I just came across some videos explaining bakers math and making baguettes.

http://www.stellaculinary.com/podcasts/video/how-to-make-a-basic-baguette-video-recipe

It seems that days and weeks really flies lately and I don't have enough time to write about all the breads I bake. To get upto date, I'll make a resume with the most important breads I've baked in the last days/week:

1. I made semolina bread, in two different days (first it was a 60% semolina + 40% white flour with 67% hydration, next time it was a 70% semolina + 30% white flour and 71% hydration), inspiread by Hamelman's Semolina Bread and Giovanni's bread. I used a stiff levain and I had to add a lot of water to the dough, and I still think it was not enough. But semolina bread is one of my latest revelations, I love it's flavor so much... too bad I have only one bag of semolina left... :(

The crumb is yellow, but not as opened as it i in giovanni's bread, yet, it is a very tasty formula. It's elastic and chewy and it's wonderful sweet when toasted.

Here are pictures from the first bread:

And from the second one: (I dind't realise before how much they resemble, till I put the pictures together)

2. I make baguettes again, using the same formula as the last time, reducing the hydration to 71%. Better than the first time, but still a long way from perfection.

3. I made another rye bread, using a rye soaker and rye chops made from soaked berries, chopped and then soaked again. I started with 90g berries (140g after soaking and draining) and ended with 210g rye chops, soaked and drained.

The bread has more volume than the last time, even if the dough got stucked in the banneton in a couple of places and it deflated a bit while I forced it to come out. (mini, I did not cheat while I sliced the bread, no funny angles while cutting it, and I have 8-9 cm max... well it's better than 6 cm from last time:)

The bigger holes in the crumb are a sign of overproofing, or a sign of air or/and water incorporated in the dough while shaping?

Well, that's about it, for now. Not quite up-to-date, I still have some "san joaquin"s left that I want share with you, but this is already a too long post.

codruta

So I usually make the incredible Anis Bouabsa's baguettes and really love them, I am also experimenting with 36+ hour baguettes. Both recipes are excellent if you give them the time they need.

But have you ever been setting around, finishing your lunch and think "Baguettes with dinner!" only to realize that the time machine is in the shop and there is no way to go back in time and get them started yesterday.

My question is does anyone have a DECENT baguette recipe that has SOME flavor, and can be made in a day (lets say 6 hours start to finish).

I don't expect them to be great but an open crumb, some crispness in the crust and a little flavor would be nice.

TIA

Allan.

I've had trouble coming up with a good steaming method for my baguettes. I get the best results when I cover my bread, but that's hard to do with baguettes, unless you're willing to bake them one at a time.  I like the roasting pan method and also La Cloche, but I could never figure out how to manage two covered tops with the space I have in my oven.  This morning I took my one and only La Cloche baguette baker and used the top AND the bottom, so that I could easily fit two baguettes side by side on top of my stone.  It cut my baking time in half.

My wife and I have differing opinions about sourdough--I like it tangy, she likes it mild; sandwich bread--I like its crumb chewy, she likes it soft and fluffy; and biscotti--I prefer parmesan cheese, and black pepper, she craves ameretto-almond. But when it comes to baguettes we are 100% in accord: wheaty flavor, lightly chewy, open crumb, crackling crust. And in that order.

I've spent nearly two years working on a formula, and a process that yields what we want. I've learned quite a few things about baking in general, and baguettes in particular. I've also relearned a few lessons about myself. In this moment, I think I've reached the semi-experienced novice level--somewhat akin to the Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Please, this is just my offering of what I've found works for me. 

Here's what I've learned about a formula: use quality ingredients; don't obsess over the quality.

Flours:I've lusted over descriptions of French milled flours, King Arthur's French-style, and Guisto's artisan flours: lusts never realized. It's simply a cost decision. I use King Arthur's super-market accessible, all-purpose flour. I've made a couple of excursions into other brands, with consistent disappointment. One brand's flavor was really nasty.

Salt: I use sea salt, purchased in bulk from a local organic food store. It's ridiculously inexpensive. My children, knowing my Foodie obsessions have gifted me, more than once, with Sal de Very Expensive. I've used it. I can't discern a difference; neither can my wife.

Water: Our well. (Suwannee River aquifer)

Yeast: SAF: as little as possible.

Flour (one kind), salt, water, yeast: it doesn't get any simpler than that.

