No oven spring
It is just drawing me crazy when I see all your beautiful baguettes, and mine are looking more like a baseball bat then anything else, please help. I use 1kg bread flour, 700 g water, 1 ½ t yeast, 1T salt.
I use autolyse for 1h with 700 gr water, yeast and 700 gr flour, ad the rest of flour and mix by machine for 6 min (3 min speed 1, 3 min speed3), and when I take the dough is still a mess, no real gluten development (supposedly that’s the way should be with a long rise). Everything goes on a warmer refrigerator (40 F) for 16h, then preshape, leave the dough 30min to rest then my troubles begin: -the dough resist shaping.
I leave the shaped baguettes out for 3h but by the time I’m ready to bake them there are still not double on size. I score them and place them on 450F steamed oven.
While the crumb is good (big holes), the taste is good, the crust is crunchy I can’t get them to open up on their steams and rise.
Hi,
I use autolyse for 1h with 700 gr water, yeast and 700 gr flour,
Autolyse is only flour and water!!! Dont use yeast in autolyse!
You added yeast to the autolyse thats mean you have 1 hour fermentation + 16 hours in fridge + 30min rest + 3 hours after shaping. Your baguettes were overprooft, this explains missing oven spring.
Which type of yeast did you used: instant, active dry or fresh?
then my troubles begin: -the dough resist shaping
Probaly because dough was too could, try next time at 45°F for shorter time (14 hours). Maybe is your flour too strong (high protein level)? Flour with high protein level ( 13-14 %) is a good choice for bread with higher rye content but bad choice for baguettes.
My suggestion:
Flour choice: Blend all-purpose and bread flour to 50/50 (all-purpose flour has less protein level, better extention of dough)
Overnight fermentation at 45°F (Fridge)
Divide , preshape and let rest for 30-40 min.
shape baguettes, let ferment for 90 min and bake.
Thanks for valuable input,
I did the autolyse only flour and water, mixt the dough a little bit more for more gluten development, and have the final proof for only 1 hour (the room is cold).
I think that was my issue, overproofing.
Dough was easier to manage and I had a pretty oven spring.
I used bread flour, next time I will definitely try 50/50.