best baguettes I have ever seen
I have been obsessed with some baguettes I have seen on YOU TUBE that are coming from Le Grenier a Pain... I am a bakery owner, and am always playing around with the baguette recipe only flour, water, salt yeast.... I am glad that I have seen baguette recipes from. Gosselin, and a few others, but what amazes me is the baguettes from Djilbril Bodian his video on You Tube I think it's titled Greniier a Pain.....These baguettes are beyond anything I have ever seen... It's not the outside of the baguette , but the crumb, I have never seen such an open crumb, the bakery has another location in France and the bread, or I should say the crumb of the bread looks the same. I was very content with the baguettes I made, I use a 24 hour autolyse the baguettes have good color, but ever since I saw the last 20 seconds of this video were they really zoom in on the crumb I have become a slave to duplicating this recipe,,, Just wondering if anyone has any input on this recipe, the videos of Djibril on YOU TUBE are all in french. Look forward to hearing back.... Thanks Rob
I have seen, and worked in a bakery, where a similar looking baguette was produced. We made two types of baguettes: a traditional type and then this one which the baker called "rustic". The rustic baguette used a poolish which was allowed to ferment for approximately 10-12 hours but the real trick to this baguette was it was made as an extremely HIGH hydration dough - a dough that had so much water in it that I literally used an ice scoop to take it out of the mixer. The dough was scaled at 20 pounds and put in a tub. Through the early morning the dough would be stretched & folded about every 90 minutes or so for two cycles. The bench had to be liberally floured to actually work the dough - when it was removed (scrapped) from the tube to the bench you had to work quickly because the dough would FLOW off the bench if you were too slow. Through the S&F the dough would gain some structure and strength but it NEVER became like a dough that most folks are used to working with. Even the final shaping required flour and exertise to work with the dough.
I am sure the open crumb - and the crust is criper than a normal baguette too - is due to the high heat creating steam internal to the baguette. I am not a big fan of traditional baguettes but this one is different enough that I do love it. Most bakeries are probably not prepared to work with a dough with this high of hydration content - it is messy and much harder to handle than any other type dough I have ever worked with.
Good luck in your pursuit to capture this bread.
Ben
Ben in response to your comment if you watch the video the dough looks soft but not that wet, and they are putting it through a baguette molder it looks like Bodian is handling a semi firm dough my guess is about 67% to 71% at most...
So we know we are both discussing the SAME video this is the URL I am looking at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCSvaZ-Fuao
If this is correct then at about 6:45 into the video the baker appears to be discussing several bread examples pointing out to the students the various characteristics of crumbs of the breads. This is where I saw the crumb shot of the baguestte (one on lower part of the screen) that I was commenting on.
Yes, I agree prior in the video they are working baguette dough that looks very traditional. They are also showing many different aspects - activities and products - of the bakery in general. I never made any assumptions that what I saw in this footage had any bearings on the crumb examples.
It would be nice to speak French to know what is being said - I am sure that would possibly help. Second best thing is knowing a French man - I have such a friend and he is a baker too. I have forwarded the URL to him and ask that he pay particular attention to what is being said around 6:30 into the You Tube. I will let you know when I hear back from him ...
Ben
Hi, Ben. I looked at that video. You'll need the help of your French friend, I think. At about 6:50, he tells the man who asked a question that the one on the table is made "à base de [unintellible] à l'inverse(??)." It was too quiet for me to hear well, just the speakers in my laptop. The loaf he is holding is made "à base du levain" or using leavening.
...is the video that he's referring to. I don't think he has any special recipe, just good technique and attention to details. Any time you end up with a 'baguette with a ciabatta crumb' you know that the person (or machine) doing the shaping didn't over-work the dough in the process of creating the long shape. Here's a picture of one of my baguettes from last year with a similar crumb.
-Mark
http://TheBackHomeBakery.com
Don't forget, a very open crumb means a lot of air - and air has no flavour (but it doesn't cost anything to include it so commercial bakers may like it)!
Sorry, but the YOU TUBE video I was talking about was http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0hxjzVcbDE check out the last part of the video to see the most amazing open crumb.
Sorry the video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0hxjzVcbDE