Peter
I've had considerable success cold autolysing the flour and water at 80%
hydration overnight, then adding 1% instant yeast and 2% salt and rising,
shaping and baking as a normal, if sloppy, baguette dough.
The method given in Bread Baker's Apprentice just doesn't work FOR ME
(others have had great success and every other bread that I've tried from
the book has been superb).
The first post I made is reproduced below.
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On Tuesday I thought I'd try Reinhart's Pain a l'Ancienne again but I'd
come to the conclusion that, in my kitchen and given the amount of heat my
old Kenwood throws out, all my previous attempts had begun fermentation
BEFORE the sugar release detailed by Reinhart could occur and that the
stage where I was losing most volume was the transfer from bowl to bench
after fermentation.
So - following on from a thread posted earlier, from whom, I'm ashamed to
say, I don't remember - I mixed, with a spoon, in my mixer's bowl, 500
grams 13.2% bread flour and 400 grams ice cold water to a fairly smooth
sticky dough and refrigerated immediately, leaving overnight.
Next day, I added 1 teaspoon instant yeast and 10 grams salt. In with the
dough hook. The mixture balled around the hook on the first revolution and
the mixing was not required to develop the gluten, just distribute the
yeast. It was almost as if the unyeasted dough had been mixed heavily the
night before.
Out onto the floured counter, shaped into a rectangle, a little flour over
the top, covered with clingfilm and left to warm up and rise - about 4
hours to double.
Divided into 6 baguettes, each placed, very gently, on a 10X4 inch strip
of parchment and left to recover for 1/2 hour after which time the logs
were VERY bubbly and wobbly.
Oven preheated to 250C, 3 baguettes onto each stone, boiling water into the
steam pan, baked for 15 minutes. Internal temp 94C, back into the oven 5
mins, temp 96C. Finished.
The bread had the most glorious deep red-brown colour, thin crackly crust,
the crumb was very light, very elastic, very porous with a whole range of
sizes of irregular holes. Visually stunning.
The taste! Sweet, wheaty, multi layered with what wine buffs call a "long
finish". The best tasting lean dough I have ever produced.
But is it Pain a l'Ancienne? I must admit I don't care, the result is just
as Reinhart describes it and that's good enough for me.
John
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