Process: Herein, I've learned  the biggest lessons. K.I.S.S.--Keep it Simple, Stupid! (I learned this, the first time, from a Navy Chief Petty Officer, when I was a bottom-of-the-ladder Seaman)--outpaces them all.

A few general lessons: These support K.I.S.S.

Be consistent: Use the same ingredients. Same brand, same type, same weight ratios, same temperatures, etc.. Which of course you won't so...

Make small changes (only one at a time if you have the discipline; I'm not yet that disciplined, but I am at the point that I never make more than two.)

Be consistent: Do the same steps, with the same tools, in the same order, for the same duration, at the same temperatures , etc.. Which of course you won't so...

Keep notes: what you used, what you did, what you changed, what you forgot, what resulted, what you're going to do next. Also, at the beginning of a follow-on bake review your previous notes, and write down what you're going to do. Underline the change(s).

Baguette specific lessons:

These are the things that work for me, with K.I.S.S. always in mind. I marvel at the time and effort other TFL'ers put into baking baguettes. I'm certain their results make my baguettes reminiscent of dog biscuits. Nonetheless, we (my wife and I) are happy with our results, so far, and the neighbors make complementary noises with their mouths full.

Flavor develops during fermentation: Yes, you've got to use ingredients you trust. They have to be capable of giving good flavor, but it's fermentation that exploits those qualities. Up to a point, retarded (chilled) fermentation develops flavor proportionate with the fermentation duration. I don't know what that point is. I've learned I get desirable flavor between 15 hours and 21 hours of retarding at 54°F. Furthermore, the desired flavors are more present after 21 hours compared to 15. hours. I'm fortunate to have a wine closet wherein the temperature is maintained at 54°F. I've not attempted retarding in a refrigerator--most home fridges are 38°F-40°F--but from reading TFL other bakers are having great successes.

Hydration differences don't seem to change the flavor profile significantly, or, at least, not as significantly as retardation time. I've investigated from 65% hydration to 72% hydration. Arguably, the more flour, slightly more flavor in that Hydration range, whereas, 15 hour retardation yields an excellent flavor, 21 hours a bigger excellent flavor.

Substituting sourdough levain for commercial yeast, makes a different bread. It's sourdough in a baguette shape. Delicious, sometimes, but not an accurate rendition of the modern baguette. Furthermore, sourdough levain masks the delightfully "wheaty" flavors a baguette can (and should) have.  White flour, salt, water, and yeast: it doesn't get any simpler than that. (I'm looking forward to the hiding I'll get for this comment.)

Open crumb structure improves with retarded fermentation. I'm fairly sure this is accurate, however, mishandling can massacre the gain.

Don't ignore DDT. It gives one a finer control over results from retardation. Don't think of DDT as just small adjustments to room temperature water to hit the "magic" 76°F or 80°F. Pre-chill the formula's flour and use ice water in the dough's prep, to bring the mix to the planned chill temperature immediately. Chill the dough during autolyse, and return it to the chiller immediately after each manipulation, e.g., S&F.

Process, i.e., techniques: their flow and finesse, account for more than 50% of a baking success, especially with baguettes. (I actuallly think its considerably greater than 50%, but, then again, 85% of all people make up their own statistics.)

Here's a series of photos I took today of a 65% Hydration, 21 hour retarded baguette bake.

I've documented my earliest attempts to make baguettes here http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/16377/overnight-baguettes  . It gives the 72% hydration formula I started with. Most of my subsequent many tweaks involved exploring hydration, and retarding effects.

This is my post-retardation setup: I preshape the baguettes immediately and leave them to rest for 1 hour at room temperature.

After 1 hour rest, I shape and proof the baguettes (seam side up). Proofing time today was 1 hour.

Here is the second loaf, slashed, and ready for loading into the oven. After many attempts, with various commercial peels, to load baguette loaves either serially, or in multiples I've settled on loading them serially with a home-made peel--it's really just a scrap piece of birch plywood, cut 2" narrower than my oven. I also load sourdough loaves (2) side-by-side serially using the board held along the narrow side. It works better than any of the commercial peels I've purchased--including the Superpeel.

I load the peel by simply flipping the loaf onto the rice flour dusted board, and slashing it. Then right into the oven, one at a time.

The oven, loaded to its meager capacity: 3 baguettes. You can see the only down-side to serially loading I've experienced. Oven-spring is already well underway in the first two loaves.

