The Fresh Loaf

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Baguettes proofing temperature

Dido18's picture
Dido18

Baguettes proofing temperature

Hi, all.How minutes  should be final proof baguettes?In most recipes final proof is  40-45 minutes, but this not work for me.My room temperature  is 29°C.I try 20,25,30 and 35 minutes final proof but each time result  was different.I I tried  "dent test" but result be under or  overproof baguettes.My baguettes proofed  with seam side up, and then i bake it with seam side down.I owe this to  high room temperature.

RoundhayBaker's picture
RoundhayBaker

Is there somewhere cooler you can prove them? Yeast is most active somewhere between 24-27°C. Once you get above or below that range, fermentation will slow down. I'm not sure how the 'dent test' gives you under- or over-proofed loaves, since the point of it is to avoid that, but I can understand the temptation to bake after waiting a long time with nothing much happening.

If you cannot find a cooler spot to prove in, then the baguettes will take longer than 45 minutes. How long is impossible to say precisely, but with baguettes it can be okay to be a little over-proofed (their very narrow cross-section means they bake very quickly), so next time it might be worth waiting until the loaves look and feel puffy and then whisk them into a steamy oven immediately (after scoring, of course). It is important to trust your sight and sense of touch rather than be a prisoner of the clock.

Hope this helps.

 

Dido18's picture
Dido18

In the first picture Baguettes proofed 30 minutes in a second 40 minutes at 23°C(in other room).This is poolish baguettes adapted from SFBI.Baked 12 minutes with steam at 480ºF then 13 minutes at 450ºF without steam.

Wild-Yeast's picture
Wild-Yeast

77 dF is recommended for sourdough but you may want to do the final proof at 83.4 dF - wild yeast is most active at this temperature and yields a more open crumb. Time at temperature depends whether you intend to retard the loaves. This can vary but generally it is around 55 minutes for a normal levain. A few experiments with the length of time will zero in on the one best for your workflow and ingredient mix...,

Wild-Yeast

Dido18's picture
Dido18

In your opinion what are the reasons for lack of oven spring?Time ,temperaute, shaping ? And also I transfer my baguettes with hands without fliping board.These poolish baguettes proofed at 23°C with different times (30 and 40min.)But again lacked oven spring.

RoundhayBaker's picture
RoundhayBaker

...transferring by hand. The delicate baguettes will droop and their cells will stretch and tear. Without a board you need to find a way to roll them onto a peel or into the oven.

Do you have a photo of the crumb? It's hard to diagnose lack of spring without one. Having said that, in the photo above, the slashes on the loaf have opened but healed, the crust looks quite light, and the cross-section looks slightly oval. These are all signs of under-proofing. I'd also guess that, to get the shape you've achieved, you've actually had really good oven spring, just as you'd expect from an under-proofed baguette. 

If your baguettes were over-proofed, you'd see dark crusts, narrow slashes, and flat cross-sections.

Time, temperature, or shaping?

You're obviously getting the temperature right, and the shape looks great, so the important factor is time. Apologies for harping on about this, but, if your baguettes are under-proofed, you need to be patient and prove for longer. 

Wild-Yeast's picture
Wild-Yeast

Get a roll of baking parchment. You can slide the proofed baguettes off the cookie sheet and into the oven by grasping the parchment edge and pulling it onto the baking service in one smooth motion. Try lowering the bakers percentage some and develop the all important skin tension by perfecting your forming technique (most difficult part for novice bakers to achieve).

I can't tell if they're under proofed without a crumb shot. 30 or 40 minutes does sound a bit short. Try going to 50-55 minutes and don't forget to steam at the beginning of the bake which aids oven spring immeasurably...,

Wild-Yeast

Dido18's picture
Dido18

Yesterday i make  straight method baguettes from txfarmer to do some tests.The hydratation is 70%, proofed at  23 ° С for 45 mins , i transfer baguettes with flipping board.

 

RoundhayBaker's picture
RoundhayBaker

..pleased with them. It looks like you should be. The crumb looks great, maybe a little more tight than I'd expect for 70% hydration. Have you considered cutting down to 68% or so, at least until you feel you've mastered the process fully? You've set a high bar to clear by making such high-hydration baguettes.

Anyway, the colour is good and your slashes have opened nicely. The tears might be an indication that you need to focus a little on your scoring. Are you using a lame/grignette/razor blade to score at a shallow angle? With baguettes, it's more about cutting a flap underneath the skin than incising into the loaf. 

Finally, do the loaves have a good circular cross-section? If so, then that's probably as good as they can be. If they are oval, then they could probably do with proofing even longer. It's really worth using the finger-poke test, it's far more reliable than absolute timings (which don't just vary because of temperature, but also with humidity, and what happens during bulk fermentation).