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varda's picture
varda

What could be more simple, or more difficult than a baguette?   It's safe to say that in the few months since I decided it was time to learn to make baguettes, I have tried around 20 different approaches.   Many of these failed, and many were pretty good.   Many followed along with strategies outlined by TFLers.    And yet a tweak here, a chainsaw there, and pretty soon I was off on my own.  

So many decisions when it comes to the humble baguette:

1. Hydration - Is it really ciabatta when you head north of 72% or is that the place to be?

2. Flour -  If you add whole grains is it still a baguette?

3. Commercial yeast and/or starter?

4. Bulk and/or shaped retard?

5. Are you allowed to use baguette trays?

Ok probably more but that's it for now. 

So here are my answers, and I have to say this is what I've arrived at, and certainly not where I started:

1.  I don't care if it "should" be lower.   The best tasting baguettes I can make are 77% hydration.   Lower the hydration and the baguettes look nicer, but the taste isn't quite as wonderful.

2.  I love whole grains, but none shall sully my baguettes.

3.  I can't believe this is the answer but commercial yeast is the way to go.

4.  Bulk retard for both flavor and schedule.   Shaped retard?   No, at least not with my approach.

5.  Hooray for baguette trays - a pox on flipping shaped baguettes around.  

Just to be clear, I worked very hard to create an approach that gave me a very short preparation time in the morning without shaping the baguettes the night before.    This was entirely a function of wanting to sleep until 5 am on farmer's market days and still arrive by 7:30 with fresh baguettes.   Also I wanted a baguette that I could make with minimal fussing, as they would be made at the same time as many other breads, so my fussing time was limited.

So to make one 16 inch (short) 300 gram baguette:

Bread flour (KAAP)  167g

Water 129g

Salt 3g

Active dry yeast .5g

Pour water into bowl and sprinkle yeast on top and wet thoroughly.   Add flour and salt.   Mix all in mixer to incorporate and then for 2 minutes more to develop.  This time is for Verona Assistent speed 1 which does a lot in a short time.  Development is moderate.   Use spatula to consolidate dough in center of bowl.   Cover and refrigerate immediately (around 33deg F) for 17 hours.   Remove, cut and preshape into logs very very gently.   Rest around 5 minutes.   Shape as gently as humanly possible.   Do not seal bottom seam with your finger - just use the pressure of the rolling out and the stickiness of the dough to close things up.   Flour bottom liberally and place in baguette tray.   Proof 40 minutes.   Score and bake at 480 with steam = pour around a cup of water into a perforated pizza pan on floor of preheated oven (preheated for 40 minutes) at beginning and then another round at 8 minutes.   Total bake is around 30 minutes.

Scoring these things is brutal - sort of like scoring jello.   At that point in the process the shaped dough is just kind of lying there flat and dead.   It's almost impossible to believe that the scores are having any effect whatsoever.   And then magically (as Larry has described) they start to puff up.  Every now and then I even get some bloom.

These are a tender little treat.

Is this my last word on the subject?   I doubt it.

Inspired and reminded by breadsong,  I put together a sesame semolina batard.   I had forgotten that you can make breads with durum without going up to 50+% durum flour, and I had forgotten what a great combo sesame and durum make.  

This is 20% durum flour, 80% bread flour, 67% hydration, 20% prefermented flour from 67% white starter.   Now all I have to do is learn how to braid it. 

Finally,  a friend of mine who is excited about my bread hosted a bread tasting for me at her home.   I baked six different breads for it, a lot of people came, and it went very well.   We put together a bread centerpiece that had all the breads in it but the Borodinsky, which surprised me by being the hit of the evening.

 

Casey_Powers's picture
Casey_Powers

I adjusted the wheat to 125g and the AP 675g to have more wheat And to make up for not having rye flour. They proofed for 5 hours on the counter and in the fridge for 9 hours.  I got a nice rise.  I was afraud I had over proofed my dough.  I will never throw out dough just in case it surprises me, and it usually does.

Warm regards,

Casey

Dwayne's picture
Dwayne

Name: Skunk Bellies (aka Cinnamon Rolls)

 Description:

 First take 3 fresh Skunks and remove the soft under bellies.  Just kidding, no animals were harmed in the preparation of this recipe.  : )

 

Some how or another as our kids were growing up we gave Cinnamon Rolls a funny name and that name has stuck.  The original recipe was called “60 Minute Cinnamon Rolls.”  I was amazed at how good they were and it only took 1 hour.  I’ve modified this recipe quite a bit over the years.  It will still work for making Cinnamon Rolls in an hour if you shorten up a few steps.  However, if you take your time they will be even better.

