Baguette Progress!
I lied. I changed more than one thing and I made two batches again! But it worked out this time, or at least one batch did.
First I made a batch of Forkish's FWSY all-levain overnight country blonde, but I messed up by using my 100% hydration starter where he uses 80% (I'll figure out the math one day). The dough was extremely slack, despite six stretch and folds. As I mentioned in a comment elsewhere, I ended up with a bastard child of ciabatta and baguette (ciabette or baguetta?), but I have to say they were delicious. Nice and tangy on the day of baking, a bit mellower next day. I'm proud of my Brooklyn SD starter! Hard to shape and score due to the slackness.
Crumb was nicely holey and glutinous/custardy:
As soon as I saw these were not going to be my breakthrough baguettes, I started a batch of txfarmer's straight dough. As usual I traded 50g of AP for 25g w/w and 25g dark rye for flavor, and added a 30 min autolyse. After my last failure I was taking no chances and put one cast iron Mega Steam pan and one plain CI pan (getting lava rocks this weekend) on the oven floor as I started preheating. I got more steam than ever before! It was billowing out of the vent (I tried to block it with tea towels) and even out of the sides of the door—never seen that before!
Shaping and scoring were decent, and I think I helped my effort by making 16" demis instead of my usual 20" demi+ size. The smaller size made it easier for me to limit myself to three slashes rather than the four or five I usually attempt. I made a very conscious attempt to overlap by 30% and tried to keep the lame angle correct. There's still some inconsistency between the scores, but overall I am pleased. Watched the bake like a hawk; steam came out at 6 minutes, total bake was 30 mins +5mins with oven off and door cracked.
Ears! Not Spocklike (RIP, Leonard), but better than usual. Less Nessie!
Crumb:
And just to prove I'm really a Brit :-D
Thanks once again to all the fine folks here for the encouragement and insight. Now to try it with other recipes and aim for consistency!
-Gabe
Comments
they are with softened butter and marmite! Those who love marmite are friends! I'm a Malaysian by the way, marmite was introduced by the Brits when we were colonized. Best thing ever!
But I do think you need to be raised on the stuff. It's certainly something that you either love or hate.
A funny line from "British People Problems" is:
"My girlfriend claims she’s ‘neither here nor there’ on Marmite. Now I can’t trust anything she says or does."
:)
I have a marmite teapot and mugs, also salt and pepper shakers!
-Gabe
Love the crust and crumb. Improvement? No. PERFECT!
Not yet perfect, and I'm glad - the chase is half the fun!
Thanks for the generous words.
-Gabe
bold bake Gabe. It is only a matter of time before SJSD baguettes succumb to your blade. Well done and happy baking
SJSD still scare me!
These look great! Now, what are you gonna do with all these baguettes?
Have no experience with Marmite, but do like their advertising spirit!
Cathy
I would frame that!
Thanks Cathy, I gave some to my upstairs neighbor who is amazing (shovels snow unprompted!) and some to the lady who owns my local bar :)
-Gabe
I'd be pretty happy with baguettes like those, and the crumb looks perfect! I'm not much of a Marmite person but I bet they'd be delicious with butter and orange marmalade.
That sounds good! I bet marmalade would be fun to make, too.
Thanks for the compliment!
-Gabe
'nuf said! (I'll keep this one to under 1000 words...)
I really appreciate all the help and support from a fellow baguette-baker!
Hope I can keep it up.
-Gabe
...on your baguette mastery ride! Amazing crumb - wow! Your perseverance is really paying off. Can you describe how exactly you created your version of mega steam? Like dabrownman? Did you put 'a towel into water into a pan into the oven' while preheating, thus not pouring hot water into the pans once you are loading the bread? You said you put two pans? Both at the bottom?
In order to block the steam I recommend using wet tea towels, but I assume you did just that.
Can't say for sure, but...we know that vent is there for a reason. With an old purely mechanical oven, you might be able to get away with it. If you have a newfangled oven with electronics and "brains" built into it, there is a possibility that blocking the vent could/might create some type of issue with the control panel, and would probably put your oven out of any kind of warranty, and maybe an unwelcome visit from a repair man.
The goal with creating enough steam for your dough to bathe in is to do just that. Exceeding the goal by creating the equivalent of a volcanic fissure's worth of steam is not necessary. This isn't pressure cooking. If you need more steam that you feel you are getting, while still trying to attain the appropriate goal, then just add another Sylvia towel or more water on top of your lava rocks, river rocks, nuts and bolts or whatever is in your oven before and during the initial loading of dough.
I work with one Sylvia towel setup and one pan with lava rocks. There's steam coming out of my oven's vent non-stop and when I open the oven door at ~12 minutes, I have to keep my face clear of the blast still emanating from the oven.
You don't get more points for creating a super steaming box, but you just might wind up damaging your oven. Others may have a differing opinion.
Thanks Chouette, much appreciated.
I did it pretty much like dabrownman, but started the preheat much earlier after my last "much less than mega-steam."I put water and towels in one pan, and just an empty pan next to it, both on the oven floor.
By the time the dough was ready to go in, the pan with towels was just about empty, and I dumped about 1.5 cups of boiling water into each pan.
