Poolish Baguettes revisited

I really enjoy participating in bread-baking groups and events because it provides me with the opportunity to make many different types of breads and to meet and learn from other bread bakers. However, sometimes you just want to focus on a particular bread or technique until you master it.

With that in mind, I’m beginning a journey to learn more about baguettes and hopefully, how to enjoy them. Baguettes represent the epitome of French bread baking, but I’ve never really been a true baguette fan. Don’t get me wrong. I love the tradition of baguette-making and all that goes along with it -- working with the wet dough, shaping the baguettes, the crackly crust and all that. It’s the flavor that doesn’t wow me.

I decided the problem must be with me, not the baguettes. I must not have given them a fair shake. So I’ll be experimenting with different types of baguettes. In this post, I’m revisiting Poolish Baguettes.

 

For these baguettes, I wanted to use a basic formula and adjust as necessary.  I consulted a few of my bread books and finally decided to use a compilation of the basic bread formula with an overnight poolish in Bread Science by Emily Buehler and the formula for the Team USA Baguettes from Crust and Crumb by Peter Reinhart.

I made these baguettes twice and adjusted the hydration in the poolish and the final dough each time.  I also used different amounts of yeast in the final dough to see how the dough would perform.

 

1st Attempt:

For my first attempt at these baguettes, I increased the hydration in the poolish and kept the water the same in the final dough because I was aiming for a wetter dough. The formula in Crust and Crumb uses less poolish and more flour than the formula in Bread Science. I ended up somewhere in between the two formulas.

I forgot that my oven is really hot when I decided to go with the suggested temperature of 475 degrees. It was too hot so the tips of the baguettes got a little burned before I turned the oven temp down. I also removed the parchment paper partway through baking on this attempt.

These baguettes were definitely crispy, but not exactly what I was aiming for.  They tasted rather blah. I forgot to write down how much salt I used so that may have been part of the problem. I didn’t forget the salt this time, but I did reduce it a bit. These baguettes worked well as Crostini, but I wanted them to taste good on their own.

 

2nd Attempt:

For the second batch, I used the same poolish (I had made a double batch), but reduced the amount of water and yeast in the final dough.  I decided the extra hydration in the poolish needed to be adjusted in the final dough. I also baked the baguettes at a lower temperature (450 degrees). I was much more pleased with these baguettes. They were crispy on the outside and even crackled when they came out of the oven. The flavor was much better as well.  I didn’t get the chance to try them until the next day but they tasted pretty good by themselves the next day.  I also enjoyed them with jam, butter and egg salad.

 

Here is the formula I used for the 2nd Attempt.

 

Poolish Baguettes

Adapted from Bread Science by Emily Buehler and Crust and Crumb by Peter Reinhart

Makes: 3 Baguettes

Ingredients:

Poolish

• 1 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup water
• pinch of instant yeast

Dough:

• 3 1/2 cups white bread flour
• All of the Poolish
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

 

Directions:

1. Making the Poolish:

Combine all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Beat with a spoon or whisk about a minute, until the batter is mixed thoroughly and is pretty smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  Let it rest on the counter for 12 to 15 hours.

 

2. Mixing the Dough:

When the poolish is ready, combine the flour, water, and poolish in a large mixing bowl. 

 

Add the yeast, then the salt and mix the ingredients together until the dough forms a ball. I used my hands to incorporate the yeast and then the salt thoroughly into the dough.

 

3: Kneading the Dough

Knead the dough on a floured surface for about 12 minutes. I only kneaded the dough for about 3-5 minutes.  I used the turn and fold method during the bulk fermentation instead of the longer kneading time.

 

4. Bulk Fermentation

The dough should be shiny and smooth and little bit tacky, but not sticky.  Place the dough in a greased bowl and let the dough proof for 2 hours. After an hour, fold the dough, re-shape it into a ball and place it back in the bowl.  

 

The dough should be about 1 1/2 times its original size after 2 hours.

 

5. Shaping the Baguettes

When the dough has risen, divide the dough into 3 equal pieces.  Shape them into rough logs and place them on a lightly-floured counter.  Mist them lightly with spray oil and cover them with plastic wrap.  Let them rest for 30 minutes.

 

Shape the dough pieces into baguettes and place them on a floured couche.  Refer to the Rosemary and Flax Baguettes post for step-by-step instructions on shaping baguettes.

 

6. Proofing the Loaves

Bring up the folds of the couche to support the shape of the loaves while proofing. I put books at either end to hold up the sides of the couche.

 

Spritz the loaves with spray oil and cover with plastic wrap.  Let the loaves proof for 2 hours at room temperature, or until nearly doubled in size.  If your house is warm, it might not take that long.

 

7. Prepare your oven for hearth baking

In the meantime, prepare your oven for hearth baking by placing a baking stone on the middle rack and an empty steam pan on the bottom rack.  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

 

8. Scoring the Loaves

Carefully and gently transfer the loaves from the baker’s couche to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  I used a baker’s bench to assist with the process.

 

I reused the parchment paper from the previous batch of baguettes.

 

Score the baguettes by making 1/2” cuts in the dough using a lame or serrated knife.  I’m still getting the hang of this part.

 

9. Baking the Loaves

Pour 1 cups of hot water into the steam pan and immediately slide the loaves off of the baking sheet (parchment sheet an all) onto the baking stone.  Steam the loaves again by spritzing the loaves and the oven walls with a spray bottle. Close the oven door and repeat the spraying process again after 2 minutes.

