April 22, 2017 - 2:46pm
This is how I roll...baguettes, baby!
Well aside from brining the ever loving $#!+ out of my arm after number one fell to the very back of the oven today, this is a very pleasing batch with the best bloom I've coaxed yet. So on purpose I snapped a typical Don Baggs angle hoping to evoke just a little fear into the mind of our well known baguette master and maybe reload the excitement of a few weeks ago where several of our members most brilliantly converted a simple thread into part 4 of the G-dfather franchise. To the mattresses!
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I had a go the other day and shaped part of my 1:2:3 dough into small baguettes... in no way did they come anywhere near what you are producing!!! well done yours are lovely!
Leslie
Alfanso's works of art - he's a genius and modest too !
I'm ashamed of my first attempt at shaping and scoring baguettes (although my family insisted they TASTED better than any they've had before - I think they were just being nice!). Yours are ... gorgeous!
This loaf is is the devil - if you think about it, there is so little interior volume compared to surface that getting a good shape requires ridiculous attention to detail from start to finish. I am somewhere in the realm of 500-600 loaves by now. If they (family) liked it then success !
metal forms for cooling them, yes? Interesting little steaming discussion going on elsewhere and seeing your evolving pattern of baking and steaming. Yeah, getting the browning caramelized lip on the bloom is pretty cool as it comes about. And don't call me baby!
...well really being nice to my wife to,show that I use them for something. As you probably know I have two basalt slabs (22"x12") and before I sourced these slabs she bought me this baguette tray. I immediately felt kind of bad because I knew I was not going to ever bake a loaf in them so I just use them for doing and actually they work quite well so after all I am glad its comes in useful.
So yeah today I didn't end up trying the pattern change up and ended up just adding a little less steam on the second batch of two. I also decided to bake the second two a bit darker hoping for more Browning contrast but what I ended up with was all over darker loaves. I can't seem to figure out how you get so much contrast on your grignes. But then again I'm not really sure why I'm getting more consistent blooms these days so its,probably just experience. Will post today's bake soon - better crumb today, a little less success on spring but still pretty happy with it (oh an no seeds yet - maybe next bake)
About calling you baby! Btw doc sent me a suggestion email about dealing with gas oven venting,and it sounds interesting - an experiment may be brewing ...
And do you ever hit up los angeles ? Just sayin' think about how fulfilling it would be to pass your scoring skills onto an apprentice :)