A very busy day!!
I just finished a very busy baking day.......
On top of what you see in the picture I also baked 4 loaves (1recipe) of the cuban bread found here http://www.tasteofcuba.com/pancubano.html [1] it is not what I have been calling cuban bread but I think this is more authentic than what I have been making because it uses lard (I used veg. shortening). It is not what I am used to it was very soft and moist with a thin soft crust it had a great taste due to (obviously) the shortening and an overnight pre-ferment. This is my second batch of this and it was better than the first one because the pre-ferment was in the fridge a little longer and had more time to develop flavor. I also made a rustic italian from Baking Illustrated I have made this before but as you can see in the picture I got a great bloom on the crust this time. The crumb was a little more dense that I wanted it to be but I guess this is what this bread is.
Crumb
Now on to the Baguettes. I have been trying this recipe from ABAA for a while now and I think this time I was particularly succesfull.
The first two loaves (on the rack in the first image) came out like I have been making them nice but not as much oven spring as I wanted and a weird wavy shape to the loaf. When I put the second 2 loaves in the oven I did what I have not done before I kept adding steam. I sprayed them, waited ab.5 mins. sprayed again and I repeated 2 more times. Personally I think this is the best I have made this bread I really delayed the crust from setting up with all that steam and got a good shape. I also got a real blistery and dark crust. Actually, I think these are the 2 most attractive loaves of bread I have made.
Crumb shot
I also got a great flavor and a nice bubbly crumb. All in all this has been a very sucessfull (albeit tiring) baking day for me now I'm going to bed.