alfanso's blog

Last year I kicked off the year with two entries of 2016 in review.  The first was baguettes I baked, and the second was the batards.  This year I thought that I'd document a slew of selected baguettes from my favorite viewing angle.  Some are repeats from last year as this is not a 2017 review.  With few exceptions, all are different breads.

Other than on his The Perfect Loaf site, I can’t remember where I saw Maurizio’s 50-50 WW SD posted by anyone.  I warehoused the formula until this week.  Not being a big fan of bread that leans too heavily on WW, I was cautious about this one.  I generally find that they taste a little too “earthy” for me.  I decided to tinker with this a bit.  I added ~12% chopped figs and ~12% pecans to the dough on the first Letter Fold.  And therefore Maurizio’s 50-50 WW became Alfanso’s 50-50 WW with