Eric Kayser's Baguette Monge Hybrid
Last week, I received the book "100% Pain" by Eric Kayser that I had ordered. I had always wanted to try the recipe for his famous "Baguette Monge". First, I was surprised to see the note stating that all the recipes in the book have been tested on a bread machine and second that recipes for all his breads call for straight room temperature fermentation. Checking his website, I found a quote saying that his breads all go through a long fermentation, so being the tinkerer that I am, I decided not to follow his recipe verbatim but instead to use the same formulation (more or less) and modify the execution.
I have been experimenting making baguettes using the James MacGuire techniques that Shiao-Ping had introduced to TFL a couple of weeks ago and have found them simple and easy, resulting in a beatifully developed dough. The baguettes were very good but I thought the high hydration made shaping and scoring the baguettes difficult and the crumb, although light was not as open as I would have liked. MacGuire had warned about the same effects of high hydration on baguettes in his article in "The Art of Eating".
I have had good success with the Anis Bouabsa baguette recipe and techniques that David (dmsnyder) had adapted from Janedo. I found that the cold delayed fermentation helps develop a more chewy and open crumb and gives the bread a more complex flavor.
So, this past weekend, I decided to combine these favorite techniques and use them to make my version of Eric Kayser's "Baguette Monge". I will call it the "Kayser Baguette Monge Hybrid". Here is the formulation:
Kayser uses a Type 65 Flour so I chose a flour mix that approximate the original. The resulting protein content is around 12.5%. Note that although the French Flours have lower protein content US Flours, I read that most French bakers add Malted Barley Flour and Vital Wheat Gluten to their dough.
Kayser uses 58% hydration. I upped it to 72%.
- 100 Gms Liquid Levain (100% hydration)
- 300 Gms KAF AP Flour
- 150 Gms KAF Bread Flour
- 50 Gms KAF WWW Flour
- 345 Gms Water
- 1 Gm Instant Yeast
- 9 Gms Sea Salt
Mix the Levain with the Water then add the Flour Mix, Salt and Yeast. Mix by hand for 2 mins and follow the MacGuire stretching and folding in the bowl at 45 mins interval instead of 1 hr.
At the end of the folding, the dough should rise by 25%. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours. The dough should double in size.
Divide the dough into third and shape into boules. Rest seam side down for 1 hr.
Shape into baguettes with pointy ends and proof for 45 min.
Score the loaves and bake in preheated 460 degrees F oven with steam for 10 mins.
Continue baking at 430 degrees F without steam for 12 mins.
Turn of heat and let baguettes rest for 5 mins in oven.
Remove baguettes and let cool on rack.
The baguettes crackled and popped while cooling on the rack and developed nice "shingles".
The grignes opened up nicely and the crust had a beautiful amber color and toasty caramel aroma.
The oven spring was great and the cross section came out nice and round. The crumb was cream color and very open with different size "alveoles". The gelatinization made it slightly translucent.
The crust was thin and crackly with notes of roasted hazelnut and mocha. The crumb had a nice chewy mouthfeel with a tangy, creamy and sweet toasty wheat finish.
This was definitely the best baguette that I have baked to date , a real keeper.
And the quest for the Ultimate Baguette continues...
Don
Comments
Great write-up, beautiful baguettes. Thanks for all the info. Yet another post to add to my favourites to work with in future baking.
:-Paul
Thanks, Paul.
Let me know how they turn out when you get around to trying the recipe.
Don
Hi, Don.
Your baguettes look absolutely perfect! I'm especially impressed with the crust. I've only been able to get anything close to that once or twice, and the best crust was using the McGuire mixing technique.
Did you mix every 45 minutes for 4 hours, or every 45 minutes x 4?
David
There you go, David! The crackly crust Baguette! : )
Sylvia
Thanks for your kind words.
I find that after 10 mins of steam baking, when I reduce the temperature and bake it a little longer (12 mins), I get the cracked crust. Also I get more of it with a levain starter.
I fold the doughn 4 times at 45 minutes interval. I reduced it from 1 hour because I did not want the dough to rise too much before the cold extended fermentation.
Don
Your thoughts about the lower temp. and longer bake is interesting. In fact, the pain de tradition uses this approach, as you know, and that's the bread that gave me the crackliest crust.
I'm definitely going to try your "hybrid" baguettes!
David
I have enjoyed making and eating EKBM! Your write-up and photos are very nicely done. The Baguette is beautiful and I will put this in my to do list! Thank you, for 'your' recipe!
Sylvia
I have looked at various recipes for EKBM on the internet and saw that the crumb is never very open, that is why I ordered the book to get the "real recipe" and see if it is any different. Well, it is not and the instructions are short and cryptic. The photos are beautiful though...
Don
Your Welcome, Don! This is such a lovely baguette 'meaning yours'! I made the Baguette Monge..pg. 6 of my blog..when first trying to learn 'and still' to make baguettes.
