kendalm's blog

The key word being the 'same' - yeah this is getting easier each time - funny to think a while back I was happy with one or slashes bursting - as I watch them now the first 5 minutes of the bake reveals a lot - within a few minutes these already had nice grignes forming the about 7-8 minutes in they usually start to curl (meaning the whole loaf) as yu often see baguettes a sort of curved - the tips raise and a they form an arch - about the only thing left to really think about now is just getting a straighter loaf but not complaining today ;)

Something clicked for me te other week - I thought it might be interesting to describe the event.

In case it has become obvious that's my battle cry when something exciting emerges from the oven - this time (not included in photo 6 delicious little licorice canele) some nicely caramelized grignes and pretty nice crumb (at least on my overly critical crumb gauge). Nice thing about this bake is it's a 24 hour cold retard which lends well to a very flavorful loaf. On a side note thought a blog entry might be more appropriate thanks to the suggestion of icedemeter ;)

This is the result of lowering hydration from 72% to 71% as well as very close eye on final proofing times. 796g t65 + 4g fava 568g h20 7g fresh yeast and 16g salt. Shaping was much more controlled and came off the couch very easily. The spring was fantastic and starting to see cute little ears. Oh yeah taste pretty good too :)

Hope these photos aren't getting to boring ! This is today's bake after a 24 hour bulk. Kept a much closer eye on final proof and got some nice spring as well as some fairly decent bursts especially on the lower loaf in this photo. The quest continues ....

The couple of weeks I was very successful in over proofing my loaves and so sunk into a self pity mode having pulled out many sad deflated loaves that even though I have frozen am preparing to cast adrift in the sea of failed loaves. Today is a different story - note to self - when in doubt do not wait just bake :)

Here are a couple of nice loaves from today's batch. Finally seeing some nice ears with crisper edges which I believe is a result of a shorter final proof (~45 minites-ish) and a little extra time before oven flipping. Being that its colder in the mornings its quite a challenge to get the final proof timing right and have recently been a bit disappointed by flatter loaves due to over-compensating. The last couple of bakes I have done the final proof above the oven to inject a little life into the yeast and it seems to allow for the usual 40-50 minute proof.

Decided to mix it up a bit today. 2 tapered baguettes with thin ends and two as perfectly cylindrical as possible baguettes. I once read that Raymond calvel hated tapered ends and, to a degree can understand why, but every time I watch a video where a chef tapers out a baguette I start to fantasize about that voluminous middle section. One thing that's abundantly obvious is that this particular shape (the baguette whether tapered or not) is unbelievably difficult to master.

Presenting today's replication attempt from yesterday's epiphany whereby I discovered that a little more confidence adding soy flour produces am amazing crumb structure. If you've eaten authentic baguettes you should know that they cut open and look just like this (consistent bubbles about 1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter throughout the loaf). I have been on a quest to perfect the authentic baguette and I've found the crumb structure is a bit of a crap shoot.

Now this is the way I like my crumb to turn out ! Not going to bother posting any shaping pics because as it always seems to be the case that a nicely shaped loaf will suffer internally and vice versa ... Such is the quest right now to perfect both shape and crumb at the same time. A few points to note - I've always added a pinch of soy flour to my recipe but this time I decided to go with the recommended dose which is max 0.25% (actually I did more like .2%) and wow what a difference this makes to the dough.