65% hydrated baguettes
I routinely make baguettes with a straight dough at 70% hydration, and an overnight ferment at 55°F. Curious, in yesterday's mix I reduced the hydration to 65%, all other ingredients (KA AP flour and sea salt) and processes were the same: DDT set to 55°F with ice water, and the dough chilled during autolyse, between S&Fs and overnight retarding for 15 hours. I was motivated to try a lower hydration based on a smattering of comments scattered in various TFL threads that argue open crumb isn't only about hydration. This dough, developed an extraordinary strength--I did the 3rd S&F only because I always do three, it didn't need doing. The crumb is nearly as open as I experience in the 70% dough. However, the dough seemed to have less than the usual elasticity; note the broken surface between the scorings. I detected no apparent difference in flavor.
David G
Comments
I'm channeling here - but what to do when the dough is stronger? (of course if you didn't need the third fold....)
Longer steam
Deeper score
Congratulations on your discovery (and your bread.)
From the little bit of crust you show, I wonder if your cuts were too close together where they overlapped.
Might the loaves have been somewhat under-proofed?
I think what you are describing as less "elasticity" is something else, and there is a word for it that I'm not retrieving at the moment. It describes the ability of the dough to stretch without tearing. (It's not the same as extensibility, either.)
David
David,
First, I thnk I slashed the dough in the same way I always do, although scoring neatly continues to evade me.
If the loaves were under-proofed, it was no more than 10%. I poke tested the loaves; there was a little recovery, but still clear indentation after three or four minutes.
If you think of that word, please let me know.
David G
Tenacity. As I understand it, the operational definition is the ability of the dough to stretch without tearing.
It sounds like Pat has been studying up on this stuff. She may be able to elaborate or correct my definition, if I got it wrong.
David
it is.
But here's the extra credit exercize (one that I've been doing as of late):
Follow the link posted below for the Chopin alveograph (which is about the most clearly laid out that I've seen for my tiny mind.) Think about the thing blowing a bubble and letting it pop. The two axes are pressure and time. The peak measures tenacity (why is that logical?)and the length measures elasticity. But think, man! Think about the shape of the curve! What does it mean if there is a high peak and sharp drop? What about a long, slow drop? What does that mean for our bread?
Not that I have the answers, but I have a feeling that when we understand this we will understand "why does my bread do this?"
Unfortunately we home bakers don't have easy access to alveograph readings, but a lot of "well respected" artisan bakers put pretty high stock in those graphs.
OK - need to relax...
Hi, Pat.
I believe the X-axis of the alveograph is length (of the stretched dough), not time. The L value of a dough is a measure of extensibility - how far you can stretch it before the bubble pops.
The P value measures tenacity - how much pressure is needed to stretch the dough.
A high peak and a sharp drop would mean the dough loses tenacity as it is stretched beyond a length that is shorter than a dough which has a more gradual drop.
The area under the curve represents "strength." A stronger dough would take a lot of pressure to stretch it and would maintain that pressure over a long stretch. I think that's experienced as "elasticity."
Does that sound right?
David
below:
http://www.agrionica.hr/_leafleats/alveograph.pdf?lang=en
(Did I mention I was studying - geez I need to get this memorized...)
What the alveograph measure is the potential of flour for exactly what we want in baking
Tenacity - max pressure
Elasticty - length of the curve
Strength - area under the curve
Flour has these as intrinsic qualities, but we can influence them by how we construct the dough...
Your comment a while back, about "getting the fermentation right" was one of the inspirations for trying this.
I'll check out the reference.
David G
Hi, Dave:
Thanks for sharing your experience. Is your formula (and procedure) documented previously? I'd like to use it for future reference. Thanks.
Yippee
...to my original "Overnight Baguettes".
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/16377/overnight-baguettes
I've tweaked it very little in the past year. I bake three to six baguettes about every week to ten days. I've settled on a 70% hydration dough, 15 hours from completing the mix until preshaping, always done with ice water, DDT 55°F (I pre chill the flour), 1 hour autolyse, 3 S&F at 45 minute intervals. I remove the dough from the chiller, preshape immediately, and rest for 1 hour @ 76°F, shape and final proof (76°F). 500°F preheat, 450°F bake for 10 minutes with steam, finish baking at same temperature with steam removed (litereally, I create steam using wetted towels on a sheet pan, on the topmost shelf).
David G
David
I'll definitely read it over.
Yippee
Interesting experiment, David. I agree that there is more to an open crumb than a high hydration. Length of ferment and amount of yeast also contribute. Specifically, I have found that a longer ferment with a smaller amount of yeast results in a more open crumb. Amount of degassing and shaping are also important.
