Mini baguette to test the sourdough waters
Its been 3 weeks I think this starter may be ripe now (also made a small batard) both popped pretty well. This is just a simple 123 formula using two starter mixed evenly (one a rye and the other a basic white flour starter). Levain build yesterday for about 4-5 hours followed by 12 hour bulk at just under RT - about 68f, saw about 1.5x rise around 10pm and decided to refridgerate until am. 7am completed the bulk at RT ~74f for 2-3hrs until double. Shape and rest for 1.5 hrs then bake. Nice thing is theres very little tang and the crust is not overly tough, quite delicate surprisingly. Other than that overall flavor is somewhat bland, but much better than anticipated (ie not overly tangy). So mayve its time to go full in and do some full size loaves ?
Comments
These mini-batards are a fun way to get a lot of shaping and scoring practice in. Back in Feb. this year I was on a short tear for a few bakes, enamored with the size of these little fellows using a few different formulae. I guess just for the change, maybe I saw them posted somewhere, or an inspired moment. Who remembers? I'm glad that I can still remember my dog's name!
Glad to see you sticking with the levains, at least for now.
alan
Doc had uploaded a cool video of mini baguettes bursting in time lapse and it occurred well thats a good way to hone in on formula and method without the woery of wasting too much flour. As mentioed these turned out rather nicely in terms of crust - first few tests resulted in uber tough crust verging on sry leathery texture which is a huge peeve of mine - nothing worse than cutting the roof of your mouth on bread. This batch used a 50/50 mix of KA AP and francine T55 so thinking now about trying another mini batch entirely of either T55 or T65. The othet thing thats running through my mind is maybe taking a stab at sourdough croissants. But back to these test loaves, the batard rose pretty well but I can see it had more potential and not sure if bulk was too short (only pushed about 1.5 times rise over many hours and cold retard) and then did shaping and final for 1.25-1.5 hours - somewhere in there is a sweet spot but not sure where yet...
And excellent crumb to-boot.
Success!
Its lechem - did the 123 since you are fairly bog on it. As mentioned I combined a rye starter and plain starter for the levain. Flavor was sort of absent - what would you do - continue on the 123 route or get more creative ?
But have been keeping it going as well as my wheat starter as it's just so tasty. I'd keep just the rye but don't wish to let go of my wheat starter as I've had it for a few years. I'd advise you to keep a rye starter and you can always build a levain with other flour. Or in turn keep the starter as it is and build a rye levain in a few feeds to get the best flavour out of it.
1:2:3 is a good recipe to build on. I think you should focus on the starter to bring out flavour. I'm also learning that for that perfect final loaf everything has to be done to optimal level. From the Levain build to bake. I'm also of the opinion to not use the Levain until it smells good even if it has peaked. If the starter doesn't smell lovely then how is the bread going to be flavoursome? I'm more adventurous with the Levain builds now. Try to get two builds in before a bake. For example my last bake needed 150g starter so I did the following...
1: 10g starter + 20g water + 20g whole rye flour. Left overnight for atleast 12 hours. A good feed and brings it up to strength. I wished to start the dough a little later on in the day but not too late so went into the next build of...
2: 50g starter (from build one) + 50g water + 50g whole rye flour. Waited for about 8 hours and it really matured into a strong starter with a lovely aroma.
After that I made the dough and finished the bulk ferment in 4-5 hours and then refrigerated the shaped dough overnight.
A lovely result. Play around with ideas and see what works best for you.
Thanks for the compliment but I'm still learning myself from many teachers here. Sharing ideas is how we learn.
Mini would be rolling over in her grave if she was dead, which she isn't ......thank God! It is a cutie like her though!
Something interesting - actually similar thoughts ran through my mind upon watching doc doughs video (mentioned above) would a mini baguette only 2-3 inches long be a cm wide ?