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happy baking accidents

freerk's picture
freerk

happy baking accidents

Today I was planning to do a baking test (inspired by Varda) comparing a filone made with Atta and AP-flour against the way I usually make it; with AP and another durum flour that I have that is slightly coarser and pale yellow. The formula is based on Glezer's filone.

Did you ever measure out the water you needed for a formula and then left both measuring cups on the table during mis en place? You guessed it; by the time I got to combining the final dough for the "traditional" filone, I thoughtlessly poured in the wrong (way too much) water...

I decided to turn things around to save the situation so I dedicated the over hydrated dough to my Atta experiment and made another "traditional formula" filone.

The Atta that I added to the over hydrated dough became the main flour, together with a little AP and 250 grams of "fine durum" (by lack of a better term). I should have kept track of the numbers but I didn't... I went for roughly the same consistency as the normal filone.

And, as I was already messing up my initial test, I also gave both Atta's the Richard Bertinet-way of developing the dough a spin... or rather a SLAP (in this case by what must be the cutest baker in the western hemisphere).

I felt like I was boldly going where probably most of you have gone some time ago. It was a blast! I felt like a kid in a candy store.

Durum should of course be handled with care. But once I got going and felt the dough developing under my hands faster than I ever experienced before... I went for it! As a matter of fact I was so happily slapping it around I woke up half the house... but it worked so nicely I couldn't resist, even it is a Sunday...

As a matter of fact I decided to also give the traditional filone a slap. That turned out to be not so good a decision. As much as the Atta didn't really seem to care being slapped around, Glezer's filone didn't really benefit from it but rather suffered.

So, after breaking all the rules, and just doing things by good ole intuition, I ended up with this trio:

Number one and two are the Atta's and number three (as usual going all slug on me) the traditional formula for Filone, with black sesame as a variation. The first Atta is decorated with a seed mix pretty much similar to the one that goes onto the pain aux céréales and number two is, as you can see... plain.

The taste of the Atta blew me away!

The black sesame filone ended up a bit more yellow than I'm used to (or is it because it stands out so yellow against the Atta?):

My filone crumb usually has bigger holes and is bit more chewy, but I'm perfectly happy with this.

Lesson learnt:  This last durum definitely wants to be handled with care, whereas the Atta seems to be more tolerant to this method of handling.

And!

Don't leave water jugs you don't need on the table during mis en place...

Happy Baking

Freerk

varda's picture
varda

one and all.    I am not quite sure how you recovered from your accident but may all recoveries be so successful.   Glad you liked the Atta.   It may not be extra fancy but it sure is tasty.   -Varda

freerk's picture
freerk

Hey!

Thank you so much! I had a great durum day.

I really like the taste of the Atta. The whole meticulously planned day sort of went into free baking mode. Next time I'll stick to the numbers again. Today was all about being elbow deep in flour and dough. Thanks again for the inspiration!

I am still trying to work out the differences in taste between Atta-durum and the "regular" one. My little mishap doesn't make that any easier, cause both durums are in the Atta dough... But they are all definitely delicious!

Freerk

nicodvb's picture
nicodvb

not only for the beautiful filones, but for the feel that you gained with your flours.

lumos's picture
lumos

All three look great, Freerk.  The Atta flour+multiseeds combination must've been really wonderful. And the yellowy crumb of filone is extremeling appealing.  After reading your report, I'm really tempted to try using Atta flour as the first stepping stone to reach durum based bread.  Thanks for sharing.

As for accidents....well, actually I'm the Queen of accidents and forgetfulness.  I don't know how many times I swamped my poolish baguette dough by adding 70% water to final dough, in spite of I should've only add 20% because I'd already add 50% of it when I made poolish. What you get then is another poolish....  And how many times I forgot to add ingredients that I'd carefully mis en place everything precisely because I'm so forgetful. I even managed to write my first blog entry here because of my carelessness.  So sometimes, accidents can be blessing. :p

Kind regards,

lumos

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Whatever went wrong, the results are looking tasty.

David

varda's picture
varda

Did you really do it?   600 times?   Why so much work?   -Varda

lumos's picture
lumos

'Slapping' was the first technique I learned other than conventional 'kneading' technique by watching the DVD that comes with Richard Bertinet books, before I learned my current favourite, S&F.  But I must admit I miss slapping sometimes....It's strangely therapeutic and satisfying..... One of the reasons why I sometimes over-worked my dough in those days. :p

lumos

freerk's picture
freerk

I did really do it, but not 600 times. I just kept on going until the dough was developed, and that went quite fast actually. -Freerk