Emile Henry Baguette Baker
EMILE HENRY BAGUETTE BAKER
Background
For the past eight years I have been making bread at home, using a no-knead method, baking in vessels such as a clay baker, or on a stone or pan, always covered except for a few minutes at the end for browning. For about the past two years I've concentrated on sourdough baguettes: starter, flour, water, salt, a little instant dry yeast, ascorbic acid and diastatic malt powder. I typically use a mixture of unbleached bread flour from Arva Mills and atta. The dough is refrigerated for at least 12 hours and up to 36 hours before forming and proofing. The results have been variable but satisfactory.
I don't use a couche, and looking for some kind of mould I got in touch with a ceramist to ask if he could make a two-baguette mould with a cover. He said he could but it would be very expensive.
I recently saw a newspaper article that described the Emile Henry Baguette Baker. It's a glazed ceramic three-baguette mould with cover; full description available online. The price, $130.00, was hard to justify. I bought it anyway.
The EHBB comes in black or red. The moulds are each 13 1/2”/35cm by 2 1/4”/5.5cm, thus smaller than a traditional full-size baguette, but the right size for a home oven. There is a recipe and instruction book included.
First Attempt
When I brought the EHBB home, I had some dough on hand in the refrigerator. The EHBB recipe for three baguettes totalled about 600 g, surprisingly at only 57% hydration (70% or so is the usual level for traditional baguettes). I had 570g of dough ready to go, mixed to 70% hydration, which I was not inclined to discard.
I formed the loaves and proofed them for 40 minutes in the BB as instructed. Formed into three baguettes, 570g of dough is much too small for the moulds, and 600g would be no better. First adjustment for next attempt: make only two baguettes with this quantity of dough.
I preheated the oven and baked at 460 degrees for 25 minutes in accordance with the instructions. No surprise that this was insufficient baking time because you don't preheat the BB. I added ten minutes baking covered and six minutes uncovered. The result looked good, but, my fault, the loaves stuck and had to be pried out, leaving bottom crust behind. The instructions say for the first several times sprinkle the moulds with a generous quantity of flour to avoid adhesion. I used far too little.
The bread was still pretty good, but unsightly.
Second attempt
I mixed dough as follows:
100 g sourdough starter (50/50 flour and water)
325 g flour (mix of 275 g and 50 g atta)
165 g water
7 g salt
3 g instant dry yeast
1/4 tsp ascorbic acid and 1/2 tsp diastatic malt powder.
This totalled 600 g, but when I weighed the dough to divide it for two baguettes I had 650 g. I think the miscalculation was failing to account for the water in the sourdough starter, I proofed and baked it anyway. Note that the miscalculation would produce 70% hydration.
The two baguettes fitted fully into two moulds. Baked for 25 minutes at 460 degrees they were underdone (see above), so I added ten minutes covered and six minutes uncovered. For the future: the covered baking time will be not less than 35 minutes in the preheated oven.
The oven spring was sufficient to cause one loaf to stick slightly to the unglazed interior of the lid. The loaves also stuck a bit to the sides of the moulds although I had used much more flour. But the result was spectacularly good baguettes with a thin crunchy crust, tender chewy crumb and deep tangy flavour.
So for next time: somewhat less dough for two baguettes, and try, with misgivings, 57% hydration in accordance with the EHBB recipe. And flour the moulds generously.
Third Attempt
I mixed this dough:
90 g sourdough starter (45/45 flour and water)
300 g flour (mix of 250 g white flour and 50 g atta)
160 g water (but see below)
7 g salt
3 g instant dry yeast
Ascorbic acid and diastatic malt powder as above.
This would total 560 g at about 60% hydration. I could not fully moisten the flour with this formula, so I added 15 g of water, which brought the weight to 575 g and hydration to about 64%.
Formed two baguettes, which were a good size for the moulds. Proofed for 40 minutes. Floured the moulds liberally. Baked in preheated oven at 460 degrees for 35 minutes covered and 3 minutes uncovered. Loaves released from the moulds; no sticking.
The crust was a bit too thick and hard.; the crumb was a too tight. I suspect these defects were the result of hydration less than 70%. The flavour was excellent as in previous examples.
