Amount of poolish in Hamelman's baguette and pain rustique
Dear all,
This weekend I received my copy of Hamelman's "Bread" and it's fantastic. I made a boule from his poolish baguette recipe and his pain rustique.
I was completely surprised by the difference in taste between the two breads. Both were terrific, but the pain rustique tasted like no yeast bread I have ever tasted. I was blown away.
In bakers percentages, the poolish baguette (66% hydration) uses 99% poolish compared to the added flour in the final dough (I used 216 grams of poolish at 219 grams of flour). The pain rustique (69% hydration) uses 200% (!) poolish compared to added flour (233 grams of poolish at 117 grams of flour).
My question is, does this taste come from the amount of poolish used in the recipe? And if it does, what stops me from adapting this recipe to using even a higher percentage of poolish? Would it be possible to only add enough flour to get to a reasonable hydration, without any added water?
How does the amount of poolish affect the fermentation?
Thank you in advance...
I believe you're reffering to a sponge. Sometimes that's used to generally descirbe a poolish, but I think the real definition is a preferment that includes 100% of the water of the final dough. You just add enough flour to get it to dough consistency.
And yes, the change in flavor would be even stronger using a sponge. Tastes more sour and alive to me.
Thank you.
Is it due to the poolish that the pain rustique takes merely three hours (not counting the time for the poolish to ripen) to finish? The baguettes take much longer.
Does this mean that working with a sponge brings this time down even more?
I think so. Did you use any additional yeast when you mixed your final dough? (In addition to the preferment?)