The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Bouchon bakery recipe instructions. are they right?

leechild4's picture
leechild4

Bouchon bakery recipe instructions. are they right?

hi all,

i am just beginning my bread making journey and whilst waiting for my starters to grow and develop. i tried the batard recipe in the bouchon bakery book. it mentions the use of all purpose flour as well as mixing in the machine for 20 mins. i am assuming both of these instructions are correct, but wondered as i've always read that you use bread flour and kneading only takes 5-10mins usually esp if using a machine.

i tried the recipe and the mix just stayed in a wet mess even after folding it ever hour for three hours. it didn't have the same smooth structure you see when gluten starts to develop.

just wondering if you guys could tell me where i might have gone wrong.

thanks

Ben

RoundhayBaker's picture
RoundhayBaker

...learnt that despite their general designations being the same, all-purpose flours from different mills behave, well, very differently. I've found it often takes several attempts to match something from a bakery book.

I've not read it, but one huge problem that possibly applies to the Bouchon Bakery book, is that bread books produced by famous bakers (especially Tartine) are often based on formula made with flours not easily found by home bakers and using equipment too large to fit into a domestic kitchen. For example, twenty minutes on a stand mixer might be acceptable for an enriched dough like a brioche (it might also overheat the mixer) but is completely over-the-top for a domestic quantity of bread dough. However, it might be fine for a huge amount of dough mixed at a very slow speed in a bakery.  It's not  a universal problem, some bakers do make a huge effort to adapt for the home baker. Ken Forkish and Jeffrey Hamelman are good examples.

Just as an example, the amount of protein in a flour is critical in developing gluten. I buy all-purpose flour from a miller at 10.6% protein. My local supermarket has six different all-purpose flours and their protein levels range from 9.4% to 11.6%. If you tried to hand-knead dough made with the first of those you would probably still be doing it this time next year without getting good gluten development.

So maybe experimenting with a different flour is worth exploring. The packet should list protein content. 12% makes very good bread. 

leechild4's picture
leechild4

thank you so much for the quick reply. i do really like the book and it has lots of other great recipes in their for pastries etc, but perhaps you are right. are the two authors you mentioned recommended for the home baker then? any particular books of theirs that are good for a beginner?

obviously i'll be scouring the forums here, and although after 15+hrs it is a little disheartening to have to start again, i guess everyone has to start somewhere.

will pay more attention to the protein levels as well in the flour that i buy.

thanks again.

RoundhayBaker's picture
RoundhayBaker

..can be answered easily. I know from discussions after teaching baking classes that what one person finds easy and readable might not work for another. Hamelman is many people's baking Bible, but it is expensive and superficially intimidating. However, the recipes themselves are thoroughly tested and many are very simple. Forkish's book teaches you how to bake in his idiosyncratic style. It can get quite elaborate but does produce delicious home-baked bread. I'm a big fan of Nancy Silverton's books but they too are not to everyone's liking.

Can I suggest using the TFL Handbook? It's in the links at the top of this page. It describes how to bake clearly and with simplicity, gives you a not-overwhelming choice of recipes, and is written with beginners in mind. I had nothing to with compiling it so this is an unbiased recommendation.

Just remember that it's best to practice a recipe until you've perfected it and then move on. Doing so builds your technique until you get to the point that you're looking for challenges rather than being challenged by every recipe you encounter.

Happy baking.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

content but they can have a wide range if the 2 proteins that make bond to make gluten with water.  White hard spring wheat and red hard winter wheat have the same protein but the former has much mire of the important gluten proteins and why it is used to make High Gluten flour.  So, not only will King Arthur AP have way more protein than the grocery store brands, it will also have more of the proteins important for bread making.

When baking a new recipe, especially one from a famous baker, it is wise to hold back on the water until you feel how the gluten is developing with stretch and folds or slap and folds.  Another good reason to not use a mixer is to learn how dough develops gluten and what each stage feels like.  Who wants to clean the darn thing anyway.  Commercial bakers have to use them because of he mass quantaties of bread they need to make in a short time.

Traditional artisan bread, practiced by many artisan bakers around the world to this day, is made in small batches, by hand, without the use of machines and baked in a WFO.  Many of us will never have a WFO so we can only pretend to make real artisan bread at home,,,,, but we can use our hands for everything else and make better bread than most commercial bakeries.  Getting to know what dough feels like is just one step in learning about what dough should feel like but learning it will make your bread much better.  

Happy baking 

suave's picture
suave

In the book he is very specific about the kind of flour they use for their bread - Harvest King.  This is the same flour as GM Better For Bread, which is a bit stronger than your regular all-purpose flour, and similar to King Arthur AP flour.