 

 

# of Loaves

Loaf Size

Grams

Cal/Loaf

$/Loaf

Total dough Weight (TDW)

24

 Cinnamon Roll (100g)

 2,400

317.5

$0.14

 

 

Total Formula

Weight

Volume

  

Ingredients

%

Grams

Cups

TBSP

Tsp

Calories

Cost

Total Flour

100.00%

951

     

Flour, All Purpose

100.00%

951

7   

9

2   

3,460

 $0.69

Milk, Whole (120°F)

59.14%

562

2   

4

2 3/5

343

 $0.52

Egg, Whole (2)

10.75%

102

 

6

2 1/5

146

 $0.25

Leaven, Yeast Instant

2.37%

23

 

2

2   

73

 $0.10

Sugar, Granulated

10.75%

102

 

8

 1/2

395

 $0.12

Salt, Table

1.18%

11

  

2   

 

 $0.01

Fat, Crisco

12.15%

115

 

9

 

1,055

 $0.39

Filling

       

Fat, Butter, Unsalted

5.38%

51

 

3

1 4/5

367

 $0.33

Sugar, Brown

47.31%

450

2   

 

2 1/8

1,695

 $0.68

Spice, Cinnamon Powder

3.44%

33

 

3

2 8/9

85

 $0.16

Totals

252.47%

2,400

   

7,620

 $3.25

 Process Notes:

  1. Place the Flour, Yeast, Granulated Sugar, Salt and Crisco into the Mixing bowl and mix for 30 seconds to evenly distribute the ingredients.
  2. Add the Milk (heated to about 120°F) and Eggs (2 at room temperature) to the mixing bowl and mix for 6 to 8 minutes on 2nd speed in a Kitchen Aid mixer.  You may need to scrape the bowl occasionally.  Make sure that the flour at the bottom of the bowl is incorporated.  The dough will be quite soft at this point, too soft to knead by hand.
  3. Remove the beater, scrape the sides again, and cover the bowl.  Let rise for 15 minutes.  The dough will be much firmer after the 15-minute rest.
  4. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured counter top and pre-shape into a rectangle.  Let rest for 2 minutes.
  5. With a rolling pin roll the dough out to a 32” x 20” rectangle. 
  6. Melt the filling Butter and spread on top of the dough.  Cover the dough with the mixed dry filling ingredients (Brown Sugar and Cinnamon).
  7. Roll the dough up lengthwise like a jellyroll (from the short side) into a log.  (Note: for more turns stretch the dough as you roll it up).
  8. Elongate your log (roll it back and forth and make it longer) to 36”.  With thread, unflavored dental floss or a knife cut the log into 24 pieces each about 1 ½” long.  Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.  Place the slices onto your baking sheet leaving about ½” between the slices. Note: I use a ½ Sheet Pan (12” x 18”) or two Cookie Sheets (10” x 15”).
  9. Cover the sheets with plastic to keep them from drying out and let rest for 1 to 2 hours (or 30 minutes if you are hungry or in a hurry).  The rolls can be refrigerated overnight at this point (before the rest).  Remove from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature the next morning before baking.
  10. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350°F for 30 to 35 minutes.

 


Process

 

Home (could be a Commercial column too)

Final Dough

 

 

 

Mixing

 

 

 

Type of Mixer

Spiral (Kitchen Aid)

  

Mix Style

Improved

  

Dough Temperature

80°F

  

Attachment

Dough Hook

 

Fermentation

 

 

 

Length of Time

15 minutes

  

Temperature

Room

 

Shaping

 

  

Pre-shape

Rectangle

  

Resting Time

2 minutes

  

Shape

Roll out to a 32” x 20” Rectangle

  

Shape Process

See process notes (Steps 4 thru 8)

  

Proofing Device

Sheet pan (12” x 18”) | Cookie Sheet (10” x 15”)

 

Proof & Bake

 

 

 

Final Proof Time

1.5 - 2 Hours

  

Temperature

80°F | Room

  

Oven Type

Home Non-Convection

  

Total Bake

30 to 35 Minutes

  

Temperature

350°F

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Variation Hints for the Dough:

Flour – All Purpose Flour or Bread Flour.

