So it really bugs me that I can get ok crumb on croissants but not (as Roman Moroni would say), fargin excellent crumb. One TFLer recently posted 'attempt number 4' or something crazy and posted the incredible crumb ever. What up with that man ! Looking at his recipe I noticed a lower hydration and thought I would give it a go today. As a result I turned out really nice shapes - every last one had 7 steps and weighed out between 90-100g - gee, that never happens - I usually get wild swings in weights coz wetter dough is harder to consistently laminate to uniform thickness. So all going well but still a bit underwhelmed by crumb. Oh well, the quest continues ... Some snaps for all y'all croissanteurs -
Been a little while since I made these - getting better at keeping them down in the mold - half this batch stayed down thr other half popped up. No idea why !
Fry something of course - two somewhat cruller looking crullers - these are #5 and 6. First four got consumed already. I been a little worried my oven is going to explode since it caught on fire recently and so couldn't resist mixing up a quick choux and crafting a makeshift piping nozzle out of a plastic mini containers. Turned out ok - better than sulking all day - happy baking and thank the powers if you haven't killed your oven ;)
Baking when your environment is 10-15F warmer is just no ok sometimes - 30 minute proofing give you just enough time to prep - i want 68F ambient back please - Blech ! These are my yeast on salt hypothesis -> experiment as a corollary to Abe's recent proving that starters don't give a hoot if salt is introduced - yeast was on fire today. See pics of dough here - need to scroll down a little - http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/57019/why-dont-we-normally-include-salt-when-making-starter
These actually turned out ok ! Dealing with a 80 degree kitchen does not help in the least - I usually do these when it's closer to 68-70F which affords a lot more time to work the dough and butter. Strategy today was to employ some freezer time and just hustle. By the time shaping came around dough is pretty soft and very hard to manage. Shaved off a few grams of yeast and final proof for only one hour as opposed to 1.5-2 - it is possible !
My poor little oven is dying a slow death. It no longer gets above 500f - this bake took 25 minutes - a good bake for long baguettes should be 20 max preferably 18. Result, disappointing pop, but fortunately decent structure on the inside. Dark on the bottom and thicker tougher crust. This mix was rather low and slow on yeast getting about 1.5 volume overnight on cold retard had these puppies been given a bit more kick i am sure they'd be fantastic ... Quelle dommage !
I just recently received a shipment of T65 Moulin D'Auguste which is my go to flour for baguettes. I'll usually breeze thought 30lbs in a couple of months and then restock. with each shipment there's usually a slight difference in the way the flour performs. This shipment however has thrown me for a bit of a loop. First thing I noticed was the usual 72% hydration was incredibly sticky - felt like 80+% and was near impossible to score. A few bakes later and I've found that 65-66% feels about 'normal'. It's a bit freaky since with other batches I've pushed to 75% and still been able to manage he dough, however with this new flour I am sure 75% would be ciabatta. Just thought it might be interesting to point put the degree of variation from this imported brand. never once have I seen anything near the same degree of fluxuation with a domestic mainstream brand before. Definitely keeps you on your toes. Anyone else dealt with this sort of challenge - ie, one brand / type with this much variation ?
Greeting - been a little while since I posted thanks to being busier than normal but thought I'd drop a snap of a mixed bake - bread and croissants. This sure does challenge your timing skills and this time ended up with really nice crumb on the baguettes but a little overproofed croissants - no big deal - still pretty edible. Having been on hiatus for a bit it's good to see ya'll baking away amd hope to post more often (just got a big flour shipment so should be digging in more regularly)
As several other member's have bit the Abel bug I thought it's about time to give it a shot. This was a half ditched effort since I couldn't locate my loaf tins and so had to go free form. Not disappointed, thos of course was an unfocused experiment more-or-less just to see how it would turn out as a side bake against croissants with more attention to the croissants. Since they (croissants) take a good bit of oven kick, I think the pain vienoisse turned out a little too dark - I even removed it from the oven at around minute 5 to allow the croissants to take on he heat and then returned it later at a lower temp. Problem was that after 5 minutes it was already a bit too dark. I think this loaf needs a super short hot kick as in 3 minutes around 425 then a longer warm bake say 20-25 at around 375. That's what I would soon the next take. But anyway here's the results for those interested ;)
