Of flappers and bloomers
No, we aren't revisiting the Roaring 20's or peeking at undergarments here (at least not right now!). Once more with a batch of the dmsnyder based Semolina Capriccioso, with a twist courtesy of alfanso. Since these are capricious by moniker I decided to give them each a different look. One long and one chubby batard, one and two scores across them respectively. And two baguettes, single scored and four scored across these two scrawnier runts of the litter.
This is a fairly high hydration dough at 80%. Therefore the dough is "heavier" with more water to shed during the bake than a lesser hydrated dough which would have a greater preponderance of flours. Add to that the sesame seeds, which even though quite minuscule in weight, still contribute to weighing down the moist dough on the "flap" that is destined to bloom, however much or little.
And I have a theory, unfounded as it may be for a high hydration dough such as this and the added weight of the seeds on the "flap"considered. The shorter the score combined with the lesser girth of a shaped dough, has a direct influence on the bloom for that bread. As you can see, the baguette with four scores had decent but quite modest bloom, whereas the single scored baguette did not suffer quite as distinct a loss of bloom. Both of the batards have a significant amount of heft below the scores as well as long enough scores to support the upward oven spring.
These probably would have benefited from a more angled scoring by the lame than I did, but as we say in alfanso's hometown of Baguetteville-sur-Bronx "say luh V".
So...am I right? Who the heck knows? Tasty? You bet. Tastier than the earlier version which uses less durum, but also olive oil and sugar, both ingredients missing from these? I haven't a clue as I can't do a side by side comparison, and I'm not capable of discerning what are probably subtle taste differences across bakes. But I like these because it takes me back to the pure FWS than those with the oil and sugar added.
A few particulars:
- 2x600g batards, 2x~285g baguettes,
- 80% overall hydration,
- 75% hydration levain represents ~36% of non-levain flour and ~16% total dough weight.
- 60% durum flour, 23% bread, (10% AP, 7% WW & rye - all in levain) flours.
- Autolyse, hand mix, ferment ~4 hours,
- cold proof for the better part of 30 hours, bake direct from retard. Way longer than I originally intended.
- 460dF oven with a lot of steam for 13 minutes,
- 30 min. baguettes, ~35 min. for batards w/ 2 additional minutes for venting.
alan
Comments
Since they have those tasty seeds on the outside for extra flavor, you don't have to double shine these babies up with a cornstarch glaze either. I love sesame seeds but those glazed baggies look better I think. SO how do these taste compared to the SJSD ones?
Looks like all is well - Happy baking Alan.
Lucy says she is going to work on a ne invention. Self sticking sesame seeds. All you have to do is open the jar and they fly out all on their won and are supposed to stick right to the bread where you want them. Sadly that last part hasn't quite been perfected yet. Poor Lucy is covered in the things and they won't come off. She looks like a sesame corn dog:-) Perfect for Halloween though and sad it is too far off. That's one way to get a bath though - her worst favorite thing to ever do.......
Do not, I repeat, do not take Lucy to the country fair. Anything looking like a corn dog is gonna get dunked in boiling oil for the deep fry.
Ay, there's the rub. As I mentioned I just don't have the palate or flavor memory to be anything close to accurate. So I sheepishly say "I don't know". Probably in the ballpark is as good a lie as I can come up with right now.
The glaze makes things look like they should be in glossy magazines: Playbread comes to mind. And the sesame seeds are really a hit with my taste buds. I've always loved them (and caraway seeds) in and on bread.
Thanks
This reminds me of bread we get in the Bronx.
come to mind. Morris Park, Van Nest and Allerton.
Sylvia's Steaming Towel in the oven 15 minutes before the dough. Pour 2 cups of very hot water into a pan loaded with lava rocks which lives in the stove - just after loading the dough. Shut the door, don't reopen until I am finished with steam, typically anywhere from 12-15 minutes. Remove the towels to halt steam from them.
You can search TFL for what folks say about these two techniques, with plenty of positive evidence out there.
Thanks, alan
I have used the towels but not the lava rocks!
These loaves do look lovely!
I am going to totally steal your idea of the sesame seeds next bake. I am also going to try proofing my next loaf in the fridge as you do. Your technique yields consistently great results!
Happy baking! Ski
The sesame seed technique credit goes to David Snyder from his early posts on his attempts to make a semolina SD bread. The seeds are quite easy to get to adhere to the dough.
Basically wet a paper towel, roll the just shaped dough over it once or twice. Then do the same in a plate full of sesame seeds. The more seeds in the plate, the greater number of seeds will be picked up by the wetted dough until it reaches full capacity coverage on the dough. Then couche/basket retard like that until oven time. I like to couche my dough seam side down, others seam side up. With the seam down, where there are few seeds, the seeded area is on top.
I love the seeds, except for them getting everywhere during eating the bread, so I go for full capacity as you can see. The cleanup of seeds is that small price to be paid for my bread gluttony.
alan