Baking geekery

[madbaker]

I just got around to reading a new-ish baking book by Jeffrey Hamelman, who is the head of baking at King Arthur Flour. He should know what he's talking about. And yes, this is an incredibly useful book. This has the best explanation I have ever read of how to slash baguettes so that they produce the "proper" pattern. And a different steaming method to produce thick French bread crust that seemed eminently doable.

Of course, I've wanted to try this out immediately upon reading. But I haven't had time/effort to spare.
Yesterday, I decided on a whim to make some French bread to go with the cod cakes I was making (see next entry which will detail that particular Resolution Recipe). Unfortunately, making good sourdough French bread requires significant advance planning -- I need to take the starter out of the fridge and feed it, let it warm up for several hours, make and let the sponge rise for a day, then put it in the fridge for a day, and then final knead and bake the following day...

So I used my emergency dry yeast. Nowhere near as much flavor, but I can bake the day I start it. I think I under-kneaded a bit; the loaves slumped somewhat when they were in their final rising in the linen couches. (This is a cool contraption that produces two linen slings the bread can rest in; it's a small-scale version of what professional bakeries use.)

The slashing was a failure. However, the new steaming method worked out pretty well, producing a reasonably crackly crust. Even if it did set off the smoke alarm several times. And the bread was, while not as tasty as my preferred sourdough, still good (especially for plain ol' dry yeast).

Comments

[ornerie.livejournal.com]

I dont consider this geekery at all, sorry

:)

[wingedcorset.livejournal.com]

If he actually told us how to do the slashing on steaming, it might approach geekery. Maybe.

ps to madbaker: Hint hint!

[wingedcorset.livejournal.com]

on=or

[aastg.livejournal.com]

"take the starter out of the fridge and feed it, let it warm up for several hours, make and let the sponge rise for a day, then put it in the fridge for a day, and then final knead and bake the following day..."

Is that how long you set all of your sourdoughs to rise? Or just the French? What's the whole sequence?

(I'm through my third loaf of sourdough, using that lovely starter you gave me - splodeyness is under control, so now I'm working on the getting it to be a little less dense.)

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

For the slashing, you're supposed to use a curved lame (not a straight blade) and slice at about a 30 degree angle, from one side to the other. But closer to the long direction than the short one. Then overlap the next slash by about 25% of the length.

This is really easy to draw, harder to explain.

Steaming: put a cast-iron skillet on the oven floor while the oven heats. Bake the bread directly on a baking stone, and just before shutting the oven door to bake, throw some ice cubes into the cast iron.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

This is how long I've been doing most of my breads. The extra day in the fridge slows things down and develops flavor nicely, but bread will come out well if you skip that step.

Basic sequence: take starter out and feed when you get home from work. Make sponge before bedtime. Let rise 18 hours or so, kneading in salt and doing a first rise when you get home from work. Let rise 1-2 hours, do a full knead and shaping, let rise another 1-2 hours. Bake.

[naadhira.livejournal.com]

The cast-iron idea is brill. I've just used the "squirt bottle on the oven walls" method; I'll have to try the other.

One of the mixed blessings of the move: I will no longer have a weekly loaf of Gardner bread. Which means I'll now have reason to make my own again.

And he's giving me some of his starter - the starter he's been nurturing for the past EIGHT years. I'd better not kill it...