July 25, 2015 - 7:12am
Ken's Artisan Country Blonde
Almost went for another round of the sesame semolina batards, having promised one to my cousin just the other day. But suddenly had an itching to bake my take on his Country Blonde. These are not the same as in FWSY.
Overall hydration at 78%, scaled at ~475g each. Very slack and sticky. And had to add more flour to the couche than I care to. This is due to the long retard that allows more transfer of moisture to the linen than had it been proofed on the counter. This bread blisters beautifully. Still have to improve on my scoring batards when there are multiple scores. At least it has no "waistline" so I'm sufficiently overlapping the scores.
Live, learn and practice some more! But pretty happy overall with this one.
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The look amazing. Bet you are very happy with them. Happy baking! Colin.
I feel as though I'm getting a pretty consistent result these past few months - since I decided to play with batards as a respite from baguettes.
Lucy loves these and I do to, Well done and Happy baking
I'm not sure these are your cup of tea considering that they are under 20% whole grain, but they do taste quite good. And when it comes to pooches and bread, my Castagna is a lot less discriminating than we human folk are. She's yet to file a protest regardless of the age or type of bread that comes in contact with her snout.
Castagna:-)
Those are some beauties. Great crust and shaping.
Regards,
Ian
Yes the crust/oven spring has been coming out quite nicely and shaping has been consistent. But they can't, maybe by the nature of the way they bake - on a ceramic deck, take on the fantastic thick crust that I see in pics of things emerging from DOs.
as usual, Alan!
Thanks. I just minutes ago saw that magnificent tartine boule in your post. Ya know, I've been using AP flour all along, never bothering with bread flour unless the Poster of the bread I'm trying to mimic specifically calls out "bread flour" and even then...maybe. And I've been quite happy with my oven spring.
Now I'm wondering if I should start experimenting with what you have and start to switch over. I'm due to refresh my flour supply today, so maybe I'll pick up a few packages of bread flour and try them out. I don't want to be an AP flour-only snob. Did you experiment with 100% : 0% BF : AP?
alan
it means so much for a great baker like you to give out such generous compliment, thank you.
Back to your question. Nope, I have never used a 100% AP flour on bread as the flour here is just too weak. I do use it for cakes though. And if I am not wrong, AP flour from KA is good enough for breads. I have a bag of Gold Medal here but I only use it for scones occasionally. As you would have already known, BF gives a more chewy texture and I would suggest you to work out the ratio gradually, maybe 85% AP : 15% BF for a start?
Hope I didn't disappoint you on not providing the answers that you were expecting though as I live in Asia....the ingredients available here are so different.
Regards,
Sandy
Bread flour will have a higher protein content and I believe Ash content than AP flour. This will give you a chewier crumb. It is worth to try it out in place of AP and see the difference. I rarely make breads with 100% white flour anymore but when I have a multi-grain bread that I want to give some added strength to I will use bread flour or high gluten flour sometimes.
Ian