Pain Sur Poolish

Profile picture for user Floydm
Today's batch of Pain Sur Poolish turned out pretty good. Not as good as last time, I don't think. We left the house during primary fermentation, so I threw it into the fridge for a couple of hours. I'm not sure I let the dough warm back up enough afterward. Also, the dough was definitely drier than last time. The wetness of the dough last time was part of what I think contributed to it being so good. So, more work to be done before I've got this one down.

So, I don't forget, the recipe I used was roughly the Village Baker recipe:

3/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1/2 cup water
the poolish that had sat out overnight (1 cup water, 1 cup flour, 1/4 teaspoon yeast)
2 cups flour (1 bread, 1 all-purpose)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Combine, let ferment 2 hours, punch down, let rise another 45, shape into logs, let rest 15 minutes, stretch, let rise another 1 to 1 1/2 hours, bake.
I preheat the oven to the max temperature (550, in my oven's case). Once the loaves are in I drop the temp to around 450 or 460. Yes, I use water. I have a cast iron pan that I leave in the oven while the oven is preheating. Right after I put the loaves in the oven I pour very hot water (hot water out of the tap that I then warm for an additional minute in the microwave) into the cast iron pan and close the oven door. All of the water turns to steam in the first minute or two, which is good, because the oven needs to dry out after the first 5 or 10 minutes or else the crust will never get crusty. Baking time depends on size and shape of the loaves. The inside of the loaves needs to get to over 200 degrees. For a baguette I believe that takes around 20 minutes, for a larger loaf more in the 30 to 40 minute range. I hope that helps.
Quick question please. I'm mixing up the dough now for this. It doesn't seem like a large amount though. Not sure if I'm on the right track. I usually make floyds 'my daily bread'. Is it exactly te same recipe? I measured in cups not ounces, but it seems as it'd make enough dough only fir one loaf. Any advice? Thanks :)