rushyama recently posted a beautiful semolina sesame levain. Kismet, but that isn't what had me geared up for this bake. It had already been earmarked as my next bake.
For this bread, a search of TFL yields one clear use of semolina coarse #1 way way back. This specific bread in baguette form? Only David Snyder seemed to make it. Mixed by hand? Who knows, but probably not many if any.
So, while not groundbreaking, at least I think that I cornered the market on a Hamelman-hand-mixed-semolina-coarse-grind-baguette-levain. That and a few dollars will buy me a ride on the NYC subway system.
Mr. Hamelman fancies the 2 stage 125%hydration Bread Flour build levains for a number of his formulae. This is new territory for me, but I quickly got the hang of it with my version of his olive levain. My wheelhouse is the 75% hydration mixed flour variety. A very slight, but nonetheless, learning curve.
Just to be ornery, and curious, I wanted to see the effects of using semolina coarse grind instead of the standard durum rimaccinata flour. And while I got a fairly good oven spring, the crumb is a bit on the dense side. Is it the product of the grain or something more nefarious afoot? Nothing to baseline it against so far.
This is a 67% hydration, 40%BF / 60% semolina dough The mixed dough was soft and malleable with a moist, but not wet, feel. Onto the specifics and my standard violations of the original formula:
- Autolyse just the semolina with all final dough water for 30 minutes.
- Add Bread Flour and liquid levain, autolyse for another 30 minutes
- Add salt. 200 French Folds. 5 minute rest, 200 more French Folds.
- 3 Letter Folds on the bench at 40, 80 & 120 minutes.
- Overnight nap in the refrigerator.
- Early AM divide, pre-shape and shape onto couche. Back into refrigerator.
- Bake at 460dF. 13 min w/steam, 15 minutes more, 2 minutes venting.
- 365g x 4.
Not enough successful experience with durum baguette scoring in the very few times I made durum baguettes before. Especially the seeded breads which have a tendency to fight getting a good bloom on a baguette. Not so here. I have to say that this is my best scoring of semolina/durum baguettes so far, although once more a few too close together score lines merged.
crumb shot added...
Not terribly open crumb. Still do not have a fix on whether I should expect more from this dough in baguette form. I'm past pining for a seriously open crumb, with few exceptions. I would have liked to see more openness, and for their weight and size they perhaps should have been bigger. But this is more of an observation and not a complaint. If I have my druthers, I'm more in the camp of wanting to see the crust develop a beautiful bloom and grigne.
alan
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and a bit s weet. Can't wait to see the crumb with the normal baguette hydration on 67%. Well done and happy baking Alan
So what are you baking for Homemade Bread Day?
Drat! Made me kill a lovely baguette for your sick viewing pleasure. May you stand downwind of a dozen camels having just feasted on Campbell's pork and beans...
bread with it and the mill is already out. It really turns it into fine flour that should open the crumb. I think more water would have helped too.
in abeyance. So getting the finer powdery grain isn't the issue for me. I was shopping at some international grocery and saw this pack of coarse ground semolina. So I picked it up. And being the contrarian that I make-believe that I am, I like going against the grain (drum roll please) a little. So I tried it out because I continually read that one can't make bread with coarse ground semolina, we need to use the rimaccinata. And...I guess now I know that just plain ain't true!
Crumb shot?
I'll be nicer to you than I was to dbm...
thanks, alan
Okay so you aren't crazy about the crumb, but do they taste good? No point making it looks pretty if it doesn't taste good. ;-)
and nothing to complain about. The semolina is from Cedar Phoenicia, a Toronto business which I never heard of before, but found in a local grocery here. So now I can go back to some quality durum rimaccinata the next time and use this brand as a baseline for texture, flavor, etc. And I know that it will make great toast! One of the lights of my life - great toast.
These look wonderful! I haven't tried baguettes in awhile (still need to figure out how to best do it in my oven), but your posts certainly are inspiring.
My baguettes are only ~13-15 inches long so I can load them in the long way on my baking tiles. Come and join the Baguette Brigade that I'm trying to organize. All paid up members get a saber light sword in the shape of their favorite baguette and a decoder ring.
thanks, alan
You had me at saber light sword!
These look great as usual.
As you know I would hope, I also love baking with durum. I think you would really enjoy one of my favorites I baked a while ago which has a higher percentage of durum in it. Give this formula a try https://mookielovesbread.wordpress.com/2013/09/25/durum-semolina-bread/ or this one: https://mookielovesbread.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/durum-semolina-36-hour-sourdough-bread/
Happy Baking!
Ian
I was in the middle of looking at the first formula and then came back here to find that you aded the 36 hr. to it. You Lon-Gailanders are really sneaky in that way.
Anyway the first has a few ingredients which I don't keep around. Being somewhat the minimalist, I have no First Clear nor French Style flours and I'm not sure what Dough Flour is. If I've got it right, it looks like total baker's % is 169.31.
The 36 hr. dough may be more my style (except for the wait). It reminds me of the Gosselin Levain baguettes which start out with an overnight autolyse with ice water in retard. I have some spelt but no French Style flour. So this formula may be more for me. Can I wait 36 hours? Do bears... Is the Pope... Hmmm.
alan
You can sub AP or Bread Flour for the French style flour. I have to go and check out my post to see about the dough flour. I know I like to be creative but I don't think I invented a new class of flour....at least not yet! Okay...I checked it out...hopefully you were using your NY sense of humor....right? In case you just had a liquid lunch....the Dough Flour was the total amount of flour in the main dough. This was done before I had my fancy BreadStorm program.
Hope you give this a shot when you get a chance.
If you do feel adventurous, you can order First Clear from King Arthur Flour or NY Bakers websites. It is pretty essential for authentic NY Deli Rye....at least in my humble opinion. You can certainly use AP instead but it's not exactly the same.
Ian
What great looking baguettes!
I think you did an excellent job.
Is this a recipe worth trying again to see if you can get the crumb just the way you want it?
Ru
Well, yes and no. I wasn't impressed with the taste of the bread without the sesame seeds. I think that I always ate semolina (Italian) breads with seeds, so maybe that's part of the joy of a durum based bread. Also as I used the semolina coarse instead of the durum rimaccinata, that may have come into play. And even though it was a first time with this formula, I decided to test the old school word that coarse ground semolina cannot be used in bread baking. Which I apparently disproved, perhaps surrendering some flavor in the process.
Anyway, later today I have a second coming of this bread on tap. I swapped out the 125% hydration bread flour for 125% hydration rye flour and am also using the durum rimaccinata flour instead of the coarse ground semolina. So two changes in store.
alan
Beautiful baguettes. The crumb looks great!
Sooner or later I'll get the hang of baguettes ;-) . As I mentioned to someone the other day elsewhere on TFL, those "overnight successes" are discovered after toiling away in dingy clubs for 20 years. Not anywhere near the same for me and baguettes, but I put a lot of time into getting it to work. My early adventures just over 3 years ago were nothing to write home about.
alan