Almost a Baguette...

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Hello, everyone! It's been ages since I posted something. Nothing much or new happening (in terms of baking) lately except that I am still learning to bake a lot and experimenting some recipes. I have had some fair share of success on baking my sourdough bread and pastries too of late. Though, the fact of not being able to make a decent looking piece of Baguette disturbs me a great deal. A recent trip back to France really encouraged me to pick up from where I left and started to think of what I could do to make things better, despite having a very small home oven without any steam injection, no baking stone or a piece of good quality baking pan here, sigh!

So alright, a normal person would have given up at this point but I have this obsession of really wanting to get things done till like well, am happy with it and once again, did the best that I could. The following are the details and I hope someone could provide some pointers for me to improve on...

 

I started off with a very simple recipe.

Note : Average room temperature is 29-31dc and humidity is around 90% here.

 

  • Flour (type 550) - 100%
  • Water (Iced-cold as my room temp is around 29dc) - 60%
  • Instant Yeast - 2%
  • Salt - 1%
  1. All ingredients are mixed by hand and formed into a ball. No further kneading. 
  2. Dough temp is at 26 dc at this point.
  3. 1st S&F after 40 mins. Dough temp is 26dc.
  4. 2nd S&F at 40 mins interval. Dough temp is 27dc.
  5. 3rd S&F at 40 mins interval. Dough temp is at 29dc almost.
  6. Divide and pre-shape dough.
  7. Bench rest - 10 mins
  8. Shaping
  9. Final proving for 30 mins.

I made a total of 2 loaves but the first did not turn out great as It was over-proofed, yike!  

The one in the pic is actually the 2nd loaf which I think is ok but still, have plenty of room for improvement. This loaf was retarded in the fridge while waiting for the 1st to come out from the oven. Not to mention scoring a piece of cold dough is way easier than a room-temp dough.

My verdict : 

  • The crust isn't too bad since I tried my best to introduce steam during the initial stage of baking. 
  • Flavour can be improved by retarding the dough overnight in the fridge after all the S&F session.
  • or place the dough in the fridge during final proofing till its ready for the oven.
  • Stretch and fold intervals could be shortened to 30 mins.

Either way, it is for me to find out what works the best with my tiny oven and busy schedule. I would definitely appreciate some pointers, or even some constructive criticism for as long as I can be a better baker : ) Happy Baking everyone!

 

Regards,

Sandy

 

 

No almost here, it certainly is the real thing.  

Edit. Some thoughts on a second viewing: An area to work on is the scoring of the dough.  As you can see in the second photo there is no overlap on the scores.  A recommended amount of overlap is ~1/3, whereas you have none.  A 60% hydration dough is on the low side, perhaps bump up the hydration by 5-7% more.  Salt should be closer to the 2% range. And yeast (IDY?) closer to the 1% range.  With this much yeast and the ambient temperature/time frame given, the crumb should be opening up more.  You may be rolling these tighter than you should be.  The old iron fist/velvet glove treatment should be a thought in your head as you get comfortable rolling these out.  Otherwise you may be degassing these too much during the S&Fs.

 I've got an even easier formula if you care to wait overnight for it.  The first baguette that I did successfully is still the easiest to execute, if you wish to give it a try.   The famous Bouabsa baguette with double hydration, formulated for TFL by David Snyder and Janedo during the infancy years of TFL.

Bouabsa Baguette   
     
Total Dough Weight 1000 g
 Total Formula   
Ingredients%Grams  
White Flour100.00%564.5  
Water75.00%423.3  
Salt2.00%11.3  
IDY0.16%0.9  
Totals177.16%1000  

Method

 Day 1

  1. Mix Flour & Yeast by hand until just incorporated.  Add 87% Water.  Autolyse 30 minutes.
  2. Add remaining 13% Water and Salt.  Pinch & Fold.  Dough will be a little "squishy" to incorporate the new water.
  3. French Fold ~300.
  4. 3 sets of Stretch & Fold every 20 minutes for 1 hour.  Dough will feel silky, moist and extensible.
  5. Refrigerate for 21-24 hours.

Day 2

  1. Warm up for 1 hour.
  2. Divide into 3 and Pre Shape.  Rest for 15 minutes.
  3. Oven to 480 F.
  4. Shape and prove on couche for 45 minutes.
  5. Steam Oven & Bake for 20 minutes total.

For overnight retard with dough already shaped and couched:

  • Allow 30 minutes post 3rd S&F for bench rest.  This should replace some of the proof time that version 1 allows for.
  • Allow retard from anywhere from 1-5 or more hours before divide.  Timing is to your convenience!
  • Shape a little less tightly than with version 1.
  • Flour couche generously, as the long retard on couche will wick a lot of moisture.
  • Score and bake directly from the retard.

 The amount of yeast is seemingly too little, but it surely does the job.  If done right, the oven spring on these is significant.  And the taste for a non-levain all AP bread is sparkling and sweet.

alan

other than to say that those look most definitely like baguettes to me - no "almost" about it!  I'm betting that they taste exactly like a baguette should, too...

Nice work, and bake happy!