A Cold Retard On Proth5's 65% Baguette Recipe

Submitted by Dhaus on March 18, 2009 - 2:48pm

A Cold Retard On Proth5's 65% Baguette Recipe

Sometime ago, dmsnyder posted a recipe and some pics on his blog of a levain based 65% hydration dough for baguettes that I believe was based on a formula from proth5. David mentioned that he was going to try a cold retard on the dough to see how it might add more flavor development.

I might have missed his post on his outcome, but I decided to also give it a try being that I have been doing a lot of over night chills on some of my doughs lately.

I pretty much followed the posted recipe to the letter except that after the final shaping, I did a overnight retard in the fridge in couche.

The formula yielded two 10.25 oz baguettes. The crumb was silky and very light with a nice hint of sweetness. The crust was nutty and not too thick.

I would like to thank proth5 for the initial formula and David for his blog. The sharing of ideas is what a lot of what this forum is all about and it has given me much inspiration in my baking.

Darren

Filed under:

General Discussion and Recipe Exchange

Submitted by Paddyscake on March 18, 2009 - 4:52pm.

Those look...

really nice, crust and crumb!

Betty

Submitted by dmsnyder on March 18, 2009 - 9:28pm.

Fine-looking baguettes!

Hi, Darren.

Your baguettes look really good. It sounds like you enjoyed the results of overnight retardation.

You didn't miss my post because there was none. I did a nose .... errrr ... heel count in my freezer and felt I needed to go into a more intense baguette consumption mode for a while before shifting back into production.

I expect I'll be baking bread again the weekend after next. Maybe some baguettes, even.

David

Submitted by Dhaus on March 19, 2009 - 7:06pm.

Thanks David

I would very much like to see your results from this process. I am quite sure they will be excellent.

By the way, I know that where you live you are privy to some much better flour selections. The best I have available here is KA. I used their AP for this formula.

Do you find a significant enough performance difference in yor formulas to justify paying the shipping for some of the more exotic flours available online?

Also, I think you stated that you use malt syrup in your sourdough. Does that make a noticable difference in your crust?

Thanks as always,

Darren

Submitted by dmsnyder on March 19, 2009 - 10:40pm.

Flours

Hi, Darren.

I have used a variety of flours for baguettes, but I don't think you gain much from using "exotic" flours. I do like the results from using some sourdough starter as a preferment and adding a touch (5-10%) rye for flavor. I'd sure like access to French organic T65 just to try it, though.

I use malt syrup for some sourdoughs. It does caramelize the crust beautifully, but it's not critical.

David

Submitted by gosiam on March 20, 2009 - 8:01pm.

Fantastic Baguettes

Darren, beautiful bread. It so happens that I baked these very same (as per david's blog) today. This is actually the only baguette I bake now, as it represents everything one could ask of a baguette.

I agree that flour does not matter much. I baked mine with unbleached AP - protein content 13.3%, and here are the results.