(photo by wm. christman)
Remember those crispy, crackly, loaded-with-holes-inside baguettes that your local baker turns out by the bushel full? Yeah, me neither. There are very few bakeries that really turn them out like that. Granted, some are better than others, and some are really awful.
There are so many factors that go into the making of a truly great baguette that it is a difficult thing to pull off. Since I'm right in the middle of an artisan bread class at the Culinary Institute of America and starting to recognize the difference in preparation of dough for baguettes, it is truly stunning just how much thinking needs to go into producing a baguette that you and others will crave to eat.
So far, we have made baguettes for three straight days (among a large set of other breads) while playing with yeast and hydration levels, the number of "folds" - what used to be known as "punching" the dough - over the course of a few hours of fermentation, and the method of shaping and proofing (and skinning).
It turns out that higher yeast levels give a great rise but add way too much of "yeasty" taste (a slightly astringent, "feety" scent and taste) and it really tends to homogenize the "crumb" (the internal texture of the bread). Baking off the baguettes shows the higher yeast content as well with the slashes, cuts made in the top of the dough to get that final baguette "ears" shape, tearing out of their narrow position in the very 1/2" middle of the top of the loaf. (BTW, the French say you should be able to pick up a baguette but it's "ears" after it is baked.)
The first two days had both straight yeast and yeast and sourdough starter varieties of baguettes. And both versions showed signs of over-yeasting. The bread itself was passable but ultimately disappointing. That led directly to the baguettes in production on day three that had a drastic reduction in leavener.
crusty top with slashed ridge "ears" (photo by wm. christman)
Sam, one of the students in the class who also works in the CIA's Greystone Wine Spectator Restaurant, was tasked with the baguettes this day. He reduced the yeast by 50%, and instead of using the entire amount of sourdough starter, he made a "poolish" the day before (a poolish is a slurry of flour and water with a tiny amount of yeast and stored at around 75° overnight) and used that in a 50-50 ratio with the sourdough starter to make up the total amount of flavored "starter".
Due to the reduced leavener, the dough was slower to rise, a bit more difficult to shape, and slower to proof. You might think that this would be a bad thing but bread baking is all about timing. And waiting and judging exactly "when" a dough is ready is key to great bread.
baguette-style crumb - the texture inside the bread (photo by wm. christman)
The results of all this tinkering with the formula for the baguettes? Much, much closer to that crusty/crunchy thin crust with a treasure trove of air holes in the crumb inside. You can see from the pictures (above) the crumb and crust structures.
And the taste? Taste-wise, this was more dead-on baguette-like for me. So much so that I got to take two of this day's baguettes with me to have something to show in this posting. Let's be frank though, I was all about eating these baguettes for breakfast and lunch the next day, they were that good...the photos were just a bonus.