As Alan says, you may need to be careful with electronics, but my oven, while not old, is purely mechanical apart from an lcd clock and timer. I added more boiling water for another burst after about 4 minutes, and took the steaming apparatus out at 6 minutes, based on constant observation of the bloom through the window.
Best,
-Gabe
Look folks, I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here, but here are 2 of many links I found about venting gas ovens, and Gabe I see that you have a gas oven:
http://www.abe.iastate.edu/extension-and-outreach/carbon-monoxide-poisoning-gas-fired-kitchen-ranges-aen-205/
http://www.cdc.gov/co/faqs.htm
Now, as with most other things in life, I am no expert, and they may be referring to a different venting system. But I've made it through 6.5 decades without poisoning myself so far, and I wouldn't be so inclined to start now. Although I admit to accidentally lighting the kitchen floor on fire when I was a not-so-smart young'un as well as a few dozen other stupid boy transgressions.
Maybe I'm just spouting a hair-on-fire warning here, but I suppose that is better than a house-on-fire?
I'm not overly concerned about pretty inefficiently attempting to block the vent for the 6 minutes or so that I had steam going, but this has definitely reminded me I need to put new batteries in the smoke/CO detector!!!
We had no heat for a week this winter and I did what these links seem to think is the worst possible thing - heated the kitchen for hours with the oven on with the door open!
I don't really understand the physics - how is the flame bar in the oven different from running the burners on top of the stove? I also don't really understand how blocking the vent that vents into the kitchen, not outside the house, increases CO buildup. This is why I am not a scientist :)
Thanks for the warnings, Alan.
PS - how on earth did you light the floor on fire? I once let a bath seriously overrun and caused about a 4inch flood in my entire bathroom and kitchen. We'd make a good team :)
rogue "experiment" with my chemistry set. Decided to heat up a jar of alcohol dissolved phenolphthalein for who-knows-why. Well, the surface of the liquid in the jar lit up on fire and when it became too hot, I dropped it - all over the floor. Fortunately, in the kitchen onto the linoleum floor and where my cohort and I formed an instant bucket brigade as we were right next to the sink.
I'm not sure whether I waited decades to tell my mother or never did. Sorry, but I don't have any tales to tell about flooding. Well, there's one big one that took out my downstairs ceiling and warped my entire LR floor. But that's for another day and besides, it wasn't my fault.
Boy Genius!
"for who-knows-why"! Yep, I've done a few things for that same exact reason ;)
Glad nobody was hurt! I set a our Xmas tree on fire as a kid, that was exciting. It was in an upstairs bedroom and my poor Mum had to bravely hurl it out of the window, fully aflame.
So you worried me enough to put fresh batteries in the smoke/CO detector. I started the oven preheat a couple of hours later, and in maybe 40 minutes the CO alarm was going off! Yikes, says I!
Remembering that there was probably a reason I took that battery out in the first place, I eyed it suspiciously, silenced it, opened the bathroom window, put it in there, and closed the door. 10 minutes later is started up again. I put it outside, it started up again.
So either I need a new detector, or all of Brooklyn is thoroughly suffused in carbon monoxide, which is, of course, entirely possible.
-Gabe
Congratulations Gabe, two beautiful bakes! I love the leap and the difference, mouth watering :)
You achieved an amazing balance in the crumb/crust/shape arena, inspiring and the crackle......
But of course I have a question :) When you shape and set to rise prior to baking, what are you doing? I'm losing something in the transition from preshape to shaping. I'm curious on your technique - those bakes bloomed and rose so well.
Beautiful loaves, ongoing :)
~D
It was definitely my best effort so far.
I'm doing pretty much the technique in the Hamelman videos (or trying to, I should say!). Your breadhitz video was excellent too, they make it look so damn easy, don't they?
I'm making Hamelman's Vermont Sourdough today, can't decide if I want to take a short break from baggies and make a boule or a couple of batards.
Thanks again,
-Gabe
I was actually referring to after shaping, are you using a professional couche for the baguettes after the shaping and before peel/scoring/baking? I've been using parchment and researching found that may be counter productive to using a linen couche so I'm exploring options.
I keep looking at your photos for inspiration on the baguette quest, they are just fantastic!
My SD starter just kicked to high gear and I'm getting a bit distracted :)
Thanks Gabe!
Yes, I am a gear addict, so I got a lovely french linen couche early on.
http://www.amazon.com/Bakers-Couche-Linen-Proofing-Cloth/dp/B0053NRBO2
I truly appreciate your lovely words regarding the quest, and am so flattered that you are following along, but I do hope you are looking also at the baguette journey's of dmsnyder and alfanso who are both much further along the path than little old me!
Looking forward to your next go!
Best,
-Gabe
and with no false modesty. In the hierarchy of things, David Snyder is a Master Po. I am merely Grasshopper.
;-D
You have both, however, generously provided us with lots and lots of very helpful info on the pursuit of baguette nirvana.
Cheers,
-Gabe
FANTASTIC work!
Appreciate all the encouragement along the way. Hoping I can repeat it!
Just shaped three batards, and I'm with you, not as easy as I remembered!
-Gabe