The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Day 2, still sponge bread, no real alveoli

moxiemolly's picture
moxiemolly

Day 2, still sponge bread, no real alveoli

Day 2 of my year to master bread making. OK, maybe not "master" but at least get a firm grasp on bread making. I was the lucky recipient of a cuisinart this holiday and have decided to make good use of it. My mother is what I would call a master of the dough but she has years and years of experience. As a 30 year old, newly-wed, fourth year medical student I figure now is the time to start! 

These loaves are from the King Arthur Baking book recipe for baguettes, as you can see I am sticking to the boulle until I can get other things right, namely the sponge, or crumb of my loaf. So far everything comes out looking beautiful and tasting nice but looking like sandwich bread on the inside. These are my second attempt and they are made with a poolish and autolysing step. The flavor is much more developed but the crumb leaves much to be desired. Next attempt will be after I sit for step 2 of the board exams, an eight hour exam I have in two days. Any suggestions about developing the crumb are more than welcome!  I am excited to have found this wonderful resource to help me along the way. Thanks for reading, Molly

 

Comments

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

for the boule.  Compare to the baguette recipe and handle dough like baguettes only make round shapes and see if that gets the bubbles you want.   Don't let the poolish stand too long in a warm kitchen.  This can break down gluten structure and reduce the stretch in the dough if it goes on too long, and stretch is good for bubbles!  Another tip is to keep the dough on the soft side or wet.  Try not to add too much flour.   Keep track of the temperature of the dough.  Warmer thinner doughs go thru various processes faster than cooler thicker doughs.

Welcome Molly to TFL, The Fun Lab!

Mini

moxiemolly's picture
moxiemolly

Thanks Mini, I do think the dough was a little dry. Being a novice I think I'm still a little afraid of the wet, sticky doughs. I will try not to add too much to this next batch and see what happens! The poolish has been amazingly stretchy, almost like there is glue in it, it sat overnight at about 67 degrees. This is great fun, thanks for the welcome, Molly