Frustration times 100
Hello All,
It seems that no matter what I do I just can not get a decent French bread , Not a small baguette mind you but rather a New Orleans-style French bread. Some baking authors claim that it´s all in the wet pre-ferment (poolish, others say it´s handling/shaping technique, or a total hydration above 73 %, massive amount of steam in the oven etc, etc. I´ve tried it all. Well, perhaps not all: I have not yet hired a voodoo priestess to come to my home to sacrafice a live chicken in front of my oven.
I get a great TASTE, slightly sweet with a nut-like finish. The crust is always a deep golden brown but not always the crispest. It´s that widly open crumb that I can´t get. I have tried total hydrations from 65% to 70%
Latest version: POOLISH 150 gm unbleached A.P. flour. 150 gm of water which includes 1/16 tsp instant yeast. Mix well with a wooden spoon foe 2 min, cover and let ferment at 65-70 F for 12 hours.
Final dough: 300 gm of unbleach AP flour , 150 gm of water, 1/4 tsp instant yeast. ! 5/8 tsp salt and all of the Poolish. Mix for 2 min 5then a 20 min autolyse. Total hydration at this point is 66.2% I knead by hand until I get a well developed gluten structure that passes the "window-pane" test. BULK FERMENT for 2- 3 hrs (depending upon temp . I VERY, VERY lightly "pat down" .the risen dough and a a gentle
business letter fold followed by a gentle final shaping. I then put shaped loaves into a 16" baguette pan, cover and let rise until almost doubled. Uncover for 5-7 min to let a skin form, 3 or 4 slashes that slightly over-lap to get max rise. Immediately into 500 degree oven with a cast iron steam pan on the floor of the oven into which I toss 1 cup boiling water. Bake 10 min, rotate loaves for an even bake and continue baking for another 10 min. Turn off oven an let loaves dry out somewhat for 4-5 min. Cool on a wire rack with a fan blowing on it. Result: 2 beautiful loaves that taste great but many times too heavy with a very tight crumb, What in the world am I doing wrong ?? Forgetting to toss a virgin into a volcano ???? Desperately need help please.
After adding the poolish (which is already very fermented) the dough is going thru a long bulk ferment. (really?)
Have you tried a bigger poolish (at least half the total flour) and a shorter bulk rise? Don't over mix the poolish, just get the flour wet with the yeasted water. I'd skip the autolyse after adding the fresh flour and go straight into kneading adding salt as I knead. A half hour rest, divide the dough and shape.
p.s. if I'd been dead for hundreds, thousands of years, i'd be frustrated too! :)
At 66% hydration, the dough will be less likely to develop the open cells you desire than it would at 70-75% hydration. Not impossible, mind you, but not nearly so easy, either.
Pushing kneading to the point that you have a window pane is counterproductive if you want an open crumb. Kneading to window pane tends to produce a very uniform crumb with small bubbles. That's great for a sandwich loaf (which shares the hydration level you are using). Try using a stretch and fold technique that relies on time more than on mechanical action to develop the gluten. That way more of the bubbles are preserved and have the opportunity to become bigger. Meanwhile, the stretch and folds help to organize the gluten so that it can hold onto those bubbles.
Paul
Not quite clear on what MiniOven is saying ? Do you think the bulk ferment is too long ? What time would you advise ? Maybe only an hour?
My poolish is already at 50% of new added flour in the dough.
PMcCool: My goodness a 75 % hydration for the dough ? Is it possible to hand knead such ?
Funny you should mention the window-pane test as being too strong a gluten development because I was just beginning to wonder about the same thing. I´ll try it out like you said.
Today I had a PARTIAL success. My finished loaf had many small holes (perhaps as large a lentel) BUT no-where near as big as I´d like. My loaf is now at 72% total hydration. Poolish is at 50% total loaf. And , as per Rose Levy Beranbaum´s "The Bread Bible" I am retarding the loaf, in the fridge, for 13 hrs and letting the loaf warm up on the counter for 1 1/2 prior to baking at 475 F, with steam, for 20 minutes. Now, if I can figure out how to expand those exsisting holes I´ll be all set.