December 27, 2020 - 9:21am
Doubling FWSY Pan de Campagne?
HI! My father in law just gifted me 2 new bannetons. Since I have 2 DO, I would like to try to double a batch of Pain de Campagne. Can I do this by hand still, in same large 12 qt campro bin?
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Hi Laura. The formula as published in FWSY makes roughly 1800g of dough, enough for 2 large loaves, so no need to double it. If by chance you have a scaled down recipe from another source, feel free to scale up. If you're talking about hand-mixing 3,600 grams of dough, well, you'll need much bigger hands than mine! ;-)
Yes, I was interested in making 4 loaves and def not sure I can pull off lol! Curious if anyone has tried. I have 4 bannetons by accident of Christmas Gift of the Magi, and 2 dutch ovens. Thinking I could maximize baking day. But perhaps I'll just mix up 2 batches in diff containers. I only have one of the very large 12 qt Cambro containers, so I'd have to see if the second batch could fit in a 6 qt container, or just a large pot.
Thanks for any ideas on doubling!
Laura,
I am an avid FWSY follower and regularly make Pan De Campagne using Ken's ratio's however, I have modified it a bit to include rye as well. Anyway, when I make time to bake I always double all of my recipes so I can put some in the freezer to have an emergency stash! I always do mine in two separate containers as it is much easier to manage and enables you get a better incorporation, especially during the autolyze stage.
I have found that doing such large amounts of dough in one container by hand lends to creating pockets of non-hydrated flour balls which turn hard in the final product. You can avoid this by using a heavy duty mixer to get a more thorough mix for autolyzing ( I have a Commercial Grade Kitchen Aid which can handle very large batches of dough), but then you still have to deal with finding a large enough container to facilitate that amount of dough. Your best bet is to split it into two containers. I too started with just two bannetons, I am now up to a dozen in varying shapes and sizes and I have a feeling this collection is only going to grow over time, this is a very addicting and satisfying hobby (Obsession) :) Good luck.