Going with the usage of these terms in Reinhart, where they have about the same hydration, and a pate fermentee has salt but a biga doesn't (and perhaps a bit less yeast), how does using a biga vs a pate fermentee affect the outcome of a recipe? Will taking a recipe that calls for one and using the other (adjusting for the salt difference in the final dough) change the result in any noticeable way? Has anyone experimented with this?

Eric

I'm using a pate fermentee in a whole-wheat loaf made with 50% ww and 50% apf. I much prefer using a poolish and would like to switch over. The dough is fairly extensible now and I wouldn't want to increase it.

The pre-fermented flour percentage with the pate is 25%. Anyone have experience with this type of substitution?

Dave

I'm not sure why, but the flurry of Anis Boubsa and Pain á l'Ancienne entries a short time back made me want to try baking baguettes...with the added stipulation of using straight sourdough and no baker's yeast.

I developed a recipe from Hamelman's Baguettes with Pâte Fermentée. This is what I came up with...

On Thursday night, I created the fermentée as follows:

• 140g SanFran Starter at 100% hydration
• 161g warm water
• 280g KA bread flour
• 7g Kosher salt

Mixed this by hand, covered, let ferment for 1.5 hours and then stuck in the fridge. This creates 588g at 66% hydration.

Two days later, on Saturday morning, I mixed the following for 4 minutes in a KitchenAid (dough hook, speed 1):

• 580g Pâte Fermentée (note: 8g less than the above)
• 140g SanFran Starter at 100% hydration
• 600g warm water
• 955g KA bread flour

[ETA: I first dissolved the starter in the water, mixed in the flour and pulled off chunks of the pâte by hand and added as the mixer was running. I also let the pâte fermentée warm up at room temp for 1 hour before using.]

After a 30 minute autolyse, I added:

• 21g Kosher salt

...and mixed another 5 minutes on speed 2. I then bulk fermented for 4.5 hours, folding at 45 minutes and 1.5 hours in. This made 2303g at 66% hydration.

After the bulk ferment I scaled out 4 portions of 420g each and stuck the remainder (about 620g) back in the fridge as pâte fermentée for later this week. I pre-formed 4 baguettes and benched for 10 minutes, rolled out to 18 inches, put in a couche and covered.

After a final proof of 1.5 hours, I removed 2 loaves from the couche and placed in a 500°F preheated oven, covered with a hotel-pan lid and steamed for 15 seconds. I steamed a 2nd time for 6 seconds 3 minutes later. After 15 minutes, removed lid, lowered oven to 460°F and baked another 15 minutes rotating the loaves every 4 minutes or so for even browning. Internal temp ended at 202.5°F (at high-altitude).

I then reset the oven for 500°F and put in a steam pan. At 2.5 hours I put the second pair in. As a small side experiment, instead of using the hotel-pan cover I normally do for steaming, I sprayed the loaves liberally with a spray bottle and poured 1/2 cup of hot water in the steam pan, following the same baking time/temps above.

I am incredibly happy with how this came out. However, if any of the more experienced bakers here have any suggestions for tinkering, I'd like to hear them. I make things up as I go along and I'm not always sure what I'm doing. (For example, does the autolyse really do that much in this recipe since there is already salt in the old dough?) I've been very lucky in my baking outcomes, but need to improve in many areas.

I have to say that TFL has been a major contribution to both my luck and improvement.

Notes:

• The hotel-pan setup is my homemade version of the SteamBreadMaker. It is hard to tell in the photos, but the covered loaves are a deeper brown, although subtly so, and they have a thinner, crispier crust and are, in my amateur opinion, much better
• 1st loaves were a bit under proofed, 2nd ones a little overproofed...not my forte to be able to recognize dough readiness yet
• I might do a longer bulk ferment next time
• Normally I use a SuperPeel, which is too small for the baguette length, so I'm not adept at shaking dough off a peel/pan...that's why my loaves are a bit bent like me
• Just when I think I have a handle on scoring, I have to think again
• The crust and crumb both had full flavor...although I'd like to try some of Janedo's french flour
• The crumb texture was perhaps one of my best outcomes yet..airy, not overly light, not gummy...just right
• For the anal-impaired, the scaled dough was 420g (14.8oz) and baked down to 336g (11.8oz)

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