Janedo had posted a picture of her lovely EKBM sandwich she made and tempted me to try my hand. She said it could probably use some extra hydration. I added just enough what I thought would open up the crumb. Jane suggested to use the KAAP flour in my next attempt. I have only made it a couple of times since.
I look forward to making
"Eric Kayser's Baguette Monge Hybrid". Thank you again for a wonderful recipe!
Sylvia
DonD,
Very nice write up on this style. One question or maybe two.
What was the dough temperature for the 45 minute cycles of folding?
And, how is the levain starter incorporated into this recipe?
I also have enjoyed the multiple folding as in the Anis and MacGuire methods. I'm anxious to try your flour mix.
Eric
Hi Eric,
When I finished mixing, the dough temperature was 75 degrees. After the dough began to rise, it went to 76 degrees so I put it near an AC vent and it stayed around 76 degrees throughout the folding period. I was shooting for 75 degrees as an upper limit as recommended by MacGuire.
I just mix the liquid levain with the entire amount of water and pour the flour mix (already mixed with the salt and yeast) in and incorporated it by hand for 2 minutes.
One other thing that I forgot to mention is that I cut down the amount of yeast from the Kayser recipe because of the retarded fermentation. He calls for 5 Gms of fresh yeast (or 2 Gms of instant yeast).
I am sold on the MacGuire folding after doing mostly the Bertinet method. Maybe from now on, I will only use the 'Bertinet Slap' after a rough day at the office!
Don
Hi, Don.
I made these this evening. I followed your recipe. I used KAF bread flour, Bob's Red Mill Organic White Flour and KAF WWW.
I found the dough rather stiff, considering the hydration level. I suspect the Bob's Red Mill flour, which I'd never used before, absorbed more water than the AP flours I usually use. So, the crust was thicker and crunchy, not crackly, and the crumb was rather chewy. The aroma was a bit yeasty, although it didn't taste yeasty. The flavor was okay, but not terrific.
I may try this again with other flour. I expected a better product from your recipe.
David
Hi David,
I greatly admire the deep brown coloring on your breads and wondering how you get such a result. Nothing I do seems to produce that dark earthy tone. I use a gas oven and a (pre-heated) kiln shelf placed on the middle rack of my oven with steam. I would appreciate any suggestions you might have. Thanks.
Barbara
Hi, Barbara.
I don't think there is any great mystery. A higher baking temperature leads to darker crust, all other things being equal. I generally start by preheating to 500F. After steaming, I lower the temperature to 460F (in this case), as I recall.
There are other variables that influence crust color: The length of the bake, how much sugar has been released from the starch during fermentation, added malt/sugar in the dough, etc.
David
Hi David,
After reading your comments about your experience with the recipe, I decided to revisit the formulation this past weekend. I followed the exact steps as before except for making 2 other variations of the Monge Baguettes in Kayser's book by adding Poppy Seeds on one (Baguette au Pavot) and Sesame seeds (Baguette au Sesame) on the other. I got very consistent results except for a few minor exceptioms.
My Levain starter was very frisky this week so after the delayed fermentation the dough had risen 2-1/2 times. I noticed that the risen dough had a yeasty smell unlike the sweet fruity smell that I had on the previous bake. In restrospect, I should have reduced the instant yeast amount to 1/2 Gm.
Because I had to mist the shaped baguettes to get the poppy and sesame seeds to stick, it was rather difficult to score them properly and I did not get the nice grignes like before.
The crust was thin and crackly and developed fissures during cooling. During the bake period with steam, there was a definite sourdough smell but after I took the loaves out of the oven, there was a pleasant sweet camamelized sugar aroma.
The crumb was light and airy, slightly chewy with good depth of flavor.
It goes to show that no two bakes are exactly alike and that baking is certainly not an exact science.
Don
Here's my version from some of my final bakes of 2009.
My formula was as follows:
60% AP Flour
35% Bread Flour
3% WW
2% Rye
78% Water
2% Kosher Salt
2% Firm Sourdough Starter
.002% Active Dry Yeast (1/4 tsp (1g) per 500g of total flour)
**Note: I was in Tokyo during the holidays and had an opportunity to try the baguette Monge and the croissants from Maison Kayser... The croissant was excellent. The baguette was good, but I prefered mine...
The elaboration process is similar to DonD's.
Tim
Here are my pics:
Hi Tim,
Congratulations, the pictures are worth a thousand words. Your crumb is fantastic. You used a much higher hydration than the original Kayser recipe, that is probably why the scoring did not open up as much but as long as it tastes great, that's all that matters. Did you get a lot of sourness in the taste?
Don
Thanks Don!
I did not get much sourness in the taste as I didn't use very much sour starter. What I got was an amazing flavor due to the addition of the rye and ww flours. The crumb success was probably due to the high hydration and long cool fermentation...
I may try adding more sour starter as an experiment, but overall, these are the best looking and tasting baguettes that I have ever baked...
Tim