for feeding the starter. I also used wheat bran and rice flour for dusting the banetton. 

Water. 

Salt: You can use kosher or sea salt. Just be sure to measure using a scale to account for the difference in volume of the various types of salt. You will also need some flaked sea salt for sprinkling the top of the loaf before baking. 

For the Filling: 

Fresh Rosemary: I'm lucky enough to have a rosemary bush, which grows like a weed.

Lemon Zest: I'm also lucky enough to have a very old lemon tree that is quite prolific. Most of the lemons aren't great for juice, but they are perfect for zest. 

Extra Virgin Olive Oil: You will use this for combining the rosemary and lemon zest to make the filling for the bread. 

To Make this Pain de Campagne:

First, feed your starter the night before and let it sit at room temperature overnight. 

The next day, mix the final dough, starting with using a stand mixer, and then over a period of a few hours, fold the dough to strengthen the gluten. The folding method involves picking up the dough and letting it fall on both sides and then folding it underneath in thirds. You will do this three times, every 30 minutes. It's kind of like a stretch and fold but upside down, letting gravity doing the stretching. 

Once the dough has risen, preshape the dough and let it sit. Next, flip the dough over, create an indentation, and add the lemon rosemary mixture. Grab the sides and wrap up the dough to enclose the filling. Flip the dough over and begin shaping it, tightening the dough on the work surface with a bench scraper until you begin to see the filling just under the surface of the dough. 

After that, place the dough into a banneton and let it rise for two to three hours. 

When ready to bake, turn the dough out onto a parchment lined baking sheet and score it on top in an asterisk pattern and sprinkle with sea salt. 

Finally, bake the loaf for about 45 to 50 minute. 

Recipe Variations:

You can also use this dough to make an olive loaf, a cheese and garlic loaf, or a plain boule or batard. 

Rather than making this bread in a single day, you can do the second rise overnight in a cold environment. If you have a wine refrigerator, that is the perfect temperature. 

After the recipe, be sure to check out the Bread Baking Babes' creative versions of this bread. 

Rosemary Lemon Pain de Campagne

Yield: 32 slices

Author: Karen Kerr

Prep time: 1 HourCook time: 50 MinInactive time: 6 HourTotal time: 7 H & 50 M

This Rosemary Lemon Pain de Campagne is a large, naturally leavened loaf flavored with fresh rosemary, lemon zest, and extra virgin olive oil. 

Ingredients

For the Starter

• 69 g (1/4 C) active existing starter
• 155 g (1/2 C plus 2 1/2 T) water at 75 to 80 degrees F
• 207 g (1 1/4 C plus 3 T) unbleached all purpose flour
• 30 g (3 1/2 T) whole wheat flour

For the Filling

• 1 1/2 tablespoons (8 grams) lemon zest
• 1 1/2 tablespoons (6 grams) chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 to 3 tablespoons (40 grams) extra virgin olive oil

For the Final Loaf

• 126 g of the starter
• 506 g water at 80 degrees F
• 704 g unbleached all purpose flour
• 19 g fine sea salt, Kosher salt, or non-iodized table salt
• All of the lemon rosemary mixture
• All purpose flour, rice flour, and wheat bran, for dusting the banetton
• Flaked sea salt for topping the loaf

Instructions

To Make the Starter

1. Mix all of the ingredients in a medium bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit overnight, until puffy.

To Make the Filling

1. Combine the zest, rosemary, and olive oil together in a small bowl.

To Make the Final Loaf

1. Put the starter and water in the bowl of a stand mixer, and mix it with the paddle attachment on low for about 30 seconds.
2. Add the flour and stir a few times to moisten the flour. Mix on low with the paddle attachment for two minutes.
3. Scrape down the bowl and let the dough sit, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
4. Sprinkle the salt over the dough, and mix with the dough hook on low for 6 minutes.
5. Scrape the dough into a large oiled bowl or dough rising bucket, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for 30 minutes.
6. Lift the dough from the bowl or bucket and let the dough fall on both sides of your hands. Fold the dough underneath your hands and the set the dough back in the bowl. Turn the bowl a quarter turn, pick the dough back up and repeat the folding. Repeat two more times. Do three lift and fold sessions every thirty minutes, covering the bowl/bucket each time. It's kind of like a stretch and fold but upside down, letting gravity doing the stretching.
7. After the final stretch and fold, place the dough vessel in a spot in your house that is warm, and let rise for 2 to 3 hours. The dough will have bubbles on top.
8. Pre-shape the dough into a ball and place it seam side down on the counter. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and let it rest for 10 minutes.
9. Turn the dough over, and press it into a 10 inch round. Make a well in the center and add the lemon zest rosemary mixture.
10. Fold the sides of the dough over the mixture in the same way you would make a boule. Try not to let any oil escape.
11. Flip the dough over, seam sided down, and drag the dough over the counter to tighten the outside. Rotate the dough, and drag it again. Rotate a couple more times. As you tighten the outside of the boule, the rosemary mixture will move to just under the surface of the dough.
12. Place the boule, seam side up, into a nine inch banneton that has been dusted with a flour and rice flour mixture along with a dusting of wheat bran.
13. Cover the dough, and let rise until quite puffy, two to three hours.
14. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
15. When the dough is ready, turn it out onto the baking sheet. Slash the top of the dough in an asterisk pattern. Cover the dough with a large metal bowl (to capture steam), and close the oven door. Reduce the oven to 400 degrees F. If you don't have a metal bowl, you can create steam in your oven by adding a steam pan with water or ice cubes on the lowest rack of your oven.
16. Bake for 25 minutes, remove the bowl, and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes, until the bread is golden and has reached an internal temperature of about 205 degrees F.
17. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

122

Fat (grams)

1 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

0 g

Carbs (grams)

24 g

Fiber (grams)

1 g

Net carbs

23 g

Sugar (grams)

0 g

Protein (grams)

3 g

Cholesterol (grams)

0 mg

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2026/02/rosemary-lemon-pain-de-campagne.html

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