anis baguettes - most beautiful bread but stuffed up scoring-
hi all i made anis's baguetttes today. i found it to be the best ever baguette recipe. the dough was beautiful and the baked bread was delicious. my only problem was with the scoring. it dragged. i may not be using the right tools. but still, even though it deflated i still got beautiful holes in my crumb, albeit, not like anis's!
i made up the dough as directed on previous posts by jane and david. slap and fold till comes together but still rough, then the three stretch and folds (which i did in the wide shallow bowl i used to mix the dough), during first hour. this is where the dough came together beautifully (very satiny). i just forgot to autolyse after mixing.shaping was simple, easy and fun. i shaped the same way he demonstrated in the youtube video.
this recipe is definately worth repeating over and over. i'd also like to try it as a boule or batard. has anyone tried this?
my scoring is still not working out for me. does anyone have any tips? i bought a packe of razor blades but maybe they are not sharp enough? i also have a bread knife and tomato knife. the bread knife works alrigh if i flour the loaf first (this is what i noticed).
thanks. would love to hear about everyone else's experience with this recipe.
Hi, rolls.
You''ve been baking nice breads. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Scoring slack dough is a challenge, for sure. The factors that seem to help are:
1. A sharp blade.
2. Wetting the blade before slashing.
3. Letting the surface of the loaf dry out a bit before scoring it. (Per Hamelman).
4. Making the cuts firmly and very fast.
That said, some doughs are just too wet to slash successfully.
The classic alternative to baguettes, made with baguette dough, is "pain rustique." Rather than shaping the loaves at all, you just cut the dough into 4 inch squares, proof the pieces and bake them. The result is a blob of a mega-roll which has terrific oven spring and a crumb with huge holes. It's sort of like a ciabatta. Very nice bread. Try it!
Here's an example of pain rustique made with Gosselin's pain a l'ancienne formula, which has some similarities to Bouabsa's method. Matter of fact, you might want to try it too.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/8524/philippe-gosselin039s-pain-%C3%A0-l039ancienne-according-peter-reinhart-interpretted-dmsnyder-m
If you love the Anis Bouabsa baguette method and are ready for variations, try adding some active sourdough starter and a bit of rye to the mix. You will get a very fine-tasting bread. I have made this variation into baguettes, boules and batards with nice results. See this blog entry:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/8454/pain-de-campagne
David
thanks you've given me several ideas to try. i don't actually have a starter but i did buy some rye flour so that i could make susans starter. i wanted to ask you though whether you are familiar with the pain aux pommes recipe from village baker. i am thinking of throwing out my apple starter (today is day number 8) but it does not look salvageable at all.
I follow the recipe to the letter, except when rough forming out of the fridge.
I use a very liberal amount of flour on the outside so that I can score it more easily.
The baguette is still very wet inside, but externally it is much easier to score.