The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

3 day weekend continues on a better loaf

kendalm's picture
kendalm

3 day weekend continues on a better loaf

Very happy with today's bake. This is easily the best bake yet. A couple of changes since yesterday. In a continued effort to force ear browning and following advice from doc dough, I misted the loaves about half way through final proof. The additional moisture definitely helps but also causes the crust to thicken beyond my preference (I like a super thin and crispy crust and very delicate crumb). Today I opted to wait until immediately before they hit the heat to liberally most the top of the loaves. As a result, really great browning and bloom. If you read my post from yesterday I mentioned also that this batch used about 1/2 tsp of soy flour and as a result the crumb softened even more and started to show signs of warped walls (not totally round bubbles) which translates to an amazing mouth experience almost as though egg was used in the dough like you would expect a french crueller doughnut. This is a 24 hour bulk and flavor wise is best explained as not even needing butter. I am really pleased. The best part is that I couldn't even identify the runt of the batch so the crumb model was a bit hard to disect without feeling a bit guilty. So what we have here is probably the closest thing to a genuine baguette de tradition. Ingredients are to the book (per french law). Size and weight (54'm x 265g each) is close enough (the expected minimum size is 55cm and weight should be 250g) - flavor, taste etc - at least in my experience and travels to various parts of france is dead nuts on :):):)

kendalm's picture
kendalm

 

kendalm's picture
kendalm

kendalm's picture
kendalm

Recently I began using a timer as dealing with a couple of young boys on weekends can easily distract with request to watch the latest video game upgrades.  I mentioned yesterday that I pushed the final proof 5-10 roo long and set the timer for 35 minutes so that I would have 5 minute buffer.  At current temps 40 minutes is about soot on and so the loaves went in looking just as I had hoped - not too floppy and still springy but not reaching that point of getting old and lifeless.  Here's a few shots of the progression 

 

Doc.Dough's picture
Doc.Dough

It is all about process control. And these look great.  Very uniform!   So we are all waiting for you to write it down :-)

Where do you get your 65 flour? It is clearly working for you.

kendalm's picture
kendalm

I will be sure to document all the details. I get the flour from www.lepicerie.com - they are sometimes low on T65 but also carry T55. Its fantastic flour and works just like you see when a french chef is explaining how to mix and ferment etc. The American flours do not react nearly the same way and do not taste much like real french bread. As I have said many times, there's a very distinct odor and flavor that authentic french bread has. I can spot it in a second and that's why I like this flour - mostly I want to eat what I ate,in France when I was younger and used to travel more. If you want to try it and have questions call them and talk to Philippe- he's very helpful and knows his $#!+

kendalm's picture
kendalm

In finally figuring out how to keep such a long cylinder cylindrical and I think the key is to not try to copycat the chefs who can roll out a perfect cylinder in 4 strokes. I am going,to realize that its ok to go easy and take the time needed. I've explained that I used to sling pizzas and could knock out 10 perfect disks without even trying including tossing the dough etc. That is something that happens with repetition and after sever thousand disks it becomes second nature. Fumnybthing is that i dont think it took several hundred pizzas to start getting comfortable shaping disks (which is about how many baguettes I have made ... Probably 5-600 of them). The point being that a full size baguette seems to me more challenging than a pizza. For some reason cylinders are more difficult than disks especially a full sized baguette of 55cm. The key really is distributing the dough uniformity along the full length and the best advice is,that if it takes 10+ rolls then let it take 10 or more. Just go light on the rolling and keep an eye on where the dough is distributing. A small lapse of attention and its quite funny what you can end up with !

Doc.Dough's picture
Doc.Dough

I am wondering if you would get any benefit from mixing a little less, or taking out a S&F or two. I know that I continue to make trouble for myself by over mixing or adding a S&F that it really doesn't need. Pre-shape and final shaping actually create a fair amount of extra shear that can push past what the dough can tolerate. And then it won't stretch at all.

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Looks great.  Nice open crumb and great shaping.