The key word being the 'same' - yeah this is getting easier each time - funny to think a while back I was happy with one or slashes bursting - as I watch them now the first 5 minutes of the bake reveals a lot - within a few minutes these already had nice grignes forming the about 7-8 minutes in they usually start to curl (meaning the whole loaf) as yu often see baguettes a sort of curved - the tips raise and a they form an arch - about the only thing left to really think about now is just getting a straighter loaf but not complaining today ;)
Something clicked for me te other week - I thought it might be interesting to describe the event. This particular quest to perfect the all mighty baguette began around March of last year, prior to that I had been spinning lots of pizzas for my kids and meat pies (a heritage food) cheese cakes etc with particular experience tossing pizzas since in high school I worked at a pizza joint pumping out a ridiculous number of pies several nights a week for years - after a while, if you've made a certain shape about a thousand or more times you eventually get to the point that you can do it with your eyes shut (literally). It always cracked me up watching someone else make the oddest of shapes when they try making pizza the first time. So pizza spinning is reference point for any dough related recipe for me...
So now comes the famous baguette, over the last year plus it had driving me bonkers trying to get a good cylinder - I watched videos religiously and just couldn't quite get the hang of the technique especially the use of the heel of you hand (I'm referring to the final fold whereby the loaf is sealed and folded just before rolling ). With failure after failure decided on a hybrid method of using fingers to create the seal. It brought an immediate improvement but still resulted in defects. So finally after using this new technique, I decided to give the heel method another shot. To my surprise I noticed that I was able to wack out a really nice cylinder without any effort - I could gauge the amount of pressure needed progressing along the loaf with little thought or concentration. This was the point that all of a sudden the muscle memory just kind of kicked in and the improvements in the bake were leaps and bounds above any other bake. This was quite a cool experience and really goes to show that it just comes down to a lot of practice. It also goes to show that the correct technique contributes to the loaf as a whole. I am sure that the recent great burst that I am seeing has more to do with more uniform taught surface - of course timing and reading the dough and having a better guage on rise times and final proofing is a big factor but all in all, ever step demands practice, understanding and muscle memory to not only
In case it has become obvious that's my battle cry when something exciting emerges from the oven - this time (not included in photo 6 delicious little licorice canele) some nicely caramelized grignes and pretty nice crumb (at least on my overly critical crumb gauge). Nice thing about this bake is it's a 24 hour cold retard which lends well to a very flavorful loaf. On a side note thought a blog entry might be more appropriate thanks to the suggestion of icedemeter ;)
This is the result of lowering hydration from 72% to 71% as well as very close eye on final proofing times. 796g t65 + 4g fava 568g h20 7g fresh yeast and 16g salt. Shaping was much more controlled and came off the couch very easily. The spring was fantastic and starting to see cute little ears. Oh yeah taste pretty good too :)
Hope these photos aren't getting to boring ! This is today's bake after a 24 hour bulk. Kept a much closer eye on final proof and got some nice spring as well as some fairly decent bursts especially on the lower loaf in this photo. The quest continues ....
The couple of weeks I was very successful in over proofing my loaves and so sunk into a self pity mode having pulled out many sad deflated loaves that even though I have frozen am preparing to cast adrift in the sea of failed loaves. Today is a different story - note to self - when in doubt do not wait just bake :)
Here are a couple of nice loaves from today's batch. Finally seeing some nice ears with crisper edges which I believe is a result of a shorter final proof (~45 minites-ish) and a little extra time before oven flipping. Being that its colder in the mornings its quite a challenge to get the final proof timing right and have recently been a bit disappointed by flatter loaves due to over-compensating. The last couple of bakes I have done the final proof above the oven to inject a little life into the yeast and it seems to allow for the usual 40-50 minute proof. Then as the oven opens for the first flip its been obvious that the spring is more pronounced.
That's all great but what else can be noticed here is that I have recently been experimenting with soy and its apparent that I have over done it this time as the crumb is a little too gummy. Its amazing that just a bit of soy can change the bubble structure to that of more smaller air pockets which at least for me is desirable. Not a big fan of 1 inch pockets. So it looks like time to scale back on soy maybe 1/2 g max. Although it makes for a beautiful yellow color this batch is just ok on the interior.
The balance of everything on this loaf - the baguette, is just insane to perfect !
Decided to mix it up a bit today. 2 tapered baguettes with thin ends and two as perfectly cylindrical as possible baguettes.
I once read that Raymond calvel hated tapered ends and, to a degree can understand why, but every time I watch a video where a chef tapers out a baguette I start to fantasize about that voluminous middle section.
One thing that's abundantly obvious is that this particular shape (the baguette whether tapered or not) is unbelievably difficult to master. Having made probably 10,000 pizzas I am convinced that a disk is much easier to master despite looking like a challenging shape. The long cylinder is deceptively hard to keep consistent especially when also trying to produce tight surfaces. So lets see what becomes of today's mix up. Back in an hour or so ...
Presenting today's replication attempt from yesterday's epiphany whereby I discovered that a little more confidence adding soy flour produces am amazing crumb structure. If you've eaten authentic baguettes you should know that they cut open and look just like this (consistent bubbles about 1/4 to 1/2 inch in diameter throughout the loaf).
I have been on a quest to perfect the authentic baguette and I've found the crumb structure is a bit of a crap shoot. I am becoming more convinced now that even an eighth of a percent of soy flour is enough to improve the structure to the point that we end up with that authentic interior that is so characteristic of ' baguette de tradition'
Tomorrows agenda - same thing but using poolish instead of cold ferment will see what happens ...
Now this is the way I like my crumb to turn out ! Not going to bother posting any shaping pics because as it always seems to be the case that a nicely shaped loaf will suffer internally and vice versa ... Such is the quest right now to perfect both shape and crumb at the same time.
A few points to note - I've always added a pinch of soy flour to my recipe but this time I decided to go with the recommended dose which is max 0.25% (actually I did more like .2%) and wow what a difference this makes to the dough. If anyone is interested I will say that just this small amount of soy flour made the final dough much more elastic and subtle. It also seems as though had increased hydration. Next batch will do the same but lower hydration by a percentage point and see if we can get more control over shaping. As of now I have in cold ferment
Objective - same crumb as above and something presentable. Will also do an 18hr cold ferment.
This dough is quite slack and tricky to control - normally without the soy its very predictable and with concentration can produce a nicely shaped loaf but this new formula changes everything - well see what happens in a few hours :)
