My version of Ken's Country Blonde batard
In this edition of what the heck can I do with a tub of dough, I decided to tackle the fabulous batard known as Ken’s Artisan Country Blonde. In the first attempt early this week, I mixed 1000 grams of dough and came up with two ~500g batards. As an aside, I am a believer in couche rather than banneton proofing whenever possible. I was pretty happy with the results for a first time out, as evidenced by the first photos.
But I decided to up the ante AND sneak in some more baguettes, as improbable as that last part is to believe ;-) . Upping the ante also meant trying to get a batard in the same weight range as what Ken sells, which is in the 750g vicinity. So I made 1500g of dough, carved out ~750g or so for the batard and then divided the remainder into the two baguettes.
A 4 hour bulk fermentation, refrigerated for the last hour, followed by divide and shape, and then a 12 hour couched and shaped retard. Then directly into the 470F oven for a bake. 12 minutes of steam. The baguettes baked for a surprisingly long 30 minutes total, and the batard for a mere few minutes more. Even after removing the steaming tray and venting the oven while rotating the breads, there was still steam coming out of the vent from the residual hydration in the dough. I would have liked to bake the baguettes to the next darker shade, but after 30 minutes I felt the desire to pull them before they might have burned.
Both the batard and the baguettes are oversized behemoths, although it might not be evident in those last two pictures.
Here is a picture of Ken's Country Brown, his whole wheat version. It was the closest that I could find to a good picture of the Country Blonde. From his FWSY book:
Here is my first attempt at the Country Blonde at ~500g apiece:
And the blisters and crumb:
Today's haul. Ken scores his Brown twice and his Blonde three times, and so I tried to keep mine consistent with his. Baguettes took my standard 4 scores. Need to get a better score on the batard, but the baguettes opened up just dandy! Batard at ~750g, baguettes at ~375g each:
I better watch myself or I might just get hooked on batards and kiss my baguette phase goodbye. Naaahh, on second thought, I guess they can play nice and coexist!
alan
Comments
Everything turned out fantastic and worthy of the KF Blonde label. Has to taste great. Also like the 4 hour counter bulk ferment and 4 hour retard bulk ferment before shaping and baking . Well done and
Happy baking,
It is really good. Quick correction to your mention of timings on the fermentation - the total bulk ferment time is 5 hours, the 5th hour being in the retarder/refrigerator. But I really do not like this schedule all that much. Maybe something to do on a rainy chilly day - not going to happen anytime soon in So. FL. It felt a little like I was in home detention, as there wasn't sufficient time to get away due to the letter fold intervals. I'll try to refigure the schedule where there is a better balance between prep day and bake day, trying to shift some more activity toward the bake day other than just firing up the oven and throwing the dough in. OTOH, I love the feel of the already long-ago shaped dough coming off the couche and onto the peel. That will be hard to duplicate.
BTW, I am trying out a 3 stage build, but in a different fashion than yours, and it worked great for these two bakes. But I think you would frown on my excess (not all that much of it, really. Really!)
The levain just seems to turn into the Incredible Hulk in a short time when done this way.
alan
Just put it in a plastic tub and retard it for a few days then feed the reatrded levain one more time and bake with it the next time you bake. The non tossed levain will love you for it and you will appreciate the extra flavor it will provide :-)
Happy baking Alan - but stop the toss do a save instead!
Great looking batards!
Is the taste any different from the original FWSY recipe? Book calls for 12 hours bulk ferment and 4 hours final proof - all at room temperature. I've been unable to hit the original timing for this recipe so far - anything above 10 hours bulk ferment results in a bread that spreads out; now I wonder how the taste would be affected if I do 8-9 hours bulk on the counter and then remaining 3-5hours in the fridge prior to the final proof at room temperature...
Hi Kalikan,
Thank you but I've never made the FWSY version. So I don't have a baseline to gauge it by. I used to live in Portland and Ken's was my place, and the Country Blonde batard was my regular go-to bread (along with a few others like the pecan raisin baguettes that I somewhat "duplicated" and documented here recently). And now, here is some long-winded background...
But it wasn't just my local bakery, as good a fortune as that is alone. I walked in there one day maybe two weeks after moving to PDX (the universally colloquial term for the city), and asked about a job as a part time apprentice. And so it was. Part time - and Apprentice, with a capital 'A', and pretty much remained not much past that for the scant few years I helped out there. Kinda like maybe making it to E-3 in the US armed services (I didn't even get that far!). And so I have restricted knowledge to some of what he did (I'm talking 2004 era), although I really never worked with him.
Therefore, the formula that I used here to try and duplicate the Country Blonde is based on the formula used in the bakery - at that time, and I don't have any notion of whether it has been tinkered with since or not. I had literally taken a sworn oath of silence when I started there as to "what and how". Not quite up to the Omertà of La Cosa Nostra, but something of my own doing.
I do not try to be anything other than a home baker, learning and gaining confidence in my home skills over time, just as the majority of us here are. No better and hopefully no worse. I apologize for any soap box here, but there is a reason that I can't answer your question, and I want to make it clear that I am bound by past and continued loyalty and not at liberty (that omerta-ish thang) to say exactly how I did make it. And thank you in advance for understanding.
alan
Great story! Sorry, I did not realize you used to work for Ken; I thought you started with FWSY formula and modified it over the time, hence my question as to how the taste was affected...
Beautiful baking Alan. Love the crust and crumb.
Ian