ficelles | The Fresh Loaf

Submitted by dmsnyder on September 26, 2010 - 6:08pm

When you don't have time to bake bread, bake bread.

I based the formula and procedure for these ficelles on Pat Roth's (Proth5) baguette formula, which I have made several times. These are entirely levain raised and use a 65% hydration dough. The dough is entirely hand mixed. It employs a long bulk fermentation. The bread develops a delicious, sweet baguette flavor with no noticeable sourness when made following Pat's procedure. See Baguette crumb - 65% hydration dough

I wanted to make baguettes this weekend, but didn't have a block of time long enough. Also, I had a 125% hydration levain but not time to convert it to Pat's 100% hydration levain. So, I improvised.

Ingredients	Wt.	Baker's %
AP flour	11.25 oz	100
Water (80ºF)	6.25 oz	55
Salt	0.25 oz	2
125% hydration levain	3.0 oz	27
Total	20.5 oz

Note: Taking into account the flour and water in the levain, the Total Dough hydration is 63%.

Procedure

Prepare the liquid levain and let it ripen at room temperature until the surface is all bubbly (8-16 hours, depending on how active your seed starter is and the room temperature).
Refrigerate the levain for a day.
In a large bowl, dissolve the levain in the warm water. Add the other ingredients and mix to a shaggy mass.
Cover tightly and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
Stretch and fold in the bowl for 20-30 strokes. Re-cover the bowl. Repeat every 30 minutes 3 more times.
Transfer to a clean, lightly oiled bowl.
Bulk ferment 1.5 hours. Do a stretch and fold on the board.
Bulk ferment for another 2 hours.
Refrigerate overnight (8-12 hours).
Take the dough from the fridge and immediately divide it into 3 equal pieces.
Pre-shape each piece loosely into a log and cover them.
Let the pieces rest for 1 to 1.25 hours. The should feel a bit puffy but should not have expanded much.
Shape into ficelles and place en couche, seam side down.
Pre-heat the oven to 500ºF with baking stone an steaming apparatus in place.
Proof the loaves until they spring back slowly when pressed with a finger tip.
Pre-steam the oven.
Transfer the loaves to a peel (making sure that they are seam side down on the pel) and score them.
Load the loaves onto the stone. Steam the oven and turn it down to 460ºF.
Bake for approximately 20 minutes, until the loaves are nicely browned and the bottom sounds hollow when thumped.
Transfer the baguettes to a rack.
Cool completely before eating.

The ficelles had a crunchy crust. The crumb was sweet and tender with a very slight sourdough tang.

There is frequent discussion on The Fresh Loaf about how to fit baking into a busy schedule. I share this experience as an example of adaptation of a known recipe, usually made in one day, to a two-day procedure. I think it was reasonably successful, and I may very well do this again when I don't have an 8 hour block to babysit dough.

David

Submitted to YeastSpotting

Submitted by Doughtagnan on January 23, 2010 - 10:06am

My 1st attempt at the Nury (very) Rustic Light Rye and Bouabsa (non) Ficelle's

My 1st attempt at the Nury (very) Rustic Light Rye and Bouabsa (non) Ficelle's, I found both dough's quite challenging to work with as i'm not used to such wet dough's but they tasted great!, will have to work on my shaping/slashing technique!

Submitted by dmsnyder on December 2, 2008 - 10:56pm

Ficelles made with Anis Bouabsa's baguette formula

Flour 500 gms Giusto's Baker's Choice
Water 375 gms
Yeast 1/4 tsp Instant
Salt 10 gms

Mix flour and water and autolyse for 20 minutes.
Add yeast and mix by folding dough in the bowl.
Add salt and mix by folding dough in the bowl.
Mix dough by folding and stretching in the bowl for 20 strokes. Repeat this 3 more times at 20 minute intervals.
Refrigerate dough, covered tightly, for 21 hours.
Divide into 4 equal parts and preshape gently for baguettes.
Allow preshaped pieces to rest, covered with plastic, for 1 hour.
Shape into ficelles (short, thin baguettes).
Proof en couche or on parchment paper dusted with semolina for 45 minutes.
Pre-heat oven to 500F with baking stone in middle rack and a cast iron skillet and a metal loaf pan on the lowest rack. Preheat 45 minutes or longer before baking.
3-5 minutes before baking, place a handful of ice cubes in the loaf pan. Shut the oven door. Bring water to a boil.
Transfer the ficelles to a peel and load them onto the baking stone. Pour one cup of boiling water into the skillet. Close the oven door.
Turn the oven down to 480F.
After 10 minutes, remove the loaf pan and the skillet from the oven.
Continue baking for another 10-15 minutes until the loaves are nicely colored, the crust is hard all around and the bottom gives a hollow sound when tapped. Internal temperature should be at least 205F.
Cool on a rack completely before slicing.

Anis Bouabsa is a young Parisian boulanger who won the prize for the best baguettes in Paris in 2008. He gave Janedo, a French home baker extraordinaire and a member of TFL, his formula, and Jane shared it with us. He uses a technique of a long, cold fermentation which has been used, with variations, by a number of contemporary French bakers.

In addition to producing wonderfully flavored bread, it also permits the home baker to make bread using two blocks of about 2-3 hours rather than requiring longer time blocks. For example, I mixed the dough yesterday evening after dinner. I took it out of the refrigerator at about 4:30 pm this afternoon, and we ate it with dinner at 7:30 pm.

These ficelles sang loudly coming out of the oven. I cooled them for only 20-30 minutes. The crust was very crunchy, and the crumb had a sweetness that would make one think there was sugar in the dough. Very yummy.

Variations on Bouabsa's formula, adding 100 gms of sourdough starter and substituting 10% rye or whole wheat flour for an equal amount of white flour, make a delicious pain de campagne, which has become a favorite bread of several of us.

This is described in my blog entries under "Pain de Campagne" and "San Joaquin Sourdough."

Enjoy!

David