March 10, 2016 - 11:03am
Pain a l'ancienne (Reinhart)
Just started a batch of dough for this recipe from The Baker's Apprentice and realized just a bit too late that it is for a larger batch (6 baguettes) than many from the book. I had a batch of 3 in my mind. Has anyone had any experience delaying baking this dough for a day or two? Given the importance of time in the retarding process, I am not sure if this is a good idea.
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"Meanwhile, dust the other pan of strips with flour, mist with spray oil and slip into a food-grade plastic bag...If you don't plan to bake these strips within an hour, refrigerate the pan and bake later or the next day."
In the section on using the pain a la ancienne dough for pizzas, he says it will keep for three days in the refrigerator or you can freeze it.
I bake my version of this bread every week. You can keep the dough or breads a day longer in the fridge. But, since the breads are small, I would rather bake all and freeze half of them, cut in halves to fit in freezer bags. (Take them out of the freezer, spray them all over with water, and bake them at 375 F, until thawed and re-crisped).
Karin
Note that this dough is used for focaccia (so good!) and pizza dough. I've never differed from the recipe, but this is a fun opportunity to see what will happen. Please keep us posted.
I noted that in the pizza section, but was wondering if somehow the rise would be affected. Anyway, I will split the batch, make half today (Friday) and half Sunday.
Thanks for the input - I will post back results.
Made half the batch on Friday. gave the dough 5 hours in the pre-shaping stage, at 3 hours it gave the impression it had unfinished business. Baked on a stone for 8 minutes at 500 degrees, with a steam pan, then rotated to ensure consistency and baked for another 10.
Overall, I was absolutely delighted, one of the best breads I have ever made. Baguettes were rather difficult to shape, the dough has an unusual consistency, as suggested by the recipe scoring was not easy.
Two days later, with the other half of the batch, the dough was forming large bubbles after 3 hours, so I did not take it as far, shaping the baguettes two hours earlier. Despite the more visible bubbles, the rise did not seem as great. My guess is that there is some gas-off, perhaps due to handling as well as time. Baked identically, except for taking one minute off the second stage of baking. The first batch had seemed somewhat dark.
I was surprised that the bread came out a bit darker despite the reduced time. I found these loaves even harder to shape than the first batch, no prizes for elegance here. Not quite sure why the surface picked up or kept less flour, perhaps I simply had less on the counter, but I think it was also a matter of how difficult it was to shape or move them, the bread just did not have as much contact with the floured surface.
Now, the important thing is this also tastes fantastic. Oven rise seems roughly similar as well, consistency about the same although the 3-day slow ferment clearly has larger chambers.
If I had to choose between the two, I think I would go for the 1-day results, especially if the bread was used for a sandwich or the like. But I won't hesitate to do this again where I simply don't want to make the whole batch at once. Both produce a bread I really like.