Baguette End
May. 10th, 2021 07:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbakerThis week's Resolution Recipe: Classic Baguettes.
Poolish:
1/2 cup water, cool
1/16 tsp dry yeast, or 1 Tbsp sourdough starter (I used sourdough)
1 cup white flour
Dough:
all the poolish
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast
1 cup + 2 Tbsp water, lukewarm
3 1/2 cups white flour
2 tsp salt
Mix the poolish together to make a soft dough. Cover and let rest at room temperature for about 14 hours; overnight works well. The starter should have expanded and become bubbly.
To make the dough: mix and knead everything together to make a soft, somewhat smooth dough; it should be cohesive, but the surface may still be a bit rough. (Using a stand mixer, knead for about 4 minutes on speed 2.) The finished dough should stick a bit at the bottom of the bowl.
Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let the dough rest and rise for 45 minutes. Gently deflate the dough and fold its edges into the center, then turn it over in the bowl before letting it rise for an additional 45 minutes, until it's noticeably puffy. Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased work surface. Gently deflate it and divide into three equal pieces.
Round each piece of dough into a rough ball by pulling the edges into the center. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes (or up to 1 hour). Working with one piece at a time, flatten the dough slightly then fold it nearly - but not quite - in half, sealing the edges with the heel of your hand. Turn the dough around, and repeat: fold, then flatten. Repeat this whole process a third time; the dough should have started to elongate itself.
With the seam side down, cup your fingers and gently roll the dough into a 16" log. Your goal is a 15" baguette, so 16" allows for the slight shrinkage you'll see once you're done rolling. Taper each end of the log slightly to create the baguette's typical "pointy" end. Place the logs seam-side down onto a lightly-greased or parchment-lined pan, or into the folds of a floured cotton couche. (I did both: I have a two-loaf cotton couche, so I used a cotton towel on the bread board for the third.) Cover them with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the loaves to rise until they're slightly puffy ("marshmallow-y" is the term we use in our baking school). The loaves should certainly look lighter and less dense then when you first shaped them, but won't be anywhere near doubled. This should take about 45 minutes to an hour at room temperature.
Towards the end of the rising time, heat your oven to 450° with a cast-iron pan on the floor of the oven, and a baking stone on the middle rack. Heat 1 1/2 cups water to boiling. Gently roll the baguettes onto a parchment-lined baker's peel. Using a baker's lame held at about a 45° angle, make 3-5 long lengthwise slashes in each baguette. Load the baguettes into the oven. Carefully pour the boiling water into the cast-iron pan, and quickly shut the oven door. The billowing steam created by the boiling water will help the baguettes rise, and give them a lovely, shiny crust. Bake them for 24-28 minutes, until they're a very deep golden brown. Remove them from the oven and cool them on a rack. Or, for the very crispiest baguettes, turn off the oven, crack it open about 2", and allow the baguettes to cool completely to room temperature in the oven.
What worked: I haven't made baguettes in years. This tickled my baking fancy, so what the heck. It worked well; not perfectly, but the crumb texture and flavor was spot-on classic baguette. Some of the slashes were perfect "lips".
They were brilliant with house-made beef red-hot sausages.
What didn't: The baguettes curved slightly as I loaded them into the oven. They weren't uniform thickness (all were thicker in the middle, which makes sense). Most of the slashes were not perfect "lips". The texture was not pure open-lace baguette - that may be due to using sourdough in the poolish. Or it just may be me needing more practice on technique.
I left one in the oven, but it just became kind of tough on the bottom. Wouldn't do that again. Overall the crust was not as crackly as I expect a baguette to be. I might try it with ice water instead of boiling but without a professional steam-injected oven I'm probably out of luck there.
Will I make it again? Sure, these will go into the bread rotation. I made a second batch yesterday and avoided the curving issue by placing more carefully. However, I wasn't as careful with forming and they were less uniform thickness.
Poolish:
1/2 cup water, cool
1/16 tsp dry yeast, or 1 Tbsp sourdough starter (I used sourdough)
1 cup white flour
Dough:
all the poolish
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast
1 cup + 2 Tbsp water, lukewarm
3 1/2 cups white flour
2 tsp salt
Mix the poolish together to make a soft dough. Cover and let rest at room temperature for about 14 hours; overnight works well. The starter should have expanded and become bubbly.
To make the dough: mix and knead everything together to make a soft, somewhat smooth dough; it should be cohesive, but the surface may still be a bit rough. (Using a stand mixer, knead for about 4 minutes on speed 2.) The finished dough should stick a bit at the bottom of the bowl.
Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let the dough rest and rise for 45 minutes. Gently deflate the dough and fold its edges into the center, then turn it over in the bowl before letting it rise for an additional 45 minutes, until it's noticeably puffy. Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased work surface. Gently deflate it and divide into three equal pieces.
Round each piece of dough into a rough ball by pulling the edges into the center. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes (or up to 1 hour). Working with one piece at a time, flatten the dough slightly then fold it nearly - but not quite - in half, sealing the edges with the heel of your hand. Turn the dough around, and repeat: fold, then flatten. Repeat this whole process a third time; the dough should have started to elongate itself.
With the seam side down, cup your fingers and gently roll the dough into a 16" log. Your goal is a 15" baguette, so 16" allows for the slight shrinkage you'll see once you're done rolling. Taper each end of the log slightly to create the baguette's typical "pointy" end. Place the logs seam-side down onto a lightly-greased or parchment-lined pan, or into the folds of a floured cotton couche. (I did both: I have a two-loaf cotton couche, so I used a cotton towel on the bread board for the third.) Cover them with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the loaves to rise until they're slightly puffy ("marshmallow-y" is the term we use in our baking school). The loaves should certainly look lighter and less dense then when you first shaped them, but won't be anywhere near doubled. This should take about 45 minutes to an hour at room temperature.
Towards the end of the rising time, heat your oven to 450° with a cast-iron pan on the floor of the oven, and a baking stone on the middle rack. Heat 1 1/2 cups water to boiling. Gently roll the baguettes onto a parchment-lined baker's peel. Using a baker's lame held at about a 45° angle, make 3-5 long lengthwise slashes in each baguette. Load the baguettes into the oven. Carefully pour the boiling water into the cast-iron pan, and quickly shut the oven door. The billowing steam created by the boiling water will help the baguettes rise, and give them a lovely, shiny crust. Bake them for 24-28 minutes, until they're a very deep golden brown. Remove them from the oven and cool them on a rack. Or, for the very crispiest baguettes, turn off the oven, crack it open about 2", and allow the baguettes to cool completely to room temperature in the oven.
What worked: I haven't made baguettes in years. This tickled my baking fancy, so what the heck. It worked well; not perfectly, but the crumb texture and flavor was spot-on classic baguette. Some of the slashes were perfect "lips".
They were brilliant with house-made beef red-hot sausages.
What didn't: The baguettes curved slightly as I loaded them into the oven. They weren't uniform thickness (all were thicker in the middle, which makes sense). Most of the slashes were not perfect "lips". The texture was not pure open-lace baguette - that may be due to using sourdough in the poolish. Or it just may be me needing more practice on technique.
I left one in the oven, but it just became kind of tough on the bottom. Wouldn't do that again. Overall the crust was not as crackly as I expect a baguette to be. I might try it with ice water instead of boiling but without a professional steam-injected oven I'm probably out of luck there.
Will I make it again? Sure, these will go into the bread rotation. I made a second batch yesterday and avoided the curving issue by placing more carefully. However, I wasn't as careful with forming and they were less uniform thickness.
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Date: 2021-05-10 09:55 pm (UTC)