December 30, 2016 - 10:42am
He made me an offer I couldn't refuse
I was in my building's management office on Wed. afternoon. The building's Chief Engineer said that he had to discuss something serious with me. "I want you to make me another one of those olive breads" he said with all seriousness. Who was I to refuse? "Baguette or batard?" "Baguette." "See you on Friday" was my reply.
415g x 4 baguettes
The formula:
Notes:
- Substituted out the bread flour in the levain build steps and replaced with rye flour.
- Added ~15g water to bring the hydration up a little.
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Method
Day 1
- Mix liquid levain (7-9 hours). The 125% bread flour levain will bubble with froth and grow moderately.
- Dry olives with paper towels for a few hours.
Day 2
- Mix liquid levain (3-4 hours). The 125% bread flour levain will again bubble with froth and grow moderately.
- In large bowl add flours, levain and water, mix to shaggy mass.
- Cover and autolyse for 30 minutes.
- Add salt, pinch and fold to incorporate.
- 300 French Folds: 150 FFs, 5 minute rest, 150 FFs. Dough will be very rubbery and quite stiff throughout FFs.
- Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl, and cover.
- Bulk ferment for ~ 2 hours with 3 stretch and folds at 40, 80 & 120 minutes. Add olives at first fold.
Dough remains stiff and elastic through 1st fold, then relaxes and becomes a little more workable for 2nd and 3rd fold.
*My kitchen is a pretty steady 78-80dF, so a cooler kitchen will need an “appropriate” amount more time to bulk ferment. - Retard for at least 1 hour. Most of the time I retard overnight before next step. In general, it just plain doesn’t matter all that much!
- Divide, pre-shape and shape. Seal seam well, the low hydration can separate it. Onto couche, seam side down.
Little to no flour is required on couche. - Refrigerate for a total of at least 8-12 hours.
Day 3
- 45 minutes in advance, pre-heat oven to 480ºF with baking stone. Sylvia’s Steaming Towel(s) into the oven 15 minutes pre-bake.
- Score and transfer loaves to baking stone. Steam oven pouring ~2 cups of water into pan of pre-heated lava rocks, turn temperature down to 460ºF.
- After 12-15 minutes, remove steaming towel(s). Continue baking for at least another 12 minutes for baguettes, or as much as 20 minutes or more for batards, or until loaves are nicely browned, internal temp ~205dF.
- Transfer loaves to cooling rack. Cool completely before slicing.
Happy New Year,
alan
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Comments
Mammamia :-) very good. Would you tell me the recipe? thanks
Gaetano
thanks, alan
What was the offer??? For breads this enticing, I would give you a good deal, too, just to taste them!
Have a wonderful new year, Alan!
Yippee
to get me to do a bake for someone, now does it?
At least there were no mentions of Khartoum's head or my signature or brains on the contract ;-)
thanks, alan
Are you thinking of Gordon of Khartoum, whose head the Mahdi put on a stake? That may have been a mistake, as Kitchener used the Mahdi's skull for an ink pot.
g
edit: Oops, Khartoum the race horse, not the Sudan, right?
indeed the race horse, or at least part of it. I try slipping in a reference or two from the greatest family movie ever made at opportune moments!
But thanks for the reference to Major General Gordon, a gent that never seemed to have surfaced in my history books. Now I'll have to scout out the movie with Sir Laurence Olivier and Charlton Heston...
alan
I know that I've seen the movie you reference regarding Chinese Gordon, but it's been a long time. Until he got himself killed, he was not particularly well thought of. As a martyr to English imperialism and jingoism he shone brightly. :)
Churchill thought Kitchener's desecration of the Mahdi's grave and stealing his skull was tawdry and barbaric.
Now back to family movies, the all time great family Christmas movie is, of course, Die Hard.
cheers,
gary
Did you get a taste?
Being that the dough is so low in hydration, these are pretty easy to shape and can take a more straight down score. But it will give one a bit a workout during the mix, whether that "one" is a home electric mixer or a pair of hands.
These are pretty addictive, and self-control is a virtue. And lately I've been subbing out AP and/or bread four in some of the levains in favor (favour?) of straight rye flour, and that gives these a little more flavor (flavour?).
thanks, alan
Looks so good! I'm sure if I had one of those baguettes in front of me I couldn't help eating the whole thing :)
Happy new year to you too Alan
Happy Baking
Ru
is lowered to 1.5% to accommodate for the addition of salt from the Kalamata olives. These really are good and a definite keeper.
If I were in the bakery/cafe business it might be a bit tough marketing these due to the leap in cost that the olives add, easily a multiple of the cost of the other ingredients, which amount to scant pennies or so. But I am not, and I only need to "market" these to our give-away recipients and our own set of teeth around these parts!
thanks, alan
If you baked these for me, no matter how beautiful they look and probably taste to you...I would have to refuse and you might be living on the street :). There are a few foods I despise...olives and broccoli being on the top of the list!
All kidding aside, those do look perfecto as usual and I'm sure your building manager decided to let you stay a bit longer as long as he gets the occasional loaf.
Happy and Healthy New Year!
The greatest peach cobbler or pecan pie would sit forever on my countertop. We all have those foods that either do nothing or are just plain revolting to us. My wife loves natto , a food I wouldn't want at the same table as me (but it occasionally is!).
As far as who allows who to stay around, being on our Board of Directors in my condominium, the management company works for us, so we have the say in who gets the boot.
HNY to you and all of the 4 legged furry ones running naked through your house.
alan
I think I would rather eat a bowl of olives before eating any natto :). I've eaten some interesting food in China and some stuff I refused to try (fish eyeballs and fried chicken eyeballs come to mind).
Happy New Year to you and the family.
Ian
And of course tasty! I've never seen olives that are as beautiful as yours. They really add to the character of the baguettes.
Happy New Year Alan!