June 28, 2018 - 5:46am
Can you get good grigne without retarding?
I used to retard my shaped loaves overnight and bake in the morning. I bake in a domestic oven with a bakestone and steaming device and I used to get excellent grigne (mostly).
I've now gone to same day, unretarded baking and grigne is poor, along with the well-documented difficulties of scoring warm dough with moderately high hydration.
Has anyone had success with same day baking? I don't really want to resort to Dutch oven techniques. Even most professionals seem to retard the loaves overnight.
Lance
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Yes, absolutely.
Any tips?
Lance
Don't overhydrate, don't overproof, try smaller loaves first?
A photo of your same-day problem bread would help, If your scoring is failing to open up, the most likely cause is over-proofing. If so, you may also note poorer oven spring and a paler crust color. However, it could also be a scoring problem.
This is not an issue with cold retardation, except, as you say, a cold loaf may be less sticky and easier to score.
Just for the record: The French word "grigne" is frequently mis-understood in the English-speaking world. The English equivalent is "bloom," that is the opening up of the scored cuts during oven spring. "Grigne" is sometimes thought to refer to ears, raised flaps of crust . That is incorrect.
Hope this helps.
David
David, I stand corrected with my terminology!
Here are a couple of photos of a non-retarded loaf that I think illustrate my problem:
Lance
Hi, Lance.
To my eye, that is a slightly over-proofed loaf. It looks well-baked (not under-done), yet the crust is pale, and the grigne is stingy. (Pallor is due to the yeasts having fermented most of the simple sugars needed for a good Maillard effect, i.e., browning.)
Now, I'm making some assumptions about 1) the approximate loaf weight, 2) the oven temperature, 3) the length of the bake.
But, bottom line, it looks very edible, although I prefer a crustier, bolder bake personally.
I don't think scoring is your main issue, but you mentioned difficulties scoring high-hydration loaves. Here are a couple tutorials you may find helpful:
Scoring Bread: An updated tutorial
Scoring Bread made with high-hydration dough
Happy baking!
David
Thanks David; as a comparison, this is what I was achieving with a retarded FP:
I assume the loaf weight and how you baked it were the same. This one has much better crumb structure, oven spring, bloom and crust color.
All it needs is some whole wheat and rye or other whole grains ... :-)
David
Yes you can, but as you've observed, it's much easier to score cold dough, so it takes more practice and skill to pull it off with non-retarded dough. Our problem is not having 50 loaves a day for a month to get really good at this. You might try scissors for a change. I need to watch Philip Martin's King Arthur video periodically to remind myself how to score properly.
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/videos/techniques-for-the-professional-baker-5-scoring-baguettes