I am glad you posted this because I have now also discovered your overnight baguette formula. I have been making baguettes for the past two years. While my shaping and scoring have improved, I am still disappointed with the flavour. For a long time I used the cold retardation technique. Flour and water (70% hydration) mixed and left to autolyse overnight in the fridge. The next morning add yeast, salt and knead. I love the way the dough feels after a long retardation but I haven't been that impressed with the flavour. I even tried extending to 24 hours but with not much noticeable improvement. An addition of 5% rye made a slight improvement, but still nothing to write home about. More recently I have started using a poolish, but once again, not much difference from the cold retardation technique. I have been experimenting with adding less and less yeast to the poolish and letting it ferment longer. Last weekend, I used, literally, a few grains of yeast and left the poolish to ferment for almost 24 hours. There was a marginal increase in flavour, but still not what I am looking for.
After reading your overnight baguette formula, I am now wondering if it isn't because my fridge is too cold. Everyone reports such great taste from the l'Ancienne techniqe, but I just can't seem to get excited about it. Perhaps I have set my sights too high or perhaps my fridge is just too cold for those enzymes to do their work on those sugars. I would love to buy a wine cooler or a separate bar fridge for the sole purpose of retarding, but it is just not practical where I live. I can hardly store a bottle of wine, let alone a wine cooler. But, I noted with interest your comment about the batch from the wine cooler being superior in taste.
At any rate, I thought I might experiment with your technique and, perhaps, for one night only, turn the fridge up a bit to see if I can't replicate your results in flavour.
Syd
changes slowly. Let me suggest a comprimise that might work.
I've been monitoring my doughs' temperature a lot lately since I built a proofing box. I've found, that it isn't easy to change a dough's temperature. The science of it is multivariate. Suffice it to say it has to do with the dough's mass, shape, surface area, specific heat of its mix, and inside/outside temperture differential. I might understand it a little, but its beyond my calculating. My observations are what's led me to pre-chill my ingredients, and setting the DDT to 55°F, my retarding temperature.
Here's my suggestion: Please note I've never done this, but I think it might work.
Prechill your water and flour in the refrigerator. The water will chill in a short time, but the flour will take longer. I'm guessing overnight would be enough. Mix, autolyse, and manipulte the dough returning it to the refrigerator for each rest. After the final manipulation, put the dough in a cooler--don't add any ice--and let the dough slowly rise toward room temperature.
Fermentation involves exothermic reactions (they release heat, warming the dough slightly). Nonetheless, I'm guessing the dough will still be below room temperature after a dozen or so hours.
This is basically, just the opposite of mixing and manipulating at room temp, and then retarding in the refrigerator wherein fermentation grows slower over time.
Yeast: I began using 1/4 tsp of IDY in 1050g of dough; Lately, fearing my yeast is aging I've been using a scant 1/2 tsp. The dough doubles-and-a-bit-more in 15 hours (mix to preshape time). I degas firmly, but not heavily. The 65% dough I shaped quit firmly because it kept fighting back.
As to flavor, we've experienced a difference in flavor using cool retardation. We like what we get, but I don't know if it would satisfy a panel of "experts".
Good baking, Syd
Great suggestion, David. It makes sense to me. I usually always used chilled water anyway but don't chill my bread or all purpose flour. (I do chill my whole wheat because I store it in the freezer - stays fresh for ages that way - and I always use it straight from the freezer). Don't know why I never thought of chilling the other flour myself. It seems so obvious now that you have mentioned it.
I think your suggestion should work given what you say about how slowly a dough reacts to changes in temp particularly if it is tucked away in a cooler. I might have to add some ice as my kitchen temp can go as high as 25 or 26 C even at this time of the year (32 C in summer), but perhaps the first time I won't and, instead, just periodically take the dough's temperature and internvene only if necessary.
I also usually use in the 1/4 to 1/2 tsp range of yeast for my baguettes. Last weekend I used a few grains in the poolish and about 1/32 tsp in the final dough. It took about 5 hours to bulk ferment and an hour for final proof, but still the flavour was nothing spectacular. Actually, they looked rather anemic due to the long ferment despite the fact that I added about 3g of diastatic malt.
I was thinking of using an all purpose/ bread flour mix (40%:60%) and reducing the hydration to 68% but now might just go along with my old formula and your mixing instructions and see what changes it brings about.
Thanks for your suggestions, David.
Best,
Syd
Syd,
I use a 50/50 mix of AP and Bread flour in my sourdoughs, and we like the resulting chewiness. but I use 100% AP (always King Arthur) in my baguettes. The chewiness we like in the sourdoughs is too much in a baguette for us. but that's a matter of taste and mouthfeel.
David G