So – it seems that I have succumbed to the siren song of the baguette…
Round 1 last week turned out better than I had expected, and the non-traditional blend of flours that I chose was both a treat to work with and absolutely delicious. The spelt / durum / rye diluted the strong gluten of my Canadian AP flour, so the dough ended up wonderfully extensible, and quite fun to shape.
Round 2 this week is just for 2 shortie baggies, along with a loaf from the same dough (the loaf slices are more practical for sandwiches), but I kept the same flour blend and hydration. There was a small increase in overall dough weight, and I changed the levain to be rye instead of durum:
INGREDIENT | AMOUNT (g) | FLOUR TOTAL (g) | WATER (g) | BAKER'S % |
LEVAIN |
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Fresh Milled Rye | 40 | 40 |
| 4.91 |
Water | 32 |
| 32.00 | 3.93 |
DOUGH |
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Fresh Milled Durum | 95 | 95 |
| 11.66 |
Whole Spelt | 100 | 100 |
| 12.27 |
Fresh Milled Rye | 10 | 10 |
| 1.23 |
Chocolate Rye Malt | 6 | 6 |
| 0.74 |
Red Rye Malt | 6 | 6 |
| 0.74 |
Diastatic Rye Malt | 8 | 8 |
| 0.98 |
Salt | 14 |
|
| 1.72 |
All Purpose Flour | 550 | 550 |
| 67.48 |
Water | 540 |
| 540.00 | 66.26 |
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Total Dough Weight | 1401 |
|
| 171.90 |
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Total Flour |
| 815 |
| 100.00 |
Total Water (Hydration) |
|
| 572.00 | 70.18 |
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Autolyse started at 3:30, with 520g water |
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Mix at 4:30, with levain and salt and extra 20g water |
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300 slap and fold, with 100 turns in bowl |
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SF @ 5:00, 5:30, and 6:00 - altready puffy, so straight in to fridge | ||||
Out of fridge at 12:00 --- split in to 2 baggies @ 350 each + 1 loaf @ 700 | ||||
Preshape, cover with damp cloth, and rest for 20 minutes |
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Shape and proof on parchment completely in the fridge |
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Loaf baked in roaster, @ 450 deg for 25 minutes covered, 425 uncovered for 20 minutes | ||||
When shaped as baguettes, bake w/ steam for 12 minutes at 500 degrees, then | ||||
vented with no steam for 8-10 minutes, to inside temp of 200. | ||||
The biggest change was learning from last week that this dough proofs FAST, and to get it in to the fridge for the final proof, which I did. I also went with 500 deg F baking temperature, instead of 480, and found that I liked the result of that.
My Round 2 “challenge” ended up being an arthritis flare in my hands on baking day. I was so incredibly focused on not dropping the Sylvia’s Steaming Towel (in a pyrex bread pan), and then on safely transferring the baguettes in to the oven, and covering the oven glass with a towel, and pouring in the boiling water… Well, it wasn’t until the oven was safely closed and I was breathing a sigh of relief about no damage so far, that I realized that I had totally forgotten to score the baggies! Ooops!
So – I opened the oven door, pulled out the rack, scored as best I could at that odd angle without burning myself, and shoved them back in. Whatcha gonna do, right?!
I gotta say, I’m pretty impressed with how well that worked out! They obviously didn’t open as evenly and well as I would have wanted, but I sure can’t complain. Overall, the flavour was as outstanding as the first time, and the crumb --- well, I’ll let it speak for itself:
There will be a Round 3, most likely this week, and then…
Is there some kind of therapy group for this?!?
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It turned out much better than the 80% hydration baguettes I made for Thanksgiving. Where do you get your malt for this? I am bookmarking this but I have never used malts of any kind.
how good your baguettes are looking. Everyone should have the same misfortunes and come out with such fine baggies. Inside and out. Practice indeed makes perfect.
I think the best idea I had was to follow your lead and use the formula that I liked the most --- and just try to make it "my" bake. I figure I've got a few hundred (thousand?) to go before I get anywhere near perfection, but I'm sure as hell gonna enjoy the journey - accidents and misfortunes and all!
Hope you and yours are all well, and that you are still baking happy
Best, Laurie
This crumb just seems to happen with this formula - I got awfully lucky with how well it worked out!
