Here is one that I like Its "fermenting" component is called "mother starter". Developing the mother starter is a separate story. For now on it is only important that it has the consistency and density of a "slightly wet (sticky) dough". The recipe is a modified version of one from "artisan breads every day", pp. 61-64. The measures are for 5-6 middle-size loaves (will give more details later). 2. Making doughGood morning! Today is Thursday. I took the starter from the fridge where it doubled in volume... Attention, kids:
what is the new weight of the starter? .. Piaget, Piaget...  Ingredients:
Cut the starter into 10-12 pieces. and put them in the mixing bowl. Pour in the water and mix on a low speed for about a minute to soften the starter. PR recommends using paddle attachment and then (after other components are added) switching to a dough hook. Instead I use this one with my Bosch Universal:  Add other components and mix on a low speed for 3 min till the dough is very tacky (almost sticky). Let it rest for 5 min. Resume mixing on medium-low speed adding more flour or water as needed to make a soft, supple, and tacky but not sticky batch of dough.Remove dough from the mixer. Knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 30 sec, then form it into a ball. Let a dough sit uncovered for 10 min, then do stretch and fold (reaching under the front end, stretching it out and then up on the top of the dough. Do it from other sides as well. Flip the dough and tuck it into a ball. Cover and let it rest for 10 min. Repeat entire thing two more times. Comment: The description in blue is taken from "Artisan breads every day". In my view it is overspecified. I am not very disciplined, and following these instructions seem too stressful and demanding. My approach is kneading for about 40 minutes by stretching, folding (what mathematicians call the "Baker's map") , rolling, throwing it up and catching on my fist, leaving it alone for a 5-10 minutes and doing some other things, like reading, exercising or making a cup of coffee. The purpose of this phase is creating many voids, nuclei of the future bubbles, and helping the gluten network to start forming and growing. The disciplined approach is probably necessary if you have apprentices working for you, to make sure that they do not miss anything. Otherwise, you should make it more relaxing. enjoyable and intuitive. Immediately form the ball, place in a slightly oiled sufficiently large container and cover it tightly. Leave for two-three hours until the volume is increased by ~ 50%. Punch it to split the larger bubbles (Do not press too much. The goal is creating more small bubbles without collapsing them.) Leave it for another hour and then put in refrigerator. It should be ready to use the next day. 3. Baking BreadGood morning. Take the container from the fridge and leave it for 2 hours, till the volume is twice the original size (in my case the original volume was 2.9 L).  G Flip the container an put the dough on a lightly floured surface.You can see its smooth fiber structure.  Shape it (read the shaping instructions). Here I made 4 baguettes (460 g each), one boule (850 g) and one batard (750 g). Leave for 1.5-2 hours till they increase their volume by 50-75%. If it is too warm in the room, keep them part of this time in a fridge. ( shapes of the middle two baguettes in the pictures are 'imperfect'. However, such imperfections often add funny unexpected features to the look and even the taste of the bread, and I am not over-concerned about making the it perfect).  Preheat the oven to 470 F, place a tray with water mixed with ice cubes at the bottom. Score the bread (you will see my way of scoring below, but feel free to experiment). Spritz with warm water and put in the oven. In ten-twelve minutes open the oven and and spray more water on the dough. By that time you will notice a significant oven spring. Eight-ten minutes later open again and remove the tray from the bottom of the oven, Reduce the temperature to 360 F Bake till the sound crust is formed. In my case it took almost 35 minutes till the last bread was removed. Comment: The baguettes have high surface-to-volume ratio. For this reason they are done a few minutes prior to the bulkier breads (details depend on the shapes and volumes of the competitors). In this particular case I removed the the baguettes and left the other two breads. Take the bread out of the oven andlet it cool down for about an hour.  |
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