30% Semolina Baguettes
I've tried making a single baguette a few different times. Each time was a different recipe and each time it was a last minute "Let's throw this together and make a baguette" approach. Got really lucky the first time with nice spring and an open crumb. Told myself that baguettes were easy. The next couple of tries had no spring at all and turned out dense enough to be used as dowel rods. This is the first time I went into it with a plan. I based the approach off Boubasa's recipe, but I used a flour blend that I had recent success with on a regular yeasted loaf that contains 30% semolina.
I used a small preferment (7.5%), a small amount of yeast in the overall formula (0.15%) with a 24 hour cold bulk after gluten development, and 72% hydration. Due to timing, I did a relatively short preferment (4 hours) by using more yeast than I typically would. The semolina was re-milled using my Mock Mill and given a 1 hour autolyse prior to mixing. For the next bake, I will go bake to the 12 hour poolish fermentation to help with flavor development. Baked on stone that was preheated to 490 deg F with steam for 12 minutes and then at 450 deg F with convection for 10 minutes.
Happy with the crumb, Soft and moist and the flavor was not too bad. I will increase the ferment time on the poolish next time. Jury is still out on the crust. Good flavor but quite chewy. I've never had a baguette before, so I'm not really sure what the target is for the bread. Is a baguette crust typically really chewy? How do you store your baguettes after they're baked?
Comments
They look beautiful! Great crust, and nice colour on the crust.
The crust is supposed to be crunchy, and it can become chewy if they are not eaten quickly. But it can be hard to achieve in a home oven... I recommend eating baguettes very quickly, maybe while still warm even :) They don't store that well anyway, compared to larger loaves.
Actually, durum wheat usually helps a lot to make the crust crunchy btw.
Thank you Ilya, and that sounds about right. The crust was crunchy and crisp when I first baked them. A couple of hours later, they were fully cooled and I put them in a bread bag for storage. The next day, the crust was like trying to bite through a thin piece of leather. :-)
Sounds about right, that also really depends on your climate and temperature/humidity at home, and how you store them... I never wrap bread into anything if I want to keep the crust crispy as long as possible. It's the same problem with any crusty bread really, just with baguettes it's more tricky due to the shape.
You can always make the crust crispy again by putting in a hot oven for a few minutes by the way!
Never thought about putting them back in the oven! Will definitely try that.
I personally love working with semolina from 100% all the way down to 10%! Great flour to work with. The only Caveat handle with care.
Thanks and ditto with semolina. I use it quite a bit in my breads. Plan to try it with pizza dough in a couple weeks.
These look prefect. I like to reheat a piece in my toaster oven or toast a piece the next day. I’ve made them with durum as well and love the flavor they impart. Great shaping in these as well.
Thanks Ian! I have about half of one left. I’ll try toasting it. 👍
That looks really nice, HeiHei, with the golden tint, crumb is perfect, shaping, scoring - all done right to my eye. This was your first planned attempt? And you've never even eaten one before? You are too good at this! Nice work. –AG
Thanks AG. Appreciate the kind words.
Maybe I should restate “planned” with “followed a proven recipe”. My other attempts were me thinking I could just throw something together a make a baguette out of it. 😁
I haven’t ever tried one other than the first few attempts I mentioned. There aren’t any bakeries that do anything but the typical breads where I live.
I think I made them too long for a 250g dough. They were about 16” long after shaping and still pretty skinny after baking. Might take the dough weight up 50-100g and keep them 16” for the next bake
Troy these are really amazing. The scoring and shaping are both awesome. The crumb is nicely open especially for a semolina baguette which is hard to achieve. You are a natural, I agree with AG.
Benny
Thanks Benny. I’ve watched a lot of your videos in prep, so you get some of the credit!
Your shaping and scoring are top notch and a testament to your skills. The ratio of crust to crumb is a bonus and a detriment to the eating qualities of baguettes. I usually eat one right away and wrap the other two up in plastic wrap to be frozen and then reheated to have with soup or one is left out for a day or two to make outstanding French toast. The trick is to let it soak in the egg milk mixture like bread pudding. They can also be torn into pieces to make really good croutons as well.
A thin crispy crust and an open crumb is the ideal and that can be compromised by many things like the handling/shaping, the hydration, the addition of whole grain and finally the home ovens suitability for baguettes. It is not easy to find a well made baguette in a market or bakery in most places but you will know it when you find it. I am a fan of traditional baguettes and at the risk of offending and becoming a pariah I must say I don't understand the predominance of baguettes with some percentage of other than white flour. Any grains added for flavor or nutrition will make it more difficult to achieve the best qualities of the form. The Bouabsa as written with no other modifications will get you closer to the baseline than any other recipe I have tried.
Don
Thanks Don! Appreciate the comments and sticks are right on point. I think I need to up the dough weight next time.
Very curious on the French toast as I have about half of one left. Do you slice it cross section and make a bunch of small circles or slice it length wise? The diameter on mine are probably about 2.5-3”, so not much more than a bite if cut cross section. 😁
Guilty as charged on the whole grain comment. I love to experiment, but in this case, probably best to make the proven recipe first before deviating. I’ll take your advice and try the straight Boubasa recipe next time.
Like batons or wands. So no offense intended Troy. I prefer them long and skinny and yours are quite attractive. I end up with three baggies at around 290 each when I start with 500 grams of flour. 330 is the official weight but that is too much for home ovens.
The French toast is sliced into 1 inch thick rounds enough to fit in the bottom of a pie pan which make them fit in a cast iron skillet and thus a full plate You have to turn them often or spoon the egg mixture over them and get them saturated. I like to put a slices of banana on after the cold maple syrup.
I briefly dallied in adding whole grain and it just never did it for me with baguettes at the same time the only SD loaf I ever made with only white flour was the first one I ever made and none since. Really good white AP makes a big difference in flavor and quality. King Arthur organic AP is a nice one to work with its also what I maintain my starter with plus a little rye added to it. I look forward to to seeing your next sticks.
Don
Thanks Don!
And no offense taken. Sticks was a spot on description. 😁
My guess was I needed another 50-100g dough weight or to shorten them down to 13-14”. The 290-300g gets me right in that ballpark.
My go to for white flour these days is a 50:50 blend of KA and Wheat Montana. I do it for both the AP and Bread. I can get the KA organic AP at our local Co-Op. I may grab a bag to compare. 👍
Beautiful, inside and out Troy! I like 'em thin and narrow, just like that!
My idea of a baguette (from France) is that after a few days of eating them everyday (with brie, how else) you should have cuts on your palate from all that extreme crispiness!
How many grams of dough per baguette? And think from the other post, they're 16", right?
-Jon
Thanks Jon. 250g dough weight for 16” baguette.
It sounds like my mistake was cooking them in the evening after dinner (had already eaten) and then putting them in a plastic bread bag as soon as they were cooled. Crumb went from crispy/crunchy to chewy.