I buy white diastatic rye malt from a local home brew store, and then either grind it to use as diastatic, or roast it following dabrownman's directions from a post here somewhere. I take some off at the "red" level, and then keep going with the rest to a definite rich chocolate. Once roasted, I let it cool down completely, and then grind and use. I got a bag (2kg, if I remember correctly) for the stunning cost of about $4. The store carries a huge range of malts, but 1kg or 2kg bags were the smallest that they had --- and those take a while to use up when you're using 10g at a time! I figured it would be easier to just have to deal with the one type, and then roast it myself for non-diastatic flavouring. The store I use is here: http://grapestoglass.com/product-category/beer-ingredients/malt/page/3/
I know that Lazy Loafer buys a selection of malts from her local brew store, too. When I went in to mine, I told them that I was looking for both diastatic (called "base" malt) and flavouring malts for breads --- and all of the happy folks who both bake and brew (seems to be a common thing) were more than happy to give me all kinds of suggestions on what to try.
I bet you'll find a great selection at one of your local brew stores, since I seem to recall that beer brewing was pretty popular around there.
Thanks again, and I hope you get a chance to try this sort of twist on a baguette recipe!
Best, Laurie
lovely Laurie. your hydration is definitely better to work with than mine was and impressive scoring given that it happened a tad late!
well done and many more to come I hope
Leslie
I think I'm backwards to most others who are as new to baking as I am --- cuz my hydration just seems to keep getting lower! With this tricksy shape I just didn't have the nerve to even attempt having more water in there...
The scoring was pure luck, but I'll take it!
There'll always be more -- and learning a bit with each round. Can't wait to see your next bake!
Best, Laurie
https://www.theperfectloaf.com/kamut-demi-baguettes-komo-mill-giveaway/
Hopefully the link will work otherwise you might just need to type it into your search engine :) I was reading this last night and there are some good points in it. Next time I am definitely going to do a cold ferment and maybe I will do better with shaping and scoring!! Look at the hydration!!!!!!! scares me a bit, I haven't got any kamut so we will see if I try this recipe or another.
Leslie
ps - my hydrations have dropped lately too, and I think I am getting better handling, shaping and scoring (most of the time) but I do wonder about the crumb, it seems drier and not so gelatinous. I don't know if this is the flour I am using or the hydration. :)
Kamut is pretty closely related to durum, and "works" just about the same in my experience, so you could consider that substitution if you wanted to go with that recipe. I find spelt is by far the most extensible, which I like for shaping, so I might try something similar to that recipe but using spelt instead of the hard red wheat. I still don't know about that hydration, though...
Alfanso had answered someone a few months ago and mentioned that he did a cold bulk ferment, and so had an easier time shaping cold dough, and did a cold proof, and so had an easier time scoring cold dough. While I need to throw in some room temp time, using the fridge for both steps really helped me with the shaping and even the late scoring!
I'm really liking the pre-shape technique demonstrated here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUeS2PSXtP8 since I find it makes it easier for me to get a really nice tight skin on a log shape (I use it on my bigger loaves now, too). I am still playing with different final shaping techniques, but am finding Alfanso's method from here feels the most natural so far: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYvORu_oLYc (pre-shaping and shaping start about 24 minutes in).
What I've done while dropping my hydration is to drop my baking time, too --- and I look for 93-94 deg C internal temperature now, and not the 96 deg that I was using before (boiling point of water here is about 96.5 deg due to elevation). That couple of degrees less baking gives me a far more moist crumb, even with lower hydration. I am finding that I am getting a better overall crumb and crust with lower hydration, since shaping goes ever so much better with a "solid" dough instead of a "liquid"! Even with knowing this, though, I just can't help but give it a go with a higher level every now and again (It's a sickness, I tell you --- a sickness!)
Looking forward to seeing what you decide to go with --- and thanks for sharing another tempting option!
Best, Laurie
Love that crumb and your shaping looks very good as well. The addition of the malts must really make this one taste fantastic as well. I am going to try and do some baggies myself this weekend if all goes to plan.
Happy Baking!
Regards,
Ian
You are so right on the malts adding a lot of flavour --- and I'm totally sold on what they add even if I don't hit the fermentation or proofing quite right.
Looking forward to seeing your baguettes --- and learning new things from them!
Best, Laurie