On the top shelf you can see the way I generate steam: two wetted towels. SylviaH convinced me to try this approach, and after the first try I stuck to it, but I made it simpler than her method (involves heating towels in the microwave). I wet the towel with 2-3 cups of the hottest tap water. I put the wet-towel tray on the top shelf, and switch the oven control from "Convection Bake" to "Broil" at 550°F. I do this about 6 to 10 minutes before loading the first loaf. I can watch the wetted towels begin to bubble. I switch the oven to "Bake" (conventional, shutting off the convection fan) at 500°F. Finally, after all loaves are loaded, I decrease the oven to "Bake" 450°F. After 10 minutes I remove the steam pan, restore "Convection Bake", and finish the baking. Early in my trials I discovered the rear-mounted convection fan dried out the surface of the most rearward loaf, and inhibited oven-spring. That's why I do all the oven mode switching.

Results:

and the crumb.

Recall, this is a 65% hydrated dough. It's consistent open crumb like this that supports my arguement retarded fermentation supports open crumb development.

So far, I've not lost sight of K.I.S.S. I bake baguettes once each week, so if you see where I can make it simpler, please comment.

David G

My daughter is in Cambodia for the summer working on her master's project.    I asked her if there was good bread in Cambodia.   I guess I was expecting some cool and unknown to me Asian varieties.   She surprised me by saying that there was a lot of very good very cheap French bread.   I asked her to send me some pictures to post on this site.   Here is what she sent:

From the looks of it, I think she's right about the quality.   Now I have to go back to David Snyder's post on shaping and see how to recreate the fabulous shapes of these batards.   I also like the cross scoring on the last one.    Any ideas about what these might be?  -Varda

Two months ago, after enjoying Phillipe Gosselin's “baguettes tradition” in Paris, I attempted to replicate this delicious bread in a sourdough version. (Baguette Tradition after Phillip Gosselin) My wife and I actually preferred my version to the original. In fact, I felt they were the best tasting sourdough baguettes I'd ever made.

 Yesterday, I made them again. This time, I omitted the little bit of instant yeast I had used with the first bake. Interestingly enough, my fermentation time was just about the same as with the added yeast.

The other difference was I used a new (to me) flour from Central Milling. According to brother Glenn, Nicky Giusto told him this is the flour Acme uses for their much-admired baguettes. I hesitate to generalize from a single bake with it, but it made a very chewy baguette crumb with good flavor. I'm looking forward to using it on some other breads with which I am more experienced.

Note: Accounting for the flour and water in the levain, the total flour is 500 g and the total water is 375 g, making the actual dough hydration 75%. The actual salt percentage is 1.75%.

Method

1. The night before baking, mix the flour and levain with 225 g of ice water and immediately refrigerate.

2. The next morning, add the salt and 50 g of ice water to the dough and mix thoroughly. (I did this by hand by squishing the dough between my fingers until the water was fully incorporated.)

3. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl with a tight cover.

4. Ferment at room temperature until the dough has about doubled in volume. (3 hours for me) Do stretch and folds in the bowl every 30 minutes for the first two hours.

5. An hour before baking, pre-heat the oven to 500ºF, with baking stone and steaming apparatus in place.

6. Divide the dough into 4 more or less equal pieces and stretch each into a 12-14 inch long “baguette.”

7. Score and bake immediately at 460ºF, with steam for 10 minutes, and for about 20 minutes total.

8. Cool on a rack before eating.

David

Well, I'm back from a lovely week at the beach with family. I surely enjoyed the week, including Glenn's fabulous pastrami and corn beef with his and my rye breads. Glenn's Tartine BCB and my SFBI miche were also appreciated. 

Yesterday, I thawed dough made for pizzas 4 and 6 weeks ago and frozen. I made a couple of pies, one with each of the doughs made with Maggie Glezer's and Jeff Verasano's recipes.

Pizza using Maggie Glezer's dough

Pizza made with Jeff Verasano's dough

Glezer's pizza dough retained its distinctive crispness. Verasano's dough was still more elastic than Glezer's but not as chewy as it had been before freezing. I would say that neither was quite as good, but both were better than any you could get at the chains.

Today, I baked a couple bâtards of Pain au Levain from Hamelman's Bread. This has become a favorite. Today's tweak was to shape the loaves using the method portrayed on the KAF videos but proofing the loaves in cotton-lined oval brotformen rather than on a couche.

