Baguette (best so far)
It's not the best or holiest baguette I've seen, but I think it is a solid attempt to develop upon (it's actually my fourth attempt since last week). I used all purpose flour (or something between APF and bread flour, it says 12.78% protein), 67% hidration and 20% sourdough starter, plus about 3% of malt flour, mixed and folded a few times yesterday afternoon, retarded in the fridge overnight and shaped and baked this morning.
The crust is really nice, not too thick, the crumb is soft and almost creamy; the taste is mostly sweet.
I think mostly I need to improve the shaping because they had some irregular bursts from the oven spring and even though they expanded nicely, there is no discernibe "ear" in the slashes. I might remove the malt flour (I used it mainly because I just found it and wanted to use it on something), and will try to increase the hidration a bit since the flour seems to be able to handle it.
Any thoughts?
Cheers.
Comments
baguettes are make with lower protein flour 10-11%. I think that AP alone will be better. Wetter means more open crumb but too wet, either in hydration or steam will cause the ears to collapse and disappear. I think moving up to 68% hydration ans using less thirsty AP flour will work together to help you out, Eventually you can move on up to 72% as your skills and expertise increase.
Make sure to follow David Snyder's tutorial for scoring baguettes and get the blade cranked over to 30 degrees off the horizontal and 1/4" deep.
Well done and Happy baking - it just takes practice and your example this time is getting close!
I was using another flour before with 11%, with the same hidration, but I couldn't get it to develop any structure. Perhaps it was just a matter of practice. Another problem I have is that I don't have a proper couche to proof them; I use a piece linen cloth, but it is to thin and they stick to it, so if I'm not extra careful they deflate.
Anyway, I'll keep experimenting. Thanks.