Holy expletive how did i do this

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kendalm on 19 May 2017 at 18:12
This burst is the result of raising my upper deck one notch higher than usual as well as removing my lower slab to maximize heat. I was pleasantly surprised by dramatic improvement on Browning. As many know I am very particular about crumb structure as well and was quite happy with this bake as I will post some crumb pics as well. Thanks to doc dough for the countless pms :):):)

Looks very nice. Do I detect the ends being a little darker than the middle of the loaf?  It is not much, and certainly not objectionable, and it may be just my imagination.

The crumb looks equally nice.  Very uniform with less obvious end-to-end lengthening of the holes, which I think you attributed to stretching the finished loaves to fit the pan.

Now that you have made many changes it would be appreciated if you would re-document both the formulation/ingredients and the process/equipment setup (with photos if you can arrange it).

This is a good example of the kind of results you can get when you work through the experiments in a structured way.  Well done!

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kendalm on 19 May 2017 at 19:42

Sure can document the whole procedure with photos. Of you like I can take it from step one to the final product and thanks again !

Yes the ends are definitely darker.  The first time I took you advice and removed,the lower deck I waited a full 10 minutes to shuffle loaves and had a more extreme contrast.  This time I waited 8.5 minutes and shuffled which minimized that problem but yes your observations are spot on 

As to the "how" - obviously, lots of hard work, lots of dedication to increasing skills, and lots of attention to fine details...

Truly gorgeous results --- and I bet the taste improvements have been just as spectacular!  I really hope that you blog your step-by-step with photos, since a lot of us would be eager to learn from your (and the Doc's) work.

Kudos!

As I am sure you know I beat myself up but as with every bake you pick your faults and although this freaked me out with the crazy burst I immediately looked at the scrunchy end of the nicest loaf here and though dang it ! 3 nice scores followed by a couple of mutants. I usually don't bake on Friday so was fitting this into my schedule and want paying too much attention. The only reason I did today was I had a eureka moment thinking about docs advice and decided to start on friday. Ok will,blog the whole thing either tomorrow or Sunday and thanks for,tuning into the quest !

I am interested in your new baseline as well as the differences that you think contributed the little increments and big jumps along the way. And it will give you a fully documented revised baseline which becomes a new starting point for progress toward perfection. Perhaps you can allocate the changes in a way that orders them in declining order of importance (otherwise known as a Pareto chart)

To all the finer details and can be sure to make a very detailed account. For the record this baguette adventure is a direct result of my love for the authentic baguette de tradition and most importantly the eating experience and what got me hooked long ago when I used to travel for sports. The step by step should therefore given a pretty good account of how to produce a little bit of France in the home kitchen - should be fun putting the details - more in a day or few ...

yes please document ....  the journey is ongoing and I think we all learn such a lot from each other, 'tis wunderful!

Leslie

Doc dough helped with some suggestions on the matter have obviously helped. The main changes are to plug the vent for the first 5 or so minutes as well as bake on the upper levels (where all the heat is concentrated). Quite exciting - just posted results from today and had some improved results, yesterday (this bake) went into a bit of overtime on final proof as well as some rushed shaping. It would be nice to use an electric but can't complain - especially enjoying eating it more than anything else. I think I need to incorporate some of your delicious salads and berries as I was just salivating at your latest boule - amazing !