Montreal bread..

Toast
bread1965 on 26 Mar 2017 at 06:28

This past week I was fortunate enough to have a stop over in Montreal for two days and had the most remarkable bread I've had in a while. There's a quote to the effect of judging a restaurant by the quality of it's bread and it's coffee. After we ordered they gave us some, and it was remarkable! I ended up asking for more.. and the best part was that it was a simple white flour sourdough... no fancy grains, bits or parts.. just simple good unadulterated sourdough.. and the quote held true, the food was superb..

This got me thinking..

The aroma was gentle but typical sourdough. The crumb was moist to almost wet (but fully and well baked) and very open but not with look-through holes. The crumb was thin, firm and on the verge of crisp. The bottom of the loaf was well cooked but almost white (not from flour, but just didn't turn brown from baking..

Two thoughts:

- hydration: I wonder if instead of baking a loaf with half the bake time lid-on and half lid-off, I wonder if I baked 75% lid on and 25% lid-off that I'd get the same results? I also wondered if doing this meant I didn't need a super high hydration as the loaf would be bathed in the dough's own steam (using a dutch oven) for so long that I wouldn't need to crank up the water. It was on the verge of moist ciabbata so maybe 70% hydration would get me there?

- white bottom: maybe I should lift my oven rack higher and bake near the top of my oven (or lower my temp).. lowering the temp (from say 450 to 400 or 375) could cause me problems.. not sure.. what would you do?

Either way - it was definitely worth replicating!

Thanks.. bake happy!

I would also suggest you add a bit of yogurt or kefir in your dough. Not a lot... I use 30 g to 1100 g of total flour. I find that my breads have even more moisture and that the crust is thin and crispy. I like the results. 

ETA: You need to tell us the name of the restaurant!

I wasn't successful and right now that is an impossibility because I have two humongous maple trees that shade the backyard and made gardening a thing of the past. And no, I am not cutting down my maple tree to grow salsifi. One of them is so huge that it would cost thousands to cut it down.

I will just have to take a trip to Montreal. I needed an excuse, now I have one!!! :-D 

Are about as good as you can find in north america. There's a fantastic little place in plateau called Monsieur Pinchot's - highly recommended !

If you have the chance, on a return visit, run, don't walk to Fairmount Bagel for their delicious Montréal-style bagels which are baked in a wood-fired oven. The bagels have a bigger hole and are thinner than their New York cousins, but retain a nice woody flavor from the oven bake. 

74 Fairmount West 

Montréal, QC H2T 2M2

They got egg in the mix  and honey in the boiing water.  Are you sure thy aren't badly shaped brioche?  Just sayin the real bagels in NY don't have these things and are boiled in something a little harsher .....like lye!  I do love the made by hand and the WFO baking though.  Maybe these are Artisan Bagels.