Quick recap of the baguette baking:
-followed the recipe apart from the fact that I did not have enough AP flour on hand and sifted some stone ground white whole wheat flour to make up the difference.I think the ratio was about 3/4 AP to 1/4 WWW
-read and re-read about pre-shaping and shaping three times........even though it might not look it, that part seemed to go a lot better
-final proof was for about 1 hour 15 minutes
-the crumb is very light and has a beautiful fragrant flavor;deeper taste probably due to the inclusion of the whole wheat
overall I feel this is an improvement from the last two tries......if I keep on working on baguette baking I guess I will have to buy a peel.That was the most frustrating part-transferring my nearly perfect looking risen loaves to the oven-and scoring................let's not even talk about it! I don't know which way to adjust-am I scoring too deeply,does it need to go deeper?
Anyways, am happily munching on these guys!
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be patient. Baguettes are hard! If you haven't watched it, you should avail yourself of a shaping video featuring Ciril Hitz that a TFL member posted [url=http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17260/ciril-hitz-videos] here [/url].
The scoring comes with lots of practice. Your cuts need not be very deep - about 1/4" is sufficient. Make sure that you're not cutting straight down, but at about a 30° angle to the top surface of the baguette. The cuts should be nearly parallel with the length of the loaf, and overlapping each other by about a quarter to a third. Your bottom baguette shows the beginnings of good gringes. Practice, practice.
As for transferring your baguettes, you can cut out a rectangular piece of heavy cardboard, cover it with a nylon stocking that you can flour so that the baguette does not stick to it, and use that. It's called a flipper board. See below for a pic of my homemade one.
Somewhere on this site is a KAF video showing them working in King Arthur's production area and transferring baguettes to a loader using a flipper board, but I'll be darned if I can find it now.
Anyhow, keep at it!
Larry
Thanks, Larry! It is interesting, even though I thought the taste of the previous ones was great-these taste even better and I don't think it is necessarily the difference in flour. They seem looser-less dense. And I will keep practicing, just maybe with a sourdough one....I can only handle so many yeast french baguettes!
Thanks for that tip with the flipper-I love it! Nylon stockings here I come.
Regarding scoring, I think I have been holding my knife too shallow.......yes, more practice as you said.
Wishing you a great evening and again I really appreciate your input.
Christina
I'll second the flipping board comment. That was suggested to me a while back and it helped considerably. Mine is just a piece of 1/4" plywood about 5" wide and 30" long. I don't usually need to flour it and use it on all the longer shaped loaves now. You could make a peel in a similar manner (mine is pine) and I sprinkle semolina on that for lubrication. (Note: they are longer to accomodate a wood fired oven).
and looking good, Christina.
I'll second Larry's suggestion about the piece of cardboard covered with a nylon stocking. It's lightweight and easily stored in any kitchen drawer and works great. The price is right, too.
By the way, if you don't have a peel, just cut out a bigger piece of cardboard to accomodate the size of the baguettes, plop a piece of parchment on it and you'll have an instant peel.
The challenge of baguette shaping - the pros make it look oh so easy. Maybe after you've done a few hundred...
Thanks for your replies! Pdiff, great to see your peels-I guess I never really thought I (or let's say my husband) would have stuff lying aroudn at hoem that we could use to make a peel out of! Thanks for putting that thought in my mind.
I know, Lindy, it does look so easy...geez! Yeah, if the issues surrounding shaping and scoring indeed can be practiced on sourdough baguettes, then I might make a few hundred.This yeast dough-even with poolish- will have to rest for as bit now!
Next up, pretzels again and then one of the potato bread variations!
C
If you haven't tried the Bouabasa sourdough baguettes posted by David Snyder, give them a try. They're quite awesome - and pretty easy. I might just skip the poolish baguettes for a while as I know there's no way they can compare (after all, I have to eat what I bake).
I keep getting distracted from the Hamelman challenge and need to get back on that path. Maybe a rye sourdough this weekend.
Hi Sedimaierin,
I recently purchased a baguette baking tray. This is what I place my shaped baguette dough in for their final proof. Tray and dough are all placed in the oven in one easy movement. I can't say it improvrd the flavour but hey the shape is now perfect.
Hope this idea helps.............Cheers.............Pete
Christina-
This is worth the watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlpp5Xmslb8. You'll see the whole process of making a baguette, but especially at the end you'll see the use of a flipper board as well as scoring. Mr. Hamelman even makes a cameo appearance!
Enjoy - and keep at it!
Larry