As the above picture indicates, I recently received a multitude of wonderful new baking tools. Among them was Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice. If you are a serious bread baker, this book deserves serious consideration. I think it might be my most important baking resource.
After reading over Reinhart's richly detailed twelve-step description of the breadmaking process, I had to try one of his recipes. I decided on baguettes, which rise with a pâte fermentée (dough made the night before baking) in conjunction with traditional baker's yeast. Although I had some problems while proofing (as usual), these turned out better than any baguettes I've made before. Here's how I did it:
Ingredients for the pâte fermentée:
5 oz all purpose flour
5 oz bread flour
0.19 oz salt
0.055 oz instant yeast
6-7 oz water
Mix the dry ingredients, then add the water and mix with a spoon or dough scraper. Reinhart suggest to err on the sticky side, if the hydration does not seem correct. Knead the dough for about five minutes and place it in an oiled bowl. Let it rise for about an hour, then knead lightly for a minute to degas and put it back in the bowl for overnight refrigeration.
Ingredients for the dough:
16 oz. pâte fermentée
5 oz all purpose flour
5 oz bread flour
0.19 oz salt
0.055 oz instant yeast
6-7 oz water
Remove the pâte fermentée from the refrigerator and divide it into ten parts. Let them sit for about an hour, until they aren't quite so cold.
Mix the dry ingredients together and incorporate the pâte fermentée chunks. Add the water, but make sure it is at approximately 90 degrees. Mix until the dough is tacky, but not too sticky, and knead for ten minutes.
Let it rise for about two hours in an oiled bowl at room temperature, then divide it into three baguette shapes and proof for 45 minutes or less. I proofed in a couche made out of a tea towel. I think the dough was over-risen, or perhaps over-proofed: when I tried to slash the loaves for baking (after only twenty minutes of proofing) they instantly collapsed into a wrinkly mess.
Preheat the oven to 500. Bake these guys for 10 minutes, then turn them 180 degrees and set the oven down to 450. Bake for another 10-20 minutes, until the bread's inside temperature is 205 degrees. I used my typical steam setup, which includes a steam pan in conjunction with wall-misting for the first few minutes of baking. Reinhart also recommends this setup.
I know that baguette trays are not "proper" for authentic French baguette making, but we have one around the house now and I decided to try it out. The loaves look a little silly covered in dots, but the crust is consistently crispy all the way around (the holes on the middle loaf are from my food thermometer).
In spite of my proofing error, the baguettes possess a multitude of air-hole sizes and have a soft, creamy crumb. This is probably the most successful bread I've made, taste-wise.
