The Fresh Loaf

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Gosselin-Bouabsa Hybrid Baguettes à la dmsnyder à la DonD

wally's picture
wally

Gosselin-Bouabsa Hybrid Baguettes à la dmsnyder à la DonD

I love baguettes. I love them for the challenge but even more for the complexity of flavor that can be developed. My two favorites are Hamelman's poolish baguette and Sam Fromartz's Parisian baguette that gains so much from the addition of just a small amount of whole wheat flour and sourdough.

So having drooled over first DonD's blog on his attempt to marry his two personal favorites, and then having to tie a bib around my neck after reading (and seeing!) David's attempt at Don's baguettes, there was no drool left in me and nothing to do but try these to see what they would deliver in taste.

I ended up doing two bakes over the course of a week. I wasn't quite satisfied with the results of the first (I'll get to that), so I tweaked things a bit and ... well, we'll get to that also.

The formula:

AP Flour 450g
Medium rye 50g
Water 375g
Yeast 3.5g instant dry
Salt 9g

On my first bake, during the final dough mix I went for a slightly longer mixing period - 4 minutes on speed 1 and another 5 minutes on speed 2 (my little Hamilton Beach would have to work a very long time to overmix dough). I also opted to do 3 folds at 45 minute intervals during the 3 hour bulk fermentation, having read David's account of the amount of rise he got during the overnight retardation.

The results were ok, I think the crumb was relatively open and my cuts opened enough to allow additional rise.

But for my taste I thought the flavor showed a little too much of the rye. In any event, two baguettes can be consumed quickly, so I had sufficient reason to repeat the experiment with a few changes.

In bake #2 I made two changes to the formula - one intentionally and one, well, not, along with one procedural change. I reduced the percentage of rye to 6%, so in my case that meant adding only 30g of rye instead of the 50g called for. However, in my enthusiasm, I neglected to increase my AP (Sir Galahad) by 20g. This I realized, of course, after I had mixed the dough and autolysed it in the refrigerator.

Ok, so now I'm working with a 78% hydrated dough which would normally cause me to break out in a cold sweat; however, one of the beautiful aspects of this bread is that because the dough is shaped after an overnight retardation, it is much, much easier to handle and score than a 78% hydration dough mixed, proofed and shaped at room temperature. (Frankly, I'm not sure I'd even attempt to score such a highly hydrated dough under normal circumstances).

Procedurally, I decided to do my initial mix in the morning. I then autolysed the dough for 6 hours in the refrigerator instead of overnight. (Hey, one person's overnight might be only 6 hours, who's to say?). This allowed me to do the final dough mix in late afternoon, and to put the finished dough to bed for the night just ahead of me.

Next morning I divided the dough, bench rested for an hour, shaped and did final proofing for 45 minutes, and the finished product was out of the oven by 10:30am - a little more than 24 hours from the initial dough mix.

Anyhow, here are the results of bake #2. 

    

         I'm more pleased with the second bake, both in terms of appearance and flavor. The rye still comes through, but it is not quite as pronounced. Interestingly, the second bake tasted sweeter to me than the first, although both bakes came out well caramelized. So, bottom line, good taste, good crunch, good crumb!

And I now have three favorite baguettes thanks to dmsnyder à la DonD.

Larry

Edit: (Tip o' the hat to Andy) - I forgot to mention that I withheld 50g of water from the autolyse which I then incorporated along with the salt and yeast during the final dough mix the next day.  DonD and ananda had a long discussion about this technique which can be found here.  The cold dough (which has developed some gluten structure) does not easily accept additional water, but in the 4 minutes I mixed on speed 1 it pretty well incorporated it).

Comments

ananda's picture
ananda

Hi Larry,

Grear bread!

Did you hold back any of the water when doing the autolyse as Don and I were discussing at the time?

Yes, I agree, a cold dough does give so much more stability in the handling.

Best wishes

Andy

wally's picture
wally

Thanks Andy! Yes, I held back 50g of water from the autolyse.  It's something of a mess to incorporate (especially into cold dough), but after about 4 minutes on speed 1 it was pretty well mixed into the dough.

ananda's picture
ananda

Hi Larry,

I like the quality of dough from this formula.   I posted on it with Don's help about the same time he did; you kindly commented on the blog at the time.

Maybe you are like me and more familiar with techniques involving pre-ferments rather than long cold ones.   It's new territory for me as a commercial baker...but it's one that can be easily adapted to the timescale of a homebaker, no?

All good wishes

Andy

wally's picture
wally

Andy- Yes I am more used to working with poolish than with long retardation (and frankly, with the exception of bagels, we don't do overnight fermentation as a general rule).  I've edited the entry to acknowledge the conversation you and Don had and which I followed (to the point of withholding water in both attempts), but which in my multi-tasking mind forgot to include in my explanation - not a small point which should have been overlooked.  Thanks for bringing that up!

ananda's picture
ananda

Yes Larry,

that "sloshing" sound may well continue to reverberate in both our minds for some time to come!

Thanks for including the link

Best wishes

Andy

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

It's interesting that you found 10% rye was too much. I don't get any identifiable rye flavor, and I use dark rye. Maybe your palate is more sensitive than mine.

David

wally's picture
wally

David - Thanks!  I'm not sure it's my palate; it could well be the flour.  I used Hodgson's all-rye which I attempt to turn into medium rye by putting it through a very fine sieve.  But I definitely discerned a difference in the two bakes.

Larry

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Both bakes are stunning, both in crust and crumb.  Just beautiful.

I checked my own notes (assimilated from David's and Don's blogs) and see that they call for 470g flour, 30g rye, and either 375 or 350 grams of water, depending on the chosen hydration, 8.75 g salt and 3.33 - 3.50g of yeast.  I need to go back to Don's blog and doublecheck, as I think he may have modified the yeast amount.

I had started to chart the timing, then got sidetracked.  Am glad I waited, as now there's another set of footsteps to follow.

Hoping to get my notes and timing in order so I can try it this weekend.  

Be proud of those baguettes!

wally's picture
wally

Thanks so much Lindy.  It took me awhile to track through Don and David's correspondence and posts, but here is where I ultimately arrived at for the recipe.

It's well worth the effort, so good luck and I look forward to your post!

Larry

inlovewbread's picture
inlovewbread

Great job on these baguettes Larry! They look wonderful. 

wally's picture
wally

Thanks so much!

Larry

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

Great looking, color, crust, scoring, shaping and crumb...love the whole works!

Sylvia

wally's picture
wally

My attention may be turning to stuffed braids....

Llarry

hansjoakim's picture
hansjoakim

Lovely baguettes!

wally's picture
wally

I look forward to seeing more of your beautiful ryes!

Larry

Sedlmaierin's picture
Sedlmaierin

Those look great! I hope one day I can make baguettes that are as gorgeous looking and tasting.......

Christina

wally's picture
wally

You will, it just takes practice.  I bake about a hundred of these a day at work, so it gives me a lot of that.  Stay with it, and look at dmsnyder's tutorials on slashing techniques.  They'll help you a lot!

Larry

DonD's picture
DonD

I am glad you like the formula. I have revised my post to show the reduced amount of yeast that I use. For 500 gms of flour mix, I only use 1/2 tsp IDY which translate to 1.6 gms if my conversion is correct. I find that with the long cold fermentation, it is enough to double the volume of the dough after retardation. I also reserve 50 gms of water to add after the overnight autolyse.

Don

wally's picture
wally

Thanks Don!  I'll take note of the reduced yeast.  That will probably allow me to do three folds in the first hour followed by 2 hrs. of allowing the dough to proof before retarding.

Larry