August 30, 2017 - 11:47am
Solveig Tofte Baguette 2008
I have found a real head-scratcher of a bread recipe. The Bread Baker's Guild of America (BBGA) has the legendary Solveig Tofte's winning baguette recipe on their site. I have never seen this kind of mixing before:
2min L
20min autolyse
2 min L
45s M
After all of that, it doesn't have a retardation phase to slow the reaction down. I'm hesitating about trying this out tomorrow. Is it possible to make a baguette with this mixing process?
Recipe available here: www.bbga.org/files/bbga%20baguette%20formuljnjja.pdf
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I make baguettes using that formula 3 times a week and have had great success. The results are not as forgiving as a straight dough so you have to stay on top of the timing, in regard to bulk fermentation and proofing.
Over-proofing is my biggest problem.
As to the final mix time, I vary between 45s and as much as 2 minutes. It doesn't seem to make much difference.
Jim
Hey Jim,
That's very interesting. Would you say this is your most prepared bread? What do you like about this dough that places it above all the other recipes?
-Alex
French breads fall into distinct classes and categories as far as the French are concerned. Restrictions are placed on what you can include in a French bread formula and still call it "French". People think that the baguette is as old as Voltaire but in reality the baguette was introduced in the early 1900's and was popularized by three things, oxygenating the mix stage (whipping/air bleaching) which made unrefined flours white, using commercially-developed yeast (aeration and bubbles) and a thin profile baked at high temperatures (crispness yet light in texture).
This type of baguette is very popular but in most cases considered quite bland. I participated in a taste test of 4 different baguette formulas at King Arthur Flour and by far, the whipped/yeast version was liked the least. The version that was liked the most was a levain only formula, with the levain/yeast (pate) formula coming in second. The levain/pate version was my personal favorite.
In order to develop a more flavorful formula and still be able to consider my product a French baguette, I began experimenting with levains and poolishes. That is when I stumbled upon the Team USA formula. As I perfected the formula and process my customers raved about the new flavor. I commented that I was having more difficulty creating the drier, crisper baguette that comes from straight dough but they insisted that I put the flavor ahead of the structural issues. Since that time (about a year ago) I continue to work towards a great structure, dehydrated and open crumb, and a crisp crust with respectable grigne. I have found that it is hard to get all of these things to happen at the same time using the Team USA formula. But with a lot of practice I am often satisfied with the results.
Baguettes made with white refined flour, commercial yeast, salt and water will generally look great when baked and are more forgiving on time, temperature and shaping techniques. This is not written as a slight to those who bake straight dough baguettes. They are still challenging as far as breads are concerned. I write this comment to reinforce that working with a levain pate baguette will probably be more challenging still.
Best of luck with your experimentation with the Team USA baguette.
Jim
Jim, do you have details of the levain/pate version that you could share with us?
Lance
Lance, if you refer back to the first posting in this thread you will find a link to the formula. It is the one I am using. At times I have played with more or less levain, poolish and hydration, but the original formula is pretty reliable.
If you have any problem accessing the link let me know and I will forward the formula to you directly.
I didn't look closely enough at the formula and for some reason thought that it was a yeasted only version.
I shall give it a try, as I've been looking for a good baguette recipe.
Lance
I tried the above recipe today for my first attempt at baguettes. Everything went pretty well; I wasn't sure that 45s on speed 2 would be enough, but it was.
I used FWP Matthews French strong patisserie flour (11.5% protein), which I found by chance in Aldi.
I need to improve my shaping and scoring techniques (plus the size limitations of a domestic setup), but the crumb and flavour are superb.
Lance
Very nice Lance.