Vermont SD alfanso style, take 3

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alfanso on 15 Jun 2017 at 17:05

Hamelman Vermont SD with 125% rye flour levain

My first foray into the Vermont SD was back in April with the straight formula: 125% bread flour levain with bread flour, plus the 10% rye flour used in the final mix as directed.  

A week later - the same bread flour levain but I used AP flour for the final mix.  The dough was more extensible and less "rubbery" to work with.  A change for the better in my book.  2 letter folds during the bulk ferment.

For this third run I swapped the bread flour levain for a rye flour levain and eliminated any rye from the final mix.  Still using AP flour and also continued with 2 letter folds.  In essence, the rye is now at 15% of total pre-fermented flour rather than the 10% used in the original formula for final dough ingredients.

Handles and bakes beautifully.

steam just released...then getting ready for venting 15 minutes later

 

350g x 5 baguettes (long batards)

preparing for morning toast

 

Ap flour being less rubbery and better in your book. I think that's one of the key reasons baguettes found around USA are so tough (at least one reason). There seems to be a myth that bread flour is ideal for French style white breads but that couldn't be further from the truth at least in this guys opinion. Watch any video of French bakers mixing dough and notice the incredible smoothness of the dough. Strong flours do not ball up beautifully like this and if you care to window pane test, what you want is something elastic but not resistant in fact if gravity can form the pane then that is about how delicate the dough should be. This helps form a soft crumb that doesn't hurt the jaw (what I find almost every time I smaller baguettes here) though leather jaw breaker loaves - blech! So yeah behind that autolysing now and closing my eyes envisioning my next batch looks at least somewhat as gorgeous as these (fingers crossed)

in place of the bread flour for baguettes going forward.  At least for a while.  The final results don't seem to matter all that much, but for lower hydrations the dough is more workable from the very little experimentation that I've done so far. It is a more pleasant french fold activity when the dough is more compliant.  I may even look into some fava bean flour soon, just to see what it may add to the dough, the bake and the flavor.

thanks, alan

These don't seem as boldly baked as some of the others  That crumb should be outstading and the extra rye will make them tastier for sure.  Well done and happy baking.

never quite as "red" as the photos show them to be, but still had some decent coloration.  I snapped a photo of the crumb on its way into the toaster.  I'm starting to get the hang of this thing and may stick with it for a while ;-) .

thanks, alan