November 19, 2014 - 8:22am
Rubaud. He sifts, adds Spring wheat, and also diastatic malt
Just an observation. I see a few people have made his style of bread. Little things make a big difference. Very tasty, I like to bake a few batards a week. I add a pinch of C for good measure; but I also retard the loaves overnight.
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I read the multiple blog entries about his method, but could you post what you do with this bread as a formula?
from MC Farine's website?
They are very informative. Highly recommended!
Mr. Rubaud is an old fashioned baker like me.
He uses a mix of spelt, rye, spring wheat and winter wheat.
Stiff starter with a bit of salt, warm temperature. 15-30% is fresh ground mix like above, rest is Sir Galahad
Try 72% hydration
Maybe you like a bit of diastatic malt added?
Form batards or whatever you like. Voila.
He builds his levain a few times but you don't have to if you don't have the time.
Also he uses the same fresh mix for his levain.
Nice simple flavor you might like it
I just ended a short stint training with Gerard so I can add a bit more detail here . . .
Starter (he prefers the term "Culture") -- He mixes around 55% to 58% hydration. He was using straight AP for this when I was there (Sir Galahad). 1% salt. No diastatic malt. He aimed for a temp around 80F to 83F. The starter would proof around 9-10 hours at room temp and 2-3 hours in the fridge to slow it down and control acidity.
Dough -- 80% to 82% hydration. Flour was 70% Sir Galahad, 18% fresh ground hard red spring wheat (he loved that stuff), 9% fresh ground spelt, and 3% fresh ground rye. Aiming for a dough temp of 82F. Gently mix flour and water (no salt, no starter) then rest for 20-40 minutes. Briefly mix again, let rest another 20-40 minutes. Add salt and starter and mix gently until smooth. Proof at room temp for 4-6 hours.
Pre-round and rest for 20-30 minutes. Gently shape into batards (not too much tension) and proof in couche at room temp for 3 to 5 hours.
Bake in wood-fired oven.
The flavor goes deep. Moderately tangy (he's constantly tasting the dough to determine acidity) and complex. Hard to describe, but absolutely wonderful.
Cheers!
Trevor
Thanks Trevor.
M. Rubaud makes tasty bread.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
He is constantly refining his bread as you noted.
A while back I read he went to 15%. Now 30%. Full circle.
No malt? Good to hear. The spring wheat gives it more strength so maybe that is why?
He is retarding again. He started. He stopped. Now he started again. Do his customers notice these changes?
Anything you can share is appreciated. I had a batard a few years ago in Burlington and I was remembering the taste had a lot of the oven. I have a deck oven so it is hard to compete but I make it work. :)
How did you like his schedule? Too much for me. He's got more strength than me even though we are the same age.
He's constantly mixing things up. Just before I left he was considering dropping the spelt altogether, due to its skyrocketing price, and replacing entirely with the spring wheat. In fact, he prefers the flavor of the spring wheat over that of the spelt, but he did a survey a while back and found that most people preferred the bread when it included spelt. Not sure if he actually dropped it yet though.
As for the retarding, I'm not sure if anyone notices. His sales haven't changed, that's for sure -- rarely any returns. Rarely.
Gerard's oven is a great oven. Beautiful. And it bakes wonderfully. I love that it's both direct fired and also has a firebox below. After the initial burn in the baking chamber, he rakes the coals through a trapdoor into the firebox, then just adds a few logs to the fire here and there as he bakes -- it keeps a very even temperature even after many loads.
But you know, a good deck oven is a wonderful thing in itself.
And you're right -- he keeps a grueling schedule. Honestly, I don't know how he does it . . . or how much longer he can keep doing it. He's very frail and very slow. It's difficult to watch. But he told me he expects to keep on until he drops dead right in front of that oven. I couldn't help but caution that he'd best wait until the last loaf is out.
Cheers!