Milk – Anything from Whole Milk to Non-Fat Milk, Buttermilk, or Rehydrate Dry Milk.

Sugar – Granulated Sugar, Brown Sugar, Honey, Or Molasses.

Fat – Butter, Crisco, or Oil (Corn or Canola)

 

Note:  Some of the variations may require some adjustments to the hydration (that is you may have to adjust the amount of Milk).

 

Variation Hints for the Filling:

Sugar – Granulated Sugar or Brown Sugar.

Cinnamon – Adjust to your own taste (we like it stronger, old family saying “If a little is good – more is better”.  We use more!).  Also try different types of Cinnamon.

 

Note:

Please provide feedback (things you like, things you dislike and things you would have like to see) on the recipe format as I am in the process of tweaking it.  I’ve combined features from a number of my favorite books as well as The Bread Baker’s Guild of America’s Format Guide.

aptk's picture
aptk

Didn't get to cut it open, these are headed to a friend along with an assortment of home made jams and jellies. What do you all do to share your bread?

Maureen Farndell's picture
Maureen Farndell

Don't ever be tempted to shave off a few minutes here and there. So you are in a big rush today......... Then make a decision to bake another day (your starter will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days) or  just be a little late for that not-so-important appointment.

My time this morning was very tight and the bread had to be ready to go by 11am but as I was baking 2 loaves at the same time, I decided to shave a couple of minutes off where I could. 

15 minutes off the proofing stage...... no big deal but there was a lack of maturity in the loaf. It would have been just that little better with the extra time! As I use a little dry yeast booster in my bread, it only takes 2 hours to proof so 15 minutes off that time is a lot!

5 minutes off the 1st stage of baking (lid on)...... NOT a good idea! The bread was cooked right through with a very nice soft and springy crumb. Good looking and lots of yummy olives and rosemary....... but it really needed that extra 5 minutes to develop the crust.

Well live and learn. A wonderful exercise in learning patience....... (Or.... just get up 5 minutes earlier!)

Olive and Rosemary

HokeyPokey's picture
HokeyPokey

Pumpkin season is in the full swing and what a better way to celebrate it than making a golden fluffy Pumpkin Bread?

Sorry, no photos as it was so popular it was gone in a day, but a full recipe is here

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Last week end was lesson 5 for me: Yeasted goods. The lesson spanned over 2 exhausting days with so much to bake in so little time. Moreover, we had to mix all doughs by hand; not an easy quest for 90% of the new faces  that have signed up for only those two days. First we had to prepare our laminated dough and refrigerated it for next day. We’ve used high quality margarine for fat, but for sake of comparison, I chose plain butter. During intermittent refrigeration, we had to make foccacia, baguette, grissini (Italian flavored bread sticks), spelt loaf, and a wholemeal seeded loaf. All bread that was made was enriched with some butter or olive oil. At the end of day one, we mixed up a poolish for next day’s Ciabatta dough.

 

On day two, we began preparing sweet breads/buns. Again, We mixed many similar doughs instead of a single one all by hand. Cinammon rolls, Orange rolls (both not featured in the photos), and soft dinner rolls were all baked during the day. Also, we rolled our laminated doughs, created croissants and Danish pastries and to be fair, there was very little difference in flavor between the margarine croissants and the  butter ones. Texture and volume was substantially better with margarine, though.  Finally there was fatayer (savoury pastry with spinach and cheese filling), Brioche, Savarin, doughnuts, and at last Ciabatta. By the time Ciabatta dough was mixed, the poolish was alcoholic from the 24 hour fermentation at room temperature! I didn’t get a chance to sample the Ciabatta, but everyone liked it.

 

Yesterday, I mixed up a batch of 66% sourdough rye from Hamleman’s book: BREAD. I’ve cut through the batard today, and left the boule to age for another day to develop flavor. It is a very good rye, and I’m glad I baked it.

