Rustic Sourdough Baguettes after Phillipe Gosselin
Two months ago, after enjoying Phillipe Gosselin's “baguettes tradition” in Paris, I attempted to replicate this delicious bread in a sourdough version. (Baguette Tradition after Phillip Gosselin) My wife and I actually preferred my version to the original. In fact, I felt they were the best tasting sourdough baguettes I'd ever made.
Yesterday, I made them again. This time, I omitted the little bit of instant yeast I had used with the first bake. Interestingly enough, my fermentation time was just about the same as with the added yeast.
The other difference was I used a new (to me) flour from Central Milling. According to brother Glenn, Nicky Giusto told him this is the flour Acme uses for their much-admired baguettes. I hesitate to generalize from a single bake with it, but it made a very chewy baguette crumb with good flavor. I'm looking forward to using it on some other breads with which I am more experienced.
Ingredients | Wt. | Baker's % |
Central Milling Organic “ABC” Flour | 400 g | 100 |
Ice Water | 275 g | 69 |
Salt | 8.75 g | 2 |
Liquid Levain | 200 g | 50 |
Instant yeast (optional) | ¼ tsp |
|
Total | 883.75 g | 221 |
Note: Accounting for the flour and water in the levain, the total flour is 500 g and the total water is 375 g, making the actual dough hydration 75%. The actual salt percentage is 1.75%.
Method
The night before baking, mix the flour and levain with 225 g of ice water and immediately refrigerate.
The next morning, add the salt and 50 g of ice water to the dough and mix thoroughly. (I did this by hand by squishing the dough between my fingers until the water was fully incorporated.)
Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl with a tight cover.
Ferment at room temperature until the dough has about doubled in volume. (3 hours for me) Do stretch and folds in the bowl every 30 minutes for the first two hours.
An hour before baking, pre-heat the oven to 500ºF, with baking stone and steaming apparatus in place.
Divide the dough into 4 more or less equal pieces and stretch each into a 12-14 inch long “baguette.”
Score and bake immediately at 460ºF, with steam for 10 minutes, and for about 20 minutes total.
Cool on a rack before eating.
David
Comments
Hello David,
What a gorgeous crumb! Looks beautiful.
I have really enjoyed the bread I've baked using CM-ABC. I bought the malted version.
:^) from breadsong
David
Looks wonderful David.
After reading a few of your posts, and Glenn's too, I have looked into CM flour. I unfortunately am having a hard time coming across it here in Michigan. I'd love to try it out eventually, baking with new flours is always nice.
All of the Whole Foods Market 365 flours nationally are from Central Milling. I understand that the company is working on making their flours available to home bakers in reasonable quantities, but I don't know their timing on this.
David
Really beautiful crumb, David!
I quite like baguettes with a bit of attitude with chewy crumb.
It's interesting you put the levain back into the fridge straight after you feed it and use only cold water in both levain and final dough. Is it to slow down the fermentation process? If that's so, do you find it produces better result than using room temperature water and cold retard in a fridge?
........Sorry for bombarding you with questions all the time. :p
Best
lumos
This is Gosselin's technique. It certainly slows things down and supposedly enhances flavor. Note that the "Pain à l'Anciènne" in BBA and in Leader's "Local Breads" are based on this, but I use levain rather than commercial yeast, and I use a method closer to Gosselin's original method, as described by Reinhart.
David
Thanks for reply, David.
Oh yeah...I forgot Gosselin used cold water. It's been a while I followed his mothod (first posted by you. Thank you!) .
But (double-sorry for being persistent!) still I find interesting you put the levain in the fridge straight after feeding. Keeping levain in the fridge would slow down fermentation but it would also increase acidity, wouldn't it? Did you find any significant increase in sourness in the resultant baguettes compared to the ones you only used commercial yeast? Or do you think subtle increase in acid only affected the texture, making the crumb very chewier, but not so much in acidity taste-wise ?
Hi David,
Beautiful crumb to the bread, I guess the subtle flavours are just wonderful!
Your comment about proof timing using wild yeasts only had me thinking that at these cold temperatures, it could be that the yeasts in the natural levain can function at the same speed as S. cerevisiae. In other words cold climes have a more serious retarding effect on the Bakers' yeast than on your wild culture?
Best wishes
Andy
Interesting speculation of the yeasts. However, it's been my impression that instant yeast is more active than wild in cold retarded doughs. Is your experience different?
David
Hi David,
yes my experience is as yours, although I use fresh yeast not instant.
I was reflecting that your very well used and therefore highly active leaven may on this occasion have proved at least as effective as bakers' yeast. I have only retarded bulk doughs using bakers' yeast really, whereas I have more experience of retarding individual sourdough loaves at the final proof stage. So it was a bit of speculation on my part.
Best wishes
Andy
I like the rustic look and glossy crumb.
For me, sometimes 75% hydration feels wet and sometimes not. Was this one hard to handle?
Yes. This is a very loose dough. It is not "handled" much, and a liberal flour dusting of the board and dough is needed. Note that the loaves are merely cut off the bulk, not formed in the usual manner.
David
Is scoring a loaf with high hydration levels worth the effort? Since scoring isn't one of those things I excel at (to put it mildly), it would be nice to be able to make breads (like ciabatta) that don't require scoring.
brad
That's a legitimate question. I have made high hydration baguettes before without scoring, and they generally turn out fine.
Please consider the principal reason for scoring: To direct the expansion of the loaf during oven spring. When hearth loaves are not scored, you risk having "blowouts" occuring at whatever part of the gluten sheath is weakest. These baguettes are just cut from the dough mass and have no additional shaping. There is a discontinuity in the gluten sheath at the cut surface. My purpose in scoring is to re-direct the expansion of the loaf to the top surfact from the weak sides of the loaves. My results suggest this was successful.
Don't give up on developing your scoring proficiency. It comes with knowledge and understand of the techniques, but that's just the start. Like all skills, lots of practice is essential. Keep at it. It will come.
David
Your crumb looks delicious. Nicely written out. We have 2 more new Whole Foods, that just opened the other day, much closer to me. I have some of the flour. Is this the right flour? I will get some more, even though I just had about 95 lbs.+ flours delivered the other day, if this is the WF flours you are referring too! Can you tell me the protein content? Thanks, David.
Added Is the AP supposed to have some bran flakes?
Sylvia
Sylvia
Those flours are from WFM. I don't know the protein content off hand. I think the AP is about 11.5%.
But, Sylvia, this is not the "Organic ABC" flour (Organic Bakers Craft flour) that I used. If I recall correctly, Glenn told me Nicky told him the 365 Organic AP is CM's "Organic Beehive Unbleached Malted All Purpose Flour."
If you are prepared to be overwhelmed, here's a link to CM's product list: Products
David
Thanks David, I was pretty sure this was the wrong flour. I just got an e-mail back from Whole Foods and they said the protein content of my Organic AP is only 10.82/100gms. and they were not allowed to give their source information out due to contract.
Sylvia
Hi David,
Could you name some of the CM flours you have used, & which formulas you used them in?
Thanks
Margie
Let's see .... I've used their "ABC" flour for various breads I would use AP for. The "Type 85" I've used for SFBI Miche. I've used their "Fine whole wheat" for 100% WW bread from BBA and for the Tartine BCB. Those are the ones that come to mind.
David
Looks great, David.
I'm planning to bake baguettes Friday for a dinner party, but I'll likely go with the tried-and-true "Bear-guettes", since my last attempt at the Gosselin formula was sub-optimal.
Glenn
David