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1
Combine flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Add the cold water and mix until the ingredients cohere into a single, extremely stiff mass — no dry flour remains visible, and the dough resists the hand strongly. It will not feel smooth at this stage.
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2
Turn the dough out onto a heavy wooden table. Begin beating: lift a heavy wooden pole or rolling pin and strike the dough with force, fold the dough over on itself, rotate it, and strike again. Continue this sequence — strike, fold, rotate — rhythmically and without pause for 20 to 30 minutes. This is the step on which the bread lives or dies: insufficient beating leaves the gluten inadequately aligned, and the fine, waxy, uniform crumb that defines pain brié cannot be recovered by any later intervention. As an alternative, pass the dough through a pasta sheeter at its thickest setting 30 to 40 times, folding between each pass. The dough is ready when its surface becomes smooth, taut, and faintly glossy, and when a small piece stretched between the fingers holds without tearing.
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3
Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Shape each into a flattened oval approximately 30 cm long and 10 cm high, with a smooth, taut surface. Place on a floured or lined baking sheet. Score with one or two long, shallow slashes along the length. Cover loosely and leave to proof at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours. Due to the extreme tightness of the gluten network, the rise will be slow and modest — the loaves will not double. They are ready when they have increased perceptibly in volume and the surface shows a slight puffing at the score lines.
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4
Heat the oven to 220–230 °C. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes until the crust is thick and hard — it will resist firm pressure from a finger without any give — and the loaves produce a hollow sound when tapped sharply on the base.
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5
Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before slicing. The crumb firms and the flavour deepens over the first 24 hours; the bread keeps for two weeks or more at room temperature, its dense structure resisting staling. Slice thin.