Baguette proofing with a chilly twist
No, not a chilly winter, at least not here in Florida where it remains delightful through the winter months. But rather a chilly twist to my proofing stage. My kitchen runs warmer than many, and proving my baguettes can be a bit of a coin toss at times. Anywho, a few bakes ago, when I split my Field Blend #2 dough into a DO boule and two gros baguettes, I decided to retard the shaped baguettes in the refrigerator for the proofing step. Mr. Forkish suggests baking this dough, albeit as a DO boule, right out of the refrigerator, so who am I to disagree?
Well, I really liked the results out of the oven, but I was also attracted to the idea of the refrigerated control of the proof and also the feel of scoring a chilled baguette. So two days ago I repeated that cold proof step with a batch of SJSDs and today I decided to let that train keep rolling with a batch of “Baguettes a l'Ancienne with Cold Retardation”, a formula posted here in April 2010 by DonD.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17415/baguettes-l039ancienne-cold-retardation
Here is how DonD describes his creation:
My first post in April of last year was about a side by side comparison of two of my favorite baguette formulations by Philippe Gosselin and Anis Bouabsa that David Snyder had previously published here on TFL. It was a tough choice to decide which one was better. The Gosselin baguette had an unequaled sweetness due to the overnight cold autolyse and the Bouabsa baguette had an incredibly complex taste due to the cold retardation. I was thinking why not have the best of both world so I started to experiment with combining the two formulations. After a couple of tries, I have succeeded in making a baguette that has the best attributes of both.
And below is my short pictorial history of cold proofed baguettes.
Field Blend #2 Gros Baguettes (yes these are giants even if they don't seem so)
SJSD
Gosselin Baguettes a l'Ancienne
(and my "spelunking" shot from today's bake)
For anyone ready to take the next step beyond the standard and wonderful baguettes so many of us practice, I suggest DonD’s formula. Give it a whirl. It is an IDY formula, but a next step even beyond this is the Gosselin SJSD version from Oct. 2012 by David Snyder (which will be coming up on my roulette wheel of bakes in short order).
alan
Comments
of baguettes. They all so perfectly crafted and baked. They have to be tasty with some fruit ,wine and cheese. Can't wait to see your long cold autolyse combined with long, coldm shaped, retarded proof of some SD only version. Lucy is planning one with at least 20% whole sprouted non wheat grains and a baked scald for extra flavor - sometime soon. She is hopelessly hooked on sprouted grains :-)
Keep those baguettes coming and happy baking
DBM,
On my recent post of tips and crusts I have a section dedicated to some absolutely lovely SJSD Gosselins. Here is perhaps my favorite shot:
But this time I think that I'll continue on my new dough experiment. Interestingly, I'm finding that they do not take any longer to prove in the fridge (so far) rather than on the countertop. I was so sure that the cold retard would extend the prove, but that has not yet been the case.
Castagna, my Lucy, is a big time consumer of the bread, but she still hasn't mastered the ability to handle dough. The slow evolution from paws to fingers is apparently not working in her favor!
alan
Really great.
My Lucy is Barney :)
he gets more scrapes than she does - which would be near impossible !
I think he's flirting.
don't proof any faster on the counter than in the fridge has Lucy's head spinning. She says you need to heat the house up to more than 40 F or move to AZ where SJSD will proof so fast on the counter you cant shape them, score them and get then in the oven fast enough :-)
Happy baking alphnso
Great stuff, Alan. No crumb shot?
I made a boule of FB#2 today, should have made baggies!
Looking forward to trying the Gosselins.
Best,
-Gabe
but here is the crumb shot
As I reported earlier, the FB#2 boule had a depth of flavor that the baguette version only hinted at. So you apparently can't go too astray by baking the boule.
Great looking insides, thanks Alan. Strange that the boule should taste better, any idea why?
Cheers,
-Gabe
The long answer is maybe yes. I can take a guess that the bulk in the amount of the dough played a role. In the sense that at the end of bench fermentation I divided the dough into one boule which went into the banneton for cold retardation, and the two gros baguettes. These were pre shaped for baguettes and then also placed into the fridge for retardation overnight.
My understanding is that bulk fermentation, whether initial or being retarded, benefits from a larger, um, bulk or mass. Up to a point there may be distinct final characteristic benefits from the larger mass. This may also be why the Forkish method of so much wasted levain during feeding and refreshing is so outsized vs. what the final formula requires. The sheer mass of the levain might help it to develop more "character" than a smaller mass. Another thought is the the additional "man-handling" of the baguette dough, however minimal, may play a role in the final outcome. The boule goes relatively untouched once the bulk fermentation has completed.
But, for the most part, I'm still in the learning stage (and will be for the next several decades) and therefore my understanding of a lot of this hocus pocus about baking is still rudimentary. Perhaps some folks longer in the baking tooth than we two can chime in and provide some clearer light.
I bet you are right, particularly the first thought re: bulk.
In other news, do we need these? :)
http://cyan.com.ua/news/new-baguette-bag-on-wowcracy/