Hamelman's Poolish Baguettes
Baguettes
Baguettes crumb
The latest episode in my ongoing quest for a classic baguette.
Today's attempt was with the Poolish Baguette formula in Jeffrey Hamelman's "Bread." I made the poolish last night and made the dough and baked the breads this afternoon. I used Guisto's Baker's Choice flour, which makes a dough with a lovely, silky, soft, extensible quality. It's a pleasure to work with this dough.
While I ended up with a wonderful tasting bread - crunchy crust and sweet tasting crumb, I was disappointed in the lack of bloom. I do believe my scoring of the loaves was good. I believe I was overly concerned about underproofing the loaves and ended up over-proofing them. If anyone with more baguette experience (and success) than I has other thoughts and suggestions, I would really appreciate them sharing. Making "the baguette of my dreams" remains a dream for now.
Here are photos of the baguette just after forming and placing on the couche and when proofed, just before baking:
Baguettes shaped
Baguettes proofed
Minor frustrations aside, today's breads were thoroughly enjoyed with dinner.
Baguette and Sunflower Seed Rye slices
David
Comments
Have you tried RLB's baguette recipe from _The Bread Bible_? I have had good sucess with that one, getting baguettes that are very "bakery-like" about 80% of the time. I do use the Chicago Metallic french bread pan (I have two, which allows a total of four loaves) rather than any linen-based proofing system. Seems to work fine. Also, I proof them in the refrigerator over night, take them out of the fridge and turn on the oven when I first wake up, and bake them a bit later. That tends to give a very crisp crust.
If you do try RLB's recipe check the quantities - you will probably want to make a 1.5x or 2x batch.
sPh
Hi, sPh.
That's one book I don't have. Is her baguette formula different in any significant way from others, if you know?
Looking at the formulas I have for baguettes, the main differences are in kneading technique. If you could post her formula, I'd certainly like to compare it to the others I've read.
David