The loaves assumed a rounder/less elongated shape during baking. I wonder if, en couche, with lateral support but no support at the ends, the loaves spread longitudinally more. Hmmmm ….

I have dough for my version of Gosselin's Baguettes Tradition in the fridge to finish tomorrow. I'll update this entry accordingly.

David

Hi All,
Just wanted to let you all know I'm still baking even if I'm not posting as often...  Here's the latest from my kitchen:
1.  Invisible Pizzas (We forgot to take pictures)
2.  Baguettes
3.  Olive Oil Brioche with Dried Pears and Toasted Walnuts

This recipe makes 2 pizzas, 2 baguettes, and 2 olive oil brioches...  Bear with me through all the madness:
Recipe: (Makes approx 3000g of base dough)
Stiff Levain:
400g @ 50% hydration

Sponge:
200g AP
200g Water
1/2 tsp instant yeast
402g Total

Final Dough (approx 65% hydration):
1196g AP
52g WW
36g Rye
808g Water
38g Kosher Salt
1 1/2 tsp Instant Yeast
402g Sponge
400g Stiff Levain

For Olive Oil Brioche with Dried Pears and Toasted Walnuts
180g Extra Virgin Olive Oil
175g Dried Pears
175g Toasted Walnuts

Tools:
Digital Scale
Large Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl
Measuring Spoons
2 - 4L Plastic Tubs with Covers
Rubber Spatula
Plastic Scraper
Bowl with Water
Large Plastic Bag
Baking Stone
Steam Pan with Lava Rocks
Oven Thermometer
Instant Read Thermometer
Peel
2 Loaf Pans
Baker's Linen

Method:
1.  Prepare stiff levain, mix, let ferment for up to 1 hour, and refrigerate for 24-48 hours.

2.  4:45pm - Mix sponge, cover and let rest for up to 1 hour.

3.  5:30pm - Mix base dough by hand in large mixing bowl. Add wet ingredients, and then dry ingredients on top.  Mix from bottom up with rubber spatula.  When shaggy dough forms, mix dough with wet hands for a few seconds to work out all lumps.  Place in bag and let rest for 1 hour.

4.  Roughly cut up dried pears, and toast walnuts in pan and let cool.  Lightly oil 2 tubs with olive oil.  6:30pm - Stretch and fold dough and divide into 1600g and 1200g portions.  Place 1600g gram portion into oiled tub, cover and let rest.  7:00pm - Turn baguette dough, and in the mixing bowl with the 1200g portion, add 180g of olive oil and slowly mix by hand until olive oil is combined completely into the dough.  This takes about 10-15 minutes.  Then add the toasted walnuts and dried pears.  Mix until combined evenly, place into plastic tub, rest for 45 minutes.

5.  7:45pm - Turn baguette dough, and brioche dough, rest for 1 hr 15 minutes.

6.  9:00pm - Arrange baking stone in oven on 2nd rack from bottom.  Preheat with convection until oven thermometer on baking stone reaches 600F.  Divide baguette dough into 4 pieces at 400g.  Preshape 2 baguettes.

7.  9:15pm - Final shape baguettes, place on bakers linen couch, cover and let proof for 60-90 minutes.  Oil 2 loaf pans with olive oil, divide dough into 2 equal portions (900g approx), shape brioche, brush tops with olive oil, cover with plastic wrap and leave to proof until dough reaches top of pan, then refrigerate.

8.  9:45pm -  Prepare pizza as you like, turn off convection and oven temp down to 550F, and bake for 6-7 minutes directly on stone.  Boil some water in a pot for steam pan.

9.  10:30pm - Turn oven down to 475F, Pour boiling water into steam pan, and place on top rack of oven.  Turn baguettes out on to flipping board, slash and place in oven.  Bake 10 minutes at 475F with steam, then 15 minutes at 450F without steam.  Cool completely before cutting.  Take brioche out of refrigerator.

10.  Turn oven down to 400F, remove plastic wrap from brioche, place in oven in pan directly on baking stone.  Bake for 45 minutes until internal temp reaches 190F to 200F.  Turn oven off.  Remove from pan, return loaves to oven directly on baking stone for 10 minutes.  Cool completely before cutting.

Whew!

Enjoy…

Tim