We vacationed in France this year and had the pleasure of dining at several upscale Michelin starred restaurants. I noticed a trend toward offering small crusty rolls rather than sliced bread(s). in some cases the rolls were warm as if fresh from the oven. There were always crusty fresh rolls with chewy crumb. There would also be two or three alternate choices, usually a dark bread, and a walnut or olive bread.
I feel like I had a breakthrough with this evening's baking. I've been reading Reinhart and Hammelman's books and studying all the things that have gone wrong over the past month and it kind of came together.
This was pretty standard baguette dough. I made the Poolish with five ounces of flour and water and a pinch of yeast and let go for nine hours. When I got home from work I added 15 ounces of flour and 8 1/2 ounces of water and a teaspoon of yeast and the salt. After rising and folding and rising; I formed them into eight, 4 1/4 ounce rolls
