Gérard Rubaud Pain au Levain, a second bake
I baked Gérard Rubaud's pain au levain for the second time this weekend. For background and detailed procedures, see my previous TFL blog entry. Gérard Rubaud Pain au Levain [1]
[1]I altered my procedure in two major ways: First, I followed MC's suggestion that I try this bread with a single levain build, rather than the three builds used by Gérard. Second, rather than mixing the flours for each build, I weighed out the total flour mix and then used the necessary portions of it for the levain and the final dough. In addition, following Rubaud's lead, I scored these loaves very lightly, and I baked them at 450ºF, which yielded a lighter-colored crust.
When I made this bread a few days ago, I had problems with the proofed loaves sticking to the couche and to the transfer peel. MC said that Rubaud does not flour his couche. He dusts the bottoms of the loaves with a high extraction flour. I dusted my couche with some coarsely ground whole wheat flour, and this worked better than the AP flour dusting had. I also dusted the tops of the loaves with AP flour to prevent sticking to the covering folds of the couche. As a result, the baked loaves have a quite prominent flouring. I don't find this particularly attractive, so I'll try to avoid it in the future.
Levain |
|
Ingredient |
Amount (gms) |
Ripe levain (stiff) |
37 |
AP flour |
35 |
Whole wheat flour |
9 |
Spelt flour |
4.5 |
Rye flour |
1.5 |
Water |
28 |
Total |
115 |
Final dough |
|
Ingredient |
Amount (gms) |
Ripe levain (stiff) |
115 |
AP flour |
322 |
Whole wheat flour |
82.5 |
Spelt flour |
41.5 |
Rye flour |
14 |
Water |
377 |
Salt |
10 |
Total |
962 |
This bake was essentially identical to the first in oven spring, crust consistency, crumb aeration and, most importantly, flavor. The flavor, as described before is simply astonishing.
This bread is highly recommended.
David
Submitted to YeastSpotting [2]