60% whole grain sourdough baguette
It had been a while since I used my SD starter as a standalone leavening agent since I adopted a biga preferment approach for my baguette making. Anyhow, I gave it a run to see where my SD starter stand strength wise, and I have to say I was disappointed even though it did okay but no match for a biga with instant yeast.
For this recipe, it had 40% whole grain Kamut, 20% whole wheat, and the rest with bread flour. I mixed everything together right from the getgo. i did about 3 min of slap and fold and then did a stretch and roll halfway during bulk rise. It took about 8 hours to double during bulk rise with a 10% inoculation. That signature sour taste that I did not quite like dominated this loaf like it had before, but it was a nice change of taste from the aroma of biga and sweetness of Kamut.
Comments
I still haven't tried baguettes, in part because of my preference for whole grains, and they don't seem particularly whole grain friendly. It is great to another example of a well baked high whole wheat loaf.
Thank you for your nice comment. Hope you will venture into baguette making someday whole grain or not. Cheers!
Very nice baguette Ming, nice to see you exploring whole grains and baguettes. As much as I have loved working with 100% whole grains I haven’t yet tried baguettes with much whole grains. My idea of a baguette is still something more along the lines of what one commonly sees in Paris, mostly if not all white flours.
Benny
but my idea of a baguette is anything that no longer moves, as long as I can get it into a baguette shape. 🤡
Oh I know that given some of the baguettes you’ve posted! I’m still in the mostly white flour camp myself, maybe one day I’ll stray as you have.
Haha Benny, some Paris baguettes I have seen had yellowish crumb which I tried to duplicate it with Kamut :). I know what you mean though for not being authentic but how many of us home baguette baker wanables bake an authentic baguette though. I think in order to be made like the Tradition, baguettes must be made with a T flour and with commercial yeast, no? Happy New Year Doc!
Yes if you can get a nice quality flour like T55 or T65 you can get that lovely yellowish hue. I have found that I can get a new yellowish crumb with La Milanaise all purpose flour and makes a great baguette. I don’t think you can only make baguettes with commercial yeast though, I understand that Paris baguettes can only be made with flour, water, salt and yeast and no other additives. But I don’t believe that they must use commercial yeast but that can be one of the ingredients.
Anyhow, great baguettes Ming! Happy Lunar New Year to you too.
Benny
That's a nice work of art, and likely the best that you've posted on TFL so far. It feels rewarding as the prices come together. nice job.
Thanks Alan for a very encouraging comment, it means a great deal hearing from a longtime baguette baker. Obviously, a lot could be better with this one, like getting those alligator ears :), which seems very elusive as it has been a hit and miss for me regardless how perfect I score the loaf. Cheers!
You've got some nice looking ww baguettes there.
You think a higher amount of starter and faster rise (maybe warmer proofing spot) might take away that sour you don't like?
Keep those blogs coming!
Hey happycat, thanks for chiming in. I did try to jack up the SD starter inoculation to 20% a while back and I remember it was weird but that was a couple of months back when I was getting inconsistent results with it. I might try it again now that it seems to perform normally. Like I said it took about 8 hours to double so perhaps the long bulk rise definitely had something to do with its sourness. I have been using a 5% of it as a favor enhancement/balancer with my biga preferment (with instant yeast) which I usually bulk rise for around 2-3 hours, and the sourness is not noticeable at all. I converted my starter from a 100% hydration to a 60% hydration a couple of months ago in hope to reduce a LAB count but apparently it did not seem to make a difference. This tells me the sourness has everything to do with fermentation time. I usually keep my dough temp around 80-degree F as long as I can remember so my dough is certainly not cold. Regardless, if the sourness hit you right away from the first bite into this baguette, then it means it is too sour for many people.