One year and a hundred loaves later, improving Peter Reinhart's "Pain a
l'Ancienne" formula remained elusive. Peter adapted the formula from bakers
in Europe and I was trying to tweak it a bit better. After a year and on
the verge of conceding defeat I finally nailed a winner.
Ancienne bread making requires a highly-hydrated formula - wet, sticky, a
"wetter-the-better" mix. It can be intimidating to handle until one
eventually grasps the meaning of a "liberally sprinkled" countertop,
baker-speak for "solidly coated," not just dusted.
Adding to a first-timer's "do I dare try it?" initial fear is the breads'
very quirky construction: normal ingredients, but using ice-cold water,
then immediate dough-storage refrigeration - no rise, no punch down,
no-anything normal. It's 180-degrees opposite everything learned about
bread making. Your next thought: "this can't possibly work!" In blind
faith, the method not only works, the bread approaches "beyond description"
taste. And a crust-coloration to-die-for. It stands in stark contradiction
to its overall simplicity, requires the least amount of "pushups" or
"involved babysitting."
The new method developed offers two distinct advantages: Ease of handling
what otherwise is difficult dough (I'm being very kind with words) and
appreciably better oven spring.
Peter's formula suggests "[remove the bowl stored overnight from the
refrigerator] ...leave the bowl of dough out at room temperature for 2 to 3
hours, or longer if necessary..." Thereafter, the (now-warm) soft and puffy
dough is removed from the bowl, divided, stretched (and likely cussed at a
few times), then baked. The book's text nearly doubles at this handling
point using a flood of cautionary words - a subtle clue "you've now got
your hands on what can be a real nightmare."
The discovered secret: After removing the bowl from the refrigerator,
immediately remove the dough from the bowl while it is ice-cold. It handles
like a dream! Do -all- of your "slicing and dicing" at that point, shape
and stretch and into the baking tray. (I use a silicone sheet laid on a
3-slot baguette tray, the latter serving as a couche). Let it warmup in the
tray for 2-hours as advised. Then bake it, untouched by human hands.
The handling simplicity is a vast improvement. Equally remarkable, oven
spring is noticeably better! The best of all worlds!
A secondary benefit for the wetter-is-better baker: since ice-cold dough is
(relatively) easy to manage, hydration can be increased by about 5% over
normal standards if desired. One guru says "handling 90% is a piece of
cake" er-r-r-r, bread.
For the uninitiated the Ancienne formula is one of many in Reinhart's "The
Bread Baker's Apprentice" book. It is one of few publications I can say
"highly recommended reading."
- Ed Okie