 

 

-Khalid

 

 

 

 

 

 

holds99's picture
holds99

This bread is made using 50% Golden Temple Atta durum wheat flour (not semolina) and 50% King Arthur bread flour.  In the past I have used King Arthur durum flour.  For this bake I decided to try Golden Temple Atta.  The main difference I noticed between the King Arthur and Golden Temple durum flour, is King Arthur durum gives a yellowish color to the crumb, whereas Atta gives the crumb a light- golden tan color.  Other than color, I think the flavor of the two flours are comparable in taste/flavor.  After I finished baking this bread, I was putting away the Golden Temple Atta, it dawned on me that Varda had written a blog a while back on Atta durum flour, where she discussed some problems, options for mixing and hydration.  Using the TFL search function I found Varda’s: “Atta Durum Hearth Loaf” and read her excellent post on the characteristics of this flour and how she dealt with “taming the beast”.   The comments on the post were also interesting.  Varda used 100% Atta durum in her loaf, where I used only 50% Atta.  Incidentally, Varda’s loaf was beautiful.  Next time I will try using 100% Atta durum flour for this formula to see what results I get.

As can be seen in the photos, I used the Dutch oven method, which works well with this high-hydration dough.  In fact, I bake about half of all my bread in a Dutch oven.  As for shape, my personal preference is oval, rather than round Dutch oven.  The main reason is the oval (except for each end of the loaf) allows the slices to be fairly uniform in size/shape; nice for sandwiches.

After shaping, the loaves were retarded overnight in bannetons inside a plastic bag.  I preheated the oven to 500 degrees.  The temperature of the Dutch oven were room temp., not preheated.  I turned the shaped loaves from the bannetons into the Dutch oven, put the lid on and set them on the stone in my oven (see photo).  As can be seen in the photo, these Dutch ovens are large; the pair span the entire oven rack. 

I made slightly less than 8 pounds (7.85 lbs.) of dough and divided it equally into 2 – nearly four pound loaves.  The formula can be halved to produce approximately 4 pounds of dough, which can then be divided equally to produce 2 – approximately two pound loaves.  I also used a double-levain build.  The first build takes 12-14 hours (overnight), the second build, because of the yeast activity, takes much less time, 2-3 hours.  The final-dough flour and water was mixed together and allowed to autolyse for 30 minutes before adding the levain to the final dough mix.  After the autolyse, the levain was mixed with the final dough mixture for approximately 8 minutes (DLX Attendent - 10 qt. stand mixer - low speed) before the salt was added.  After adding salt it was then mixed an additional 4 minutes on low speed.  The dough was given 4 stretch and folds; one at the beginning of bulk fermentation, 3 more at 20 minute intervals for a total of one hour.  The dough was allowed to bulk ferment for an additional hour after the stretch and folds.  At the end of the 2 hour folding and bulk fermentation process the dough was divided, pre-shaped and allowed to rest on the work surface, covered, for 30 minutes.  Then the final shaping was done, after which the dough was placed into bannetons (seam side up) and retarded in the fridge overnight in plastic bags.

Note 1:  Before turning the dough into the Dutch oven, generously sprinkle the top of the dough in the bannetons with semolina.  After the dough is turned out of the banneton(s) into the Dutch oven, the semolina will act as an insulator and keep the bottom of the loaf from scorching.

Note 2: After 20 minutes of baking at 500 deg. F, reduce the oven temperature to 480 deg. F.  After an additional 10 minutes further reduce the oven temperature to 470 deg. F.

Also, turn the Dutch ovens around every 20 minutes.  Remove the lids approximately 10 minutes before the end of the baking cycle.  These 4 lb. loaves were baked for 58 minutes, the final 10 minute with the lidsoff the Dutch ovens.

Note 3: A few months ago I started experimenting with Chad Robertson’s technique for high-hydration dough.  He uses warm water in his final dough mix.  After final dough mix, Robertson places the dough into a plastic tub and over a 3-4 hour period he thoroughly turns the dough back on itself at half hour intervals (see Chad Robertson’s Masters Video clip on YouTube).  This method is really effective for developing strong gluten and really gets the yeast cranking.  So much so that when you try to retard the dough the yeast keeps on cranking/fermenting in the fridge, and when it is taken out of the fridge the following day the dough is over-proofed.  This results in the dough degassing when it is scored, before going into the oven.  This happen to me three times, with two different types of dough.  So, I asked David Snyder what he thought about solving the problem?  He suggested using cold water in the final dough mix and lowering the fermentation temperature.  Thank you, David.  That’s what I did.  In short, I used cold water for the final dough mix, shortened the total bulk fermentation time to 2 hours and retarded it overnight for about 12 hours.  The combination of cold water and shorter bulk fermentation time kept the yeast activity suppressed during retardation.  After removing the bannetons from the fridge I was able to leave the dough in the bannetons for close to two hours, allowing them to nearly double in volume, at room temperature, before putting them onto the D-o, scoring them, covering them and placing them in the preheated oven.