It appears that the right amount for each baguette in the EHBB is 280-300 grams. The recipe book provides other recipes for other shapes, for example ficelles, three of which require 420 grams of dough. The book calls these ”bread sticks,” but I think of a ficelle as a slimmer baguette. I haven't tried this yet; 420/3 =140g per ficelle, which suggests a bread stick with little or no crumb, especially if one follows the EHBB proportions to achieve 57% hydration.
Fourth Attempt
I changed the dough formula to:
100 g sourdough starter (50/50 flour and water)
300 g flour (mix of 250 g white flour and 50 g atta)
190 g water
6 g salt
3 g instant dry yeast
Ascorbic acid and diastatic malt powder as above.
This produces total weight of 600 g and hydration at 70%.
Formed, proofed, slashed and baked as above. The quantity of dough, 300g per loaf seems right as a maximum. Still some sticking. Not enough flour in the mould ? What will be the result if I clean the BB thoroughly, but don't wash it ?
Crust was thinner and crunchy, alveolae were larger and irregular, chewy crumb. Flavour excellent.
Fifth Attempt
I reduced the dough formula to:
100 g sourdough starter (50/50 flour and water)
285g flour (mix of 240 g white flour and 45 g atta)
185g water
6 g salt
3 g instant dry yeast
Ascorbic acid and diastatic malt powder as above.
This produces total weight of 580 g and hydration at 70%.
I had cleaned the BB dry, without washing it, and floured it. Formed, proofed, sprayed lightly with water as specified in the EHBB recipe book, slashed and baked as above.
Crust was thicker, no doubt because of water spray; this is not necessary. Very slight sticking, but I don't sense that a dry cleaning of the BB made any difference. Alveolae were large and irregular, chewy crumb. Flavour excellent. Both #4 and #5 produced satisfying baguettes, losing marks only for the uneven slash marks, because the dough was relatively wet and the lame dragged. I'll try proofing uncovered, to produce a drier surface and probably smoother slitting
Ficelle
The EHBB book uses the term “bread stick” for ficelle, which is, of course, incorrect. Their recipe is for a ficelle with olives.
My dough was 2/3 of the Fourth Attempt formula, which produced 400g at 68% hydration. Divided into three ficelles, 160, 140 and 100 g each. Proofed, slashed and baked five minutes less. As expected, the 100 g version turned out like a bread stick; 140 g had insufficient crumb; 160 g was satisfactory. I think 180 g would be ideal for a ficelle.
Sixth Attempt
This time I used the Anis Bouabsa baguette formula scaled to produce 580 g of dough at 75% hydration:
100 g sourdough starter (50/50 flour and water)
280 g flour
200 g water
7 g salt
no ascorbic acid or malt powder
Mixed, autolysed , stretched, folded and refrigerated all in the sequence as prescribed: see the post by Snyder on the Fresh Loaf site: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/8242/anis-boabsa039s-baguettes [1]. Even at 75% hydration the dough was easy to handle. Formed, proofed, slashed and baked as above, this produced two excellent baguettes, with thin crackly crust, open-holed chewy crumb, but rather bland to my taste. No sticking in the moulds. Next time I'll add the ascorbic acid and malt powder.
Seventh Attempt
Same as Sixth Attempt, but adding 1/4 tsp ascorbic acid and 1/2tsp diastatic malt powder to the mix at the same time as the yeast.
The difference in taste was dramatic; slight tang, and very much deeper and more complex. This will be my standard baguette formula and method.
Conclusions
The EHBB recipe book is incorrect in formulating dough at 57% hydration, rather than 65-70%, or 75% if you prefer the Bouabsa formula.
The recipe book is incorrect in stating the quantity of dough per baguette. The correct amount is 280 g to 300 g (maximum), rather than 200 g (600/3) in the book.
The recipe book is incorrect in stating a baking time at 25 minutes covered after preheating the oven at 470 degrees, because the BB itself is not preheated. The correct baking time is 35 minutes covered in the preheated oven, followed by 4-6 minutes uncovered.
The recipe book is correct in saying that the moulds must be generously floured for the first several uses to prevent sticking.
The EHBB is a worthwhile addition to one's arsenal of bakeware, if one can accept the cost.