July 23, 2024 - 12:40pm
Vermont SD batards at 65% hydration
Rarely posting unless there's a change or something new. I've baked Mr. Hamelman's Vermont SDs as my go-to bread a ton of times, although almost always as baguettes/long batards, I've never made two 750g batards in a single bake before (as far as I can recall).
My levain was last refreshed almost 3 weeks ago after having been gone for 3 weeks, and we are about to embark on another 2 1/2-3 week journey, so I thought that I'd at least get some mileage out of this aging levain before a next refresh when I return.
I almost always bake this formula at 65% hydration, having long ago abandoned the race for high hydration doughs. These days I'm more after comfort in my bakes vs. experimentation and challenges.
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Time to revisit Vermont sourdough. Since my flavored mechanical mixing process is not at all high hydration friendly I too am happy with lower hydration. Hope all is well. We a basking in the sunshine here in The SanTan Valley.
it had become my go-to formula after several first years of avoiding it altogether. I have a 72% version on the backside of the same formula page and can't recall the last time I mixed that version. Even my ciabatta formula is below 80% hydration.
San Tan - one of those changes in life that you probably won't ever look back on and ask "what did we do?".
Great to see a post from you and hope you are enjoying your travels. The crust looks perfect along with your signature crust color.
Best regards,
Ian
under the standard low voltage incandescent light from the overhead hood, but the color is pretty much on target. 13 minutes of Sylvia's Steaming Towels helps to both to delay onset of crust caramelization as well as enhance coloration.
Our pooch died 8 months before covid came to visit, and at that time we felt freed to begin even more travel than before. And then the world shut down. But since then we picked up pretty much where we left off. Itchy feet and solvency in retirement is a good combination!
Thanks, Alan
Look at that loft and crumb! They look perfect to me. And some nice color, too - I like a deeply colored crust. I alternate between a period of just doing the same old thing and one of experimenting. Sometimes an experiment becomes the same old thing for a while.
TomP
as that of good buddy Benny. But it rears its head more than not.
When I first started home baking about 10 years ago I decided to focus on the baguette form because - it was difficult (at least for me), and I like a lot of crust! Also the ciabatta! And so I spent a good year almost exclusively running the gamut from the Boubsa - my first baguette success, then onto DonD, David Snyder, the Gosselin baggies, FWSY formulas as baguettes, Abel Sierra, and eventually several years later onto the esteemed Mr. Hamelman. Pretty much taking any formula out there I took a liking to and shaping them as baguettes, whether or not they were designed as such. All the better if there was no internet footprint of being posted as such.
A long way of saying that a decade ago I was all in on the experimentation phase coupled with repetition. Now I've settled into my "middle-age" baking self (even if according to the calendar I'm close to a decade into Medicare) and content to wash, rinse, repeat.
One more word - what I call baguettes I often also refer to as long batards due to M. Calvel's definition of a long batard being close to what I bake.
Thanks for the kind words, Alan
I can spot your bakes a mile away Alan. You always achieve great crust colour and shine. Also, you always get perfect ears on your bakes regardless of the shape of the bread. Wonderful to see as always.
Enjoy whatever you have planned for the rest of the summer and hope to see you this fall/winter.
Benny
Easily agree on is striving for consistency. I’ve felt pretty darn good about that for a long time, as you should too.
thanks, Alan