Au canada
I've been taunting Benny for weeks now about trying out some Canadain T55 and decided to have two baguettes square up and have a face off for the TXX grand prix. For the record on the left is Canadian T55 blended 50/50 with French T65. This blend is done by recommendation of lepicerie.com seeing that this particular T55 is ancieny Khorasan grain. On the right is straight T65 from france. First impressions is that the Canadian blend turned out really much nicer than the French. The shaping and lead up was noticeably different in that the Canadian dough was a bit more putty-esqe and required some more force while shaping. Basically much better ear development and just overall more appealing shape. Maybe it was due to that loaf being shaped better. who knows, and it may take several bakes to really stamp a blue ribbon here but first impression is very positive -
This loaf is 73% hydration and I noticed it felt more like a 70% or lower so the khorasan is likely more absorbent. The French loaf I brought up to 74% anf really didnt get much burst. Crumb pics on the way ...
Comments
They both look excellent Geremy I’m super impressed. My baguettes hope to grow up to be like yours. Go ?? Interested to see how your opinion evolves with more use of the Canadian flour. Interesting so the Canadian T55 is actually khorasan flour i have yet to find that and I live in Canada. I’ll have to keep my eyes open.
Benny
Bottom is the Canadian blend. I can't really tell the difference. Both kinda tight probably due to my tendency to underproof slightly. Since the new oven ia starting make sense how it works I think I will begin extending the final proof times. Now that I've sampled the loaves I think the French wins just a bit on flavor but it is so minimal so I had my boys do a blind test and again the French came out slighly ahead. Still the Canadian loaf is really good and speaking from experience - Montreal has fantastic baguettes and has always been priority number one upon arrival in Montreal (even before bagels).
Someday I hope to produce crumb like yours ;)
That’s funny Geremy, nothing wrong with the crumb on those. I suppose for baguettes it is hard to beat the best flour from France, they do know something about baguettes. I wonder if the baguettes you’ve had in Montreal are baked with Canadian flour or French?
that they use Canadian flour. Most of the good baguettes that I discover in Montreal taste like their French cousins only more of a diluted flavor but it is there - the very distinct flavor. I guess that its local flour that is milled and prepared using same or similar techniques as is done in France - ie milling in bran and maybe use of wheat malt as oppsed to barley malt as is done in usa. I can probably find out. Sounds like a good peoject. Maybe I will try to contact Meuneries in Canada if I can find an emai address.
Geremy, I think Benny claimed the protein content of his Canadian flour as 13.3% It is difficult the believe that comparing baguettes made with 13.3 and 10.5% protein would be compared as similar by taste testers. If you can recall, how would you compare the crust and crumb textures of each loaf?
Yes other than pastry flour which was all bleached, most flour even AP is about 4g protein per 30g = 13.3%. I’ve only been able to track down one mill that has 10% protein flour from the province of Quebec they call T55 or all purpose and this is what I’ve recently been using for my baguettes.
My new taste test for flour is the burnt ends and the Auguste is in a league of it's own.
Oh Canada, we stand on guard for thee
pat while I was away. These look really good. Very nice indeed.
Happy baking Geremy
So great to hear from you. I was on haitus too and jumped back on the bandwagon. Great to be back and great to see you here too. Looking forward to sharing and more pics of your bakes with the customary hearty salads ;)