Spelt 9% Sourdough Baguettes.
No these aren’t 100% whole spelt baguettes. Although I’ve been on a 100% whole grain baking spree I still prefer my baguettes mostly white flour but wanted to try some spelt in a baguette since I realized that I haven’t yet. So this formula is similar to the kamut baguettes I’ve posted before with spelt instead. As well, I changed the levain to a stiff 60% hydration levain.
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Overnight levain
9 g + 31 g + spelt 52 g. Starter to spelt 1:5.8 60% hydration levain stiff 77°F ready at 3x rise and pH 4.16 at 9.5 hours.
Fermentolyse - mix 375 g water with all the levain, salt 12 g and diastatic malt 5.8 g to dissolve, then add AP flour to combine. Slap and fold x 100 then add hold back water 29 g gradually working in until fully absorbed then slap and fold x 100. pH 5.4
Bulk Fermentation 82*F until aliquot jar shows 20% rise.
Do folds every 30 mins doing 2-3 folds
Could do cold retard at this point for up to overnight. (Aliquot jar 20% rise) pH 4.7 so a fall of 0.7
Divide and pre-shape rest for 15 mins (pH was 4.36 at this point after 4 hour cold retard)
Use spelt flour for couche
Shape en couche with final proof until aliquot jar shows 30% rise then cold retard shaped baguettes en couche for at least 15 minutes for easier scoring.
Pre-heat oven 500F after 30 mins add Silvia towel
Transfer to peel on parchment
Score each baguette and transfer to oven bake on steel
Bake with steam pouring 1 cup of boiling water to cast iron skillet dropping temperature to 480F
The baguettes are baked with steam for 13 mins. The steam equipment is removed venting the oven of steam. The oven is left at 480ºF but convection is turned on and the baguettes bake for 10 mins rotating them halfway. The oven temperature is then dropped to 450ºF and the baguettes rotated again if needed and baked for another 3 mins to achieve a rich colour crust.
I’m definitely rusty with shaping as I didn’t get the length that I was going for with these. My only excuse is that I was trying a new shaping method I’d seen on IG which I think I like but I’ll know better when I see the crumb. The other issue was that it was getting a bit late and cutting into dinner time so I rushed the rest time between preshaping and shaping so the dough hadn’t relaxed as it should have been allowed to do. Don’t rush your baguette shaping if the dough seems a bit tight!
Edited to add scoring diagram. These are this set of baguettes scored.