Below is all the info pertinent to 3 problems I am having with baking a baguette. Would appreciate any suggestions on how to resolve them.
French Baguette Recipe (Make 1 - 175g baguette.)
Problems: There are 3.
(1) Little or no proofing raise.
(2) Zero oven spring at bake end.
(3) Crumb holes the size of grains of rice, maybe a couple of sweet pea sized.
Done many variations: Hydration 60 - 100%, Salt 1.0 - 2.2%, Instant yeast 0.3% - 4.0%.
Using: King Arthur All Purpose flour, KA SAF instant yeast (proofs very active),
distilled water, granite top baker’s cart, proofing box,
digital scale, kitchen temp 80°F(27°C).
All done by hand, no machines.
Ingredients: 85% hydration. Bakers Percents: Fl-100%, Wa-85%, Sa-2.1%, Ye:2% .
Flour 96g, 80°F(27°C)
Water 81g, 50°F(10°C)
Salt 2g
Yeast 1.9g
Procedure:
1. Mix in order: water, yeast, flour, salt, for 1 1/2 minutes.
2. Rest in bowl for 10 min. Dump onto granite. Oil bowl (olive oil spray)
3. Hand knead for 2 minutes. Return to bowl.
4. Bulk ferment 45 minutes.
5. Stretch/fold for 2 minutes on granite, Return to bowl.
6. Bulk ferment 45 minutes. At end ferment passes window pane test.
7. Heat oven (with convection) with turkey roasting pan full of lava rocks in bottom to 520°F(271°C).
8. Slide dough onto granite topside up. Shape into long cylinder but no folding or rolling. Stretches easily.
9. Transfer into baguette pan, topside up. Dough has a few small bubbles. Do not fold or roll dough
because those actions destroy developing air pockets. Tested the truth of this many times.
10. Gently further stretch dough to within 1/2 inch of pan edges.
11. Proof 15 minutes. Poke test: hole returns half way in that time. More time over proofs dough.
12. Lightly flour dough top, score but not deep, lightly spray milk to remove excess flour on top.
13. Insert bake pan into top rack (alongside temperature sensing element).
14. Immediately toss 1 cup of water onto lava rocks in oven floor and reduce temp to 440°F(227°C).
15. Bake for 24 minutes. Cool in oven with door ajar for 20 minutes.
diagnostics are much easier with this level of detail but there seems to be conflicting information - ie yeast at 0.3%, 2% and 1.9% which is it ? .3 instant is ideal whereas 2% will lend to smaller more numerous bubbles 'holes'. Looks like you are only kneading for about 4 mins. The kneading procedure is pretty important and generally by machine you'd mix for 10 minutes with last few at top speed. You would usually pane test right after that. 24 minutes for one little baguette is way too long a bake. This should be done in about 15. if your oven is truly 520f then 440f, well 24 minutes would first explode it then scorch it very dark. Also #9 it's near impossible to destroy the small co2 pockets, no amount of abuse will force them out - that's not the problem - they are very small, like a mm in diameter - your hands cannot remove them and what you need is for the oven to expand them 10 fold. That requires energy in the form of a lot of heat transfer and very elastic dough. If anything the kneading seems like it may be a bit off ? Not sure but got any pics ?
#8 no folding or rolling. Actually folding and rolling is the very technique you should use and again you won't harm the bubbles. If not convinced watch Raymond calvel shape a baguette...also 15 minute final proof at 80f is a bit short, 30 minutes would be better - after the bulk you should see at least 1.5x volume rise but you are folding at 45. You may need a longer bulk - total 1.5 hours assuming .3% yeast is kind of short bulk. as a suggestion, finish the second stretch and fold them let it sit until it's somewhere between 1.5-2x volume, then shape and do a 30 minute final proof. Watch it closely as you can overproof in a matter of minutes !
Thanks Kendal for the reply.
I did not explain properly. Sorry, my fault.
I have baked tusing variations of this recipe 91 times in the last 13 months. Of those, I have varied the hydration from 60% thru 100%. At the same time I varied the yeast from 0.3% thru 4.0 %. And further, I varied the salt as stated. I have been searching for some (any) combination which would cure the problem(s). Today’s particular combination had the yeast at 2% which is 1.9 grams.
I have read on several other websites that as hydration increases, and today’s was 85%, kneading time should decrease. I have done several experiments and that is correct. I have kneaded 2,4,8, 12, and 15 minutes. I got the best crumb for this hydration at 2 minutes of kneading.
I have a Kitchen Aid counter top stand mixer. The motor shreds the developing gluten even if only used for 30 seconds of kneading, even used at the slowest speed possible. Machine kneading at speed 2 or faster turns the dough into pancake batter regardless of the hydration.
I have seen other recipes for baguettes that specify high 4 hundreds of F degrees for the bake. I start off at 520 F because when I toss in a cup of water (to make the baguette nice and crispy from the steam) the temperature drops to 440 F within a few seconds of opening the oven door.
Pictures abound of baguettes at high hydrations where the holes are from the size of raisins to cherry tomatoes and that is what I am after. A picture of my pathetic baguettes would be pathetic, crispy and flavorful, but no real holes.
On the proofing time. You are absolutely right; one can overproof very easily. I have experimented half a dozen times and have consistently found that if I proof more than 15, 18 tops, minutes the poke test holes go from half a return to no return, i.e. overproofed.
Yet there is something else that I cannot discover, responsible for my inadequate dough.
Thanks again.
you are doing the right thing with the oven no doubt but what strikes me as really odd is 30 seconds in a kitchen aid destroying gluten - even the weakest flours that are used for bread will take 2 minutes of powerful mixing to develop correct. What kind of flour are you using ? How do you know the gluten is destroyed ? What kind of attachment ? Is it a hook as it should be ?
I find this statement bizarre:
[quote]
The motor shreds the developing gluten even if only used for 30 seconds of kneading, even used at the slowest speed possible. Machine kneading at speed 2 or faster turns the dough into pancake batter regardless of the hydration.
[/quote]
I'm skeptical that you're seeing what you think you're seeing. At high hydrations, a KA doesn't do a good job of developing gluten with the dough hook; it doesn't "shred" gluten, it just fails to develop it. It's possible to use the paddle; Rose Beranbaum has a focaccia recipe that has over 100% hydration that requires about 20 minutes on medium speed with the paddle.
So if you're going use a mixer to knead the dough, then a high hydration dough requires *more* kneading not less. But you'll get best results by avoiding machine kneading altogether and using stretch & folds to develop the gluten. You're doing a little bit of that, but, at 85% hydration, I have a hard time seeing how your dough can pass the windowpane test, even though I don't think that's necessary.
Also, what you're making isn't really a french baguette...sounds more like ciabatta. You can get the sort of result you want with a 65-70% hydration dough.