Boules made with Gilchesters Flours and Different Pre-ferments

Hi Akiko,

Many thanks for your kind words.   I'll post more on Tiger Breads below, as other posters are also asking about this.

Yes, the link you post does show the self same flour I used.   Here is a link to their own website: http://www.gilchesters.com/

Best wishes

Andy

Hi Breadsong,

Very good to hear from you.

Special CC [stands for Carrs Celebrated] is the premium flour produced by Carrs of Silloth, in the north west corner of England; website is here: http://www.carrs-flourmills.co.uk/silloth/

The company has a long history of importing Canadian wheat direct to the dock where the mill is based.   This practice was begun by the mill's founder, in order to supply his bakery up the road in Carlisle and now a biscuit bakery owned by the giant United Biscuits.

The mill remains independent, uses very modern milling techniques and is the supplier of choice for Warburtons in the UK.   There are 3 plant bakers controlling the UK bread market, and the other 2 firms are millers as well as bakers.   Warburtons are controlled by the family, and employ farmers in Canada to grow high quality wheat for them.

Special CC is an all Canadian flour.   I had a full tour of the mill with a lecturing colleague about 3 years ago.   Ever since then I have supported Carrs by adopting them as supplier of choice for baking in our College.   Last week, for the first time ever, I encountered problems with this premium flour.   The immediate response from the mill was to uplift the entire batch and replace it; fantastic service!

So, for mainstream bakery teaching, I could not wish for a better range of flours to use so my students can expect the reliable results they need to keep their confidence bolstered.

Will post more on Tiger Bread below, but, yes it is the same concept as that covered by Peter Reinhart.

All good wishes

Andy

Hi Larry,

Yes we sell all the bakery products in our school.   Is there a better way to showcase the work of my college students?

These breads, however, were my work [tiger was joint effort].   I was running a Foundation Degree bread assessment, and there was an excess of both biga and poolish.   Not wanting to see it go to waste, I set too and made 10 large loaves of bread.   They ended up being bagged by my fellow lecturing colleagues for a small fee.

With regard to choosing between the 2 different pre-ferments, I offer the following thoughts.

Firstly, I made the bread with what was available to me.   I had to keep it as simple as possible, as otherwise it would have got in the way of teaching my students.   So, I kept to 2 simple formulae which I could process without getting in anybody's way.

From a teaching point of view, most of my work with yeasted pre-ferments serves as an introduction for students.   In most cases, these students are keen to get to grips with complex fermentation, but have little experience of doing it.

So, I introduce baguette and pain rustique with a poolish, and ciabatta and another boule made with the biga.   I also make pizza with the biga.

I don't make any claims for this being the case, but I associate the poolish with France, and the stiff biga with Italy.   So, I've chosen products representative of those countries and made them with the appropriate pre-ferment.   For the English-style high crown pan breads, I use a pre-ferment which is, essentially, a stiff biga.

So, I don't really go as far as analysing different flavours, textures and other performance indicators.   Of course, that would be fun to do.   Maybe I'll use that for future development in the curriculum?

Thanks, as always for your kind comments

Best wishes

Andy

Hi Franko,

Really good of you to stop by.

Yes, I was very pleased with the profile aspect of these finished loaves.   I think the long slow mix in the spiral plus the really strong pre-ferments led to fantastic finished dough quality.   From there it was relatively easy to create a production schedule which allowed me to bake these loaves immediately after all the students had finished baking their works.

Regards pre-ferments, see above comments to Larry.   I just like to make breads with any pre-ferment for preference.   I guess that is a potential departure from Calvel, but I much prefer complex fermentation to long fermented straight doughs.   Again, a personal preference.

Your recipe for Tiger paste is spot on.   I add just a touch of sugar to the paste too.   I make the paste with equal weights of water and rice flour, so it can be coated onto the breads using a pastry brush.   Allow the prepared loaves to sit for 5 minutes, then bake in the deck with a moderate amount of steam.

Yes, I deliberately wanted to post on using the deck oven.   It truly demonstrates the superior loaf spring and profile I can achieve compared with my home oven.   They cost the College £13,500!   Bargain, I'd say

All good wishes

Andy

Hi varda,

thank you for your kind words.

For cutting the dough prior to loading, I use one of these grignettes: http://bakerybits.co.uk/Bordelaise-Professional-Lame-or-Grignette-P465334.aspx

I'm not really a master of the art, in comparison to some on TFL [David is very hot on this].   But this is a good tool for the job.   The real secret, of course, is the way the loaf has sprung in the deck oven.   So it is essential to achieve just the correct final proof levels, then see the loaves rise masterfully on the oven sole, in a steamy pressurised environment.

All good wishes

Andy