June 7, 2023 - 7:48pm
Par-baked Baguettes problem
Help guys…
I am failing to to finish baking, my par-baked baguettes to be the same as when I bake from start to finish. I can’t seem to get the crumb on the inside to be dry. It’s usually wet and squishy. It’s like it’s not yet been cooked enough but when I par-bake the baguettes, I get the internal temperature to be around 98 to 99°C, so it is already cooked. I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong. Please anyone out there help me. When I need them, I then put them straight into the oven at 200°C for around 25min. The crust is great but the crumb is doughy,
I cannot seem to understand where I’m going wrong.
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The fully baked ones can be frozen and reheated after thawing out and are nearly as good as the freshly baked ones in my experience.
Hi!
If your baguette's crumb is wet and squishy, then you haven't parbaked it long enough.
Parbake it at lower temp until the crumb is fully cooked but the exterior is still somewhat paler than needed, about 80% of the ideal color of a finished baguette. Then let them come down to room temperature and freeze them.
Baking of the thawed parbaked items should take only about 5-8 min at 220-240C. If baked from frozen, then bake for 15 min at 200C.
Please read Jeffrey Hamelman's article here on this website about 99C not being a good criterion for the doneness of French breads. They are usually baked way beyond that point, until they lose about 25-50% of the original raw dough weight with moisture evaporating as they bake. When you stop baking at 99C, the crumb at that point is indeed still too wet, not cooked for long enough.
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/67186/using-thermometers-test-bread-doneness
That's right, there's no need to reach such a high internal temperature. I really pay more attention to the external colour.
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