Note 4: If you are not retarding your loaves, then you don’t need to use cold water in the final dough mix.  You can use room temperature water.

Overall, the final dough mix has: 71 oz. flour, 53.25 oz. water and 1.42 oz. salt.  These ingredients make 7.85 lbs. of dough. The final dough is 75% hydration. 

Levain build No. 1  (12—14 hours)

2 oz. ripe sourdough starter (heaping tablespoon)

8 oz. water

8 oz. bread flour

Levain build No. 2  (2-3 hours)

All of levain build no. 1

8 oz. water

8 oz. bread flour

 

Final Dough Mix

 19.5 oz. bread flour

35.5 oz. Atta durum flour

37.25 oz. cold water (keeps the dough from over-proofing during retardation)

1.4 oz. salt

 

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

As previously advertised, I turned to the rye side this week. I baked a couple loaves of Greenstein's Jewish Sour Rye, which is still a favorite, especially toasted. The loaf in the photo is a 4 lb loaf of Hamelman's 3-stage 80% Rye Bread. It was baked this afternoon and is presently cooled and wrapped in baker's linen, "curing." I will not slice it for at least 36 hours. Crumb photos will follow.

I really like this bread, but I don't make this type of high percentage rye very often. Each time i do, I am sure it is going to be a disaster. The dough never really comes together in the mixer, and the boule is molded more than shaped. The loaf, when it's ready to bake, has the consistency (and color) of chocolate mouse. Yet, even when clots of dough stick to the brotform, you can scrape them off and slap them back on the loaf. And it always bakes up into a gorgeous, rustic, crusty on the outside moist on the inside, delicious exemplar of "real bread." 

I can wait to slice it, because I know how much better it will be in a couple of days. Meanwhile, the cream cheese and pickled herring are standing by. I'll go fishing for some smoked salmon tomorrow. (My sister, Ruth, says you can always find the best fishing spot for smoked salmon by watching for the circling bay gulls.)

I also made a batch of San Joaquin Sourdough baguettes this week. In contrast to the rye, these are delicious 20 or 30 minutes after they have come out of the oven.

These have been turning out so reliably good the past few months, they have become a staple. They make great sandwiches, good toast and the second best French Toast (after challah). 

Next week, I am teaching, but, if time allows, I need to make some sort of whole wheat or multi-grain breads. 

Happy baking!

David

yeasty-loaf's picture
yeasty-loaf

I've been playing about with my enriched direct dough formula. I reduced the enrichment and the result was a lighter, springier texture to the crumb whilst maintaining a good crust and flavour.  I wish I could post a picture but I don't know how to post more than 1 on a post. I would go as far as to say the flavour was slightly improved by the reduced enrichment.  I think next time I will reduce the butter & sugar a little more. I also want to try not just finishing them off on the shelf to crust up the bottom but finish the baking upside down for a crustier bottom to the loaf and see which one works best.   I'm aiming for the best texture with the fuller flavour.  This is the 5th bake I've done since rediscovering my passion for bread making again. I love the feel of the dough and the excitement and anticipation between each stage of making bread.  Overall a very successful bake and I managed to get a loaf for the freezer. I am one very happy chappy with the results. Especially with my Banneton. I love the lines on the finished boule. With a bit more practice I should get an even nicer looking loaf. And with the other 2 on order all my loaves will soon all have the 'banneton look'.  My baking leaves a lot to be desired with a lot of room for improvement but I'm hoping I will with practice get even better than I was when I baked almost everyday and my loaves look as good as the others posted on this site (Gotta aim high).   My scoring still needs work. It's messy. I have ordered a lame to see if having the proper tool helps.  But I think it's a confidence thing. Iron hand in a velvet glove as they say. I just need practice. Practice is a good excuse to bake.  I plan on giving my starter 'Susie' a try soon with my first adventure in to sourdough. I have previously when I baked bread all the time dabbled in sourdough but never much more and this time I want to really see where the dough leads me.  Cheerio for now & Happy Baking Krisps I'm not sure why the picture has uploaded upside down?!

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