Bake the loaves for 20 to 30 minutes, or until they are golden brown in color. The formula in Crust and Crumb says to turn off the oven at this point and bake them an additional 5 to 10 minutes; however, this didn’t work for me. As I mentioned previously, the tips burned on the first batch, so for the 2nd batch, I only baked the loaves about 25 minutes at 450 degrees. The crust turned out great.  It was crispy and crackly and wasn’t burnt at all. 

 

10. Cooling and Slicing the Loaves

Transfer the loaves to wire racks and allow them to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing and eating.

 

Slice and enjoy!

This bread has been YeastSpotted.  Please visit Wild Yeast to view all of the lovely breads in the roundup.

 

I enjoyed these baguettes. I hope to enjoy more baguettes as I continue learning more about them and trying different techniques.

 

Happy Baking!

Cathy

Baguettes: Poolish and Pâte Fermentée - Mellow Bakers

Until recently, I was not a baguette fan.  However, the two breads we just made for the Mellow Bakers' group: Baguettes with Poolish and Baguettes with Pâte Fermentée have changed my mind.  I really like the flavor of these baguettes particularly the Baguettes with Pâte Fermentée.  The loaves in the photo below are the Poolish Baguettes.

"The simplest of breads are the most difficult to produce, and the baguette is high on the list of "simple" breads: simple, in that it is made with a minimum of ingredients; there are no strong flavors that dominate, and it is above all the flavor of the flour that prevails.  Properly made, it is magnificent; poorly made, it is bland and insipid."  Jeffrey Hamelman

As I mentioned in a previous post, this has been the month for baguettes.  I started with Rosemary Flax Baguettes for the HBinFive Bakers. I posted about those last week.

That same weekend, I made Baguettes with Pâte Fermentée. Unfortunately, I over proofed them so the scoring didn't work very well and they didn't look like beautiful graceful loaves.  My boyfriend said these looked like creatures from the deep sea.  Not sure if that's a good thing or not.

They may have looked like creatures from the deep sea, but the flavor of these loaves was exceptional!  I served these baguettes and some Rosemary Flax Baguettes for dinner and the Pâte Fermentée Baguettes were the favored bread hands down.

The Rosemary Flax Baguettes tasted really good, but my dinner guests preferred the flavor of the Pâte Fermentée baguettes.  In fact, I sent one of the scraggly-looking loaves home with my son's girlfriend and she said her parents thought it was the best bread they had ever tasted.  So, the moral of the story is that even scraggly-looking loaves (or loaves from the deep sea) can taste good. It's all in the mouth of the taster.

If you're looking for the recipe for these delicious Pâte Fermentée Baguettes, Natashya with Living in the Kitchen with Puppies created a modified version and it's posted here. 

Next on the list was the Poolish Baguettes.

I tried my hand at these this past weekend.  I was not disappointed. 

You can find a modified version of the Poolish Baguettes on breadcetera.com.  The main difference in this formula and the one in the book is that Steve uses all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, he reduced the dry yeast by 1/4 tsp and he uses a different technique than the one outlined in the book for mixing the dough. I actually tried it both ways but I'm only posting about the hand mixing method. Otherwise, this post would be really long.

I love mixing dough by hand.  I've resisted the urge so far to buy a KA Mixer but I've found at times that mixing the dough by hand doesn't always produce the results I'm looking for. I do use a mixer sometimes especially when my carpel tunnel is acting up, but since I've been taking my vitamins, it doesn't seem to be a problem.  So, happily I'm able to mix the dough by hand again.

The method that Steve demonstrates on his blog is Richard Bertinet's method of mixing the dough.  I was very intrigued by this method so I decided to try it.  I must say that this method gives you a good upper body workout. 

Here is a video of Richard demonstrating his technique. This is one time I wasn't able to take photos of the process because the dough starts as a sticky mess and I would get it all over the camera.  Of course, that usually happens anyway, but I thought you might enjoy seeing the master at work.




I was able to take a few photos of the process.

I started out mixing the dough with my dough hook.

Until it was a sticky mess.

Then I dumped the sticky mess on the counter.  I didn't put any flour or oil on the counter because Richard said that was cheating.

Then I started folding and slamming the dough down on the counter.  It was harder than it looked.  I had to bring the dough up really high to get it to slam on the counter.  I finally got the hang of it and had some fun.

This is the dough about halfway through the process.

It took about 15 minutes of slamming the dough but it finally became smooth and silky.

Then you put the dough in a bowl.

Cover the bowl with a cloth and let it proof for 1 1/2 hours.

It only took a little over an hour for my dough to proof because my kitchen was really warm.  This time, I didn't fold it halfway through as suggested by the book. 

Then I carefully removed the dough from the bowl to the counter.

And divided the dough into 4 equal portions.

Then I shaped each piece into a baguette and placed the baguettes on a couche and covered them with plastic to proof for about an hour.  

Once the loaves had proofed, I scored them using a serrated knife.

I baked them about 25 minutes on a baking stone that had been preheated in a 475 degrees oven.  I used a steam pan underneath and also spritzed the sides of the oven with water three times during the first 10 minutes of baking.

Here are the finished Poolish Baguettes.  They tasted really good, but I think I like the Baguettes with Pâte Fermentée the best.

Thanks for joining me for my baguette-making experience. Be sure to check out what all the other bakers have been up to in the Mellow Bakers group.

Happy Baking!
Cathy


The Mellow Bakers group was started by Paul at Yumarama. We’re baking breads from Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman.