I want to maintain my skills in making baguettes. Unlike Alan and Don who has really developed their skills for the long haul, I find unless I make them every few months my skills backslide. I haven’t made baguettes with inclusions in a long long while so decided to add a handful of poppyseeds to the dough.
I have continued to use stiff levains as they ferment more slowly so I can better control the fermentation in the heat of the summer. For the organic T55 flour that I have, I have settled on 75% hydration. At this hydration, the dough has enough strength and extensibility to shape nicely. One of the baguettes still turned out a bit longer than my tray that holds them shaped in the couche. I had to release the dough on that one before flipping it out onto the transfer board and then do a bit of reshaping, I don’t think it was any worse for the wear.
We had one baguette tonight shared as a ham and Swiss sandwich with Dijon mustard, Kewpie mayo and sliced dill pickles. I also made a little tomato and roasted red pepper salad with sumach.
Added 43 g poppy seeds
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 60% 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 500*F 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 480*F.
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.
My index of bakes.
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