67% Whole 10 Grain Baguettes

After seeing Phyllis’s fine baguettes based on David Snyder’s San Joaquin recipe this week, we decided that we would do some baguettes to practice slashing - it’s been at least a year.  Plus the he date of Lucy’s Mom’s untimely death is approaching and that requires some kind slashing, no matter what, in her honor – lighting a candle just won’t do.

We had left over 15% extraction of a 10 grain mix that we sifted out for last week’s bake and used most of that to feed this small levain.  The seed was no 3 weeks old in the fridge so the sour should really start coming though.   The small amount of 15% extraction in the dough was autolysed for 4 hours and the rest f the dough flour was autolysed for 2 hours.

By the time the mix came together we figured we were at an equivalent of 67% whole grains.  Here is how we got there.   Millers consider 72% extraction ‘straight flour’, the least white of all the white flours and this is the flour that with further sifting produces all the other patent flours that are more and more white – and less whole grain.

Since 85% extraction is roughly half way to straight flour’s 72% extraction, the calculation of the 15% extraction to the rest of the flour gets you to 67% whole grain if your math is a poor as mine and why the 80% hydration for this recipe really isn’t that wet at all - it could have taken more water easily.

Lucy loves the pattern that the towels left in the baguette skin that carried over even after baking.

We did our usual 3 sets of slap and folds but cut them back to 5, 1 and 1 minute and we did 3 sets of stretch and folds from the compass points.  All the iterations were done on 20 minute intervals.  After a 20 minute rest the dough was divided in half for 2 baguettes and they were pre-shaped and then shaped. 

The of the shaped baguettes was placed into a rice floured kitchen towel couche that was molded into the double barreled bamboo thingamajig doohickey that is perfect for this kind of strange bread making that we try to do as little of as possible.

Into a trash bag and into the fridge it went for a planned 14 hour retard.  If it needs more time to fully proof in the fridge, no worries, since Lucy and I have all of the thingamajig doohickey stuff to clean and put so away so that hopefully we won’t be able to find it ever again.

Finally got around to the GMA's home made tomato soup made with home grown tomatoes.  Just delicious even when 104 F outside and no baguettes to dunk in it!

 Once Lucy though the dough was properly proofed, we dumped it out of its proofing contraption onto parchment on a peel and slashed them before putting them into preheated 550 F oven, billowing with Mega Steam on the bottom stone.  After 2 minutes we turned the oven down to 475 F.

A nice lunch with this baguette and home smoked chicken .  Delicious!

After 8 minutes of steam we took it out and turned the oven down to 425 F, convection this time.  In another 12 minutes, the bread was done reading 212 F on the inside and it was removed to the cooling rack.  It was crisp, sprang, bloomed and browned well with the small blisters associated with a high whole grain bread but, no ears since I held the blade at 90 degrees to the top of the bread to see if it really made a difference rather than at 30 degrees - and you can see it does.  Will have to wait on the crumb till after lunch.

We love sandwiches made with a baguette style bread because the crust stays crispy after it cools and the crunch is so tasty. The crumb was moderately open for a bread of higher whole grains.   It was also soft, moist and  glossy.  The taste was the best part though.  Deeply grain flavored with a medium sour too.   Not mush else to say except we do like this bread very much and you would too! 

Formula

  And Lucy says never forget the salad!