I was disappointed in my last set of baguettes so had to bake another set. With this set, I was using this new AP flour again and based on the last set decided to go with 76% hydration and do hand mixing so I could better assess how the dough felt. I also didn’t do any cold retard because the dough in the last set really resisted stretching as it was still a bit cold during shaping.
I have only two baguettes to show this time, one of the shaped and fully proofed baguettes slipped off the transfer board and hit the edge of the countertop and stretched out of shape degassing. I didn’t bother to bake it. This dough didn’t resist stretching and in fact I barely had to so any stretching during shaping. In fact, they ended up a bit too long for the cookie tray that I use to support the couche and the pointy ends ended up sticking to the cookie tray and I had to wrestle them off. Despite this I am quite happy with this bake.
Another thing I have been exploring is whether more gluten development can allow longer fermentation and still retain the grigne/ears of the baguettes. I’ve increased the slap and folds up to 260 this time and I really pushed final proofing to a total rise of 50% far greater than what was my standard when I first became adept with baguettes. Back then I tried to get the baguettes in the oven by 30% rise so 50% is a much more. The ears were retained and the crumb looked decent. I think I can push a bit more to 55% with this flour and this degree of gluten development.
Overnight Levain build ferment 75°F 10-12 hours
When levain at peak, mix 29 g water with all the levain mixing to loosen.
In the morning, to your mixing bowl add 353 g water, salt 12 g and diastatic malt 5.8 g to dissolve, then add 527 g AP flour to combine. Allow to saltolyse for 20 mins. Next add the loosened levain, pinch and stretch and fold to combine in the bowl. Slap and fold x 100 then add hold back water 23 g gradually working in until fully absorbed then slap and fold x 100.
Bulk Fermentation 82*F until aliquot jar shows 20% rise.
Do folds every 20 mins doing 3 folds
Could do cold retard at this point for up to overnight. (Aliquot jar 20% rise)
Divide and pre-shape rest for 15 mins
Shape en couche with final proof until aliquot jar shows 40% rise then (optional) cold retard shaped baguettes en couche for at least 15 minutes for easier scoring.
Pre-heat oven 500F after 30 mins add Silvia towel in pan with boiling water.
Transfer baguettes from couche to peel on parchment
Score each baguette and transfer to oven, bake on steel.
Bake with steam pouring 1 cup of boiling water to cast iron skillet dropping temperature to 480F.
The baguettes are baked with steam for 13 mins. The steam equipment is removed venting the oven of steam. Transfer the baguettes from the baking steel to next rack completing baking directly on a rack to minimize the browning of the bottom crust. The oven is dropped to 450ºF but convection is turned on and the baguettes bake for 10 mins rotating them halfway. The baguettes are rotated again if needed and baked for another 3 mins to achieve a rich colour crust.
Nice! I was doing baguettes this week too and agree with your conclusion that more gluten strength makes the dough handle more fermentation.
P.S. my first thought when you said the baguette fell in the floor was “Garlic Knots!”
I’m glad that you’re also finding something similar Melissa. One issue is extensibility of the dough as the gluten development increases. I would sometimes do a cold retard at the end of bulk for convenience, but shaping cold dough causes a loss of extensibility. When I am doing a dough with greater gluten development I should remember not to cold retard to increase the extensibility. Also increasing the hydration is also helpful in dealing with loss of extensibility from more developed gluten.
Benny
Some improvement with this next bake, back to my favorite T55 equivalent flour from Quebec. The dough has been more extensible than I ever recall from previous bakes of this formula. So much so they were hanging off the couche. So after 20 mins of final proof I took them off the couche and cut a good part of the ends off and then put them back on the couche to finish fermentation. This extra handling causes degassing of the dough of course so isn’t ideal. Nonetheless this baked up well, I can only imagine without that extra handling how the crumb may have been even more open.
This time I went with 300 slap and folds in addition to the Rubaud kneading in the bowl when adding the levain and bassinage water. Baking occurred after a final rise of 55%, higher than I’ve gone with baguettes in the past. No loss of grigne/ears which is awesome. Also I think I have figured out why I will sometimes have the straps of baguettes break. When I score I have had the tendency to like to make the straps a bit narrow. This time with scoring I made the straps slightly wider and thus even with the oven spring the straps did not break!
Next time I will add another 50 slap and folds and increase final rise to 60%, or just increase the final rise without adding more slap and folds to see if I can get the crumb more lacy.
I haven’t posted here in some time despite still baking. I’ve been busy with family issues.
I baked another set of baguettes today this time adding poppyseeds to the dough. One of the baguettes was used to make a smoked ham, Swiss cheese, dill pickle, Dijon mustard and Kewpie mayo sandwich.
In the morning, to your mixing bowl add 347 g water, 10 g salt and diastatic malt 5.2 g to dissolve. Add levain to water and cut the levain into small pieces in the bowl. Next add 475 g AP flour to combine. Allow to saltolyse for 20 mins. Slap and fold x 100 then add hold back water 21 g gradually working in until fully absorbed by massaging and then Rubaud kneading the dough, then slap and fold x 200.
Bulk Fermentation 82*F until aliquot jar shows 20% rise.
Do folds every 20 mins doing 3 folds
Could do cold retard at this point for up to overnight. (Aliquot jar 20% rise)
Divide and pre-shape rest for 15 mins
Shape en couche with final proof until aliquot jar shows 55% rise then (optional) cold retard shaped baguettes en couche for at least 15 minutes for easier scoring. I often do this for convenience as the oven is pre-heating.
Pre-heat oven 500F after 30 mins add Silvia towel in pan with boiling water.
Transfer baguettes from couche to peel on parchment
Score each baguette and transfer to oven, bake on steel.
Bake with steam pouring 1 cup of boiling water to cast iron skillet dropping temperature to 480F.
The baguettes are baked with steam for 13 mins. The steam equipment is removed venting the oven of steam. Transfer the baguettes from the baking steel to next rack completing baking directly on a rack to minimize the browning and thickening of the bottom crust. The oven is dropped to 450ºF but convection is turned on and the baguettes bake for 10 mins rotating them halfway. The baguettes are rotated again if needed and baked for another 3 mins to achieve a rich colour crust.
I was doing baguettes this week too and agree with your conclusion that more gluten strength makes the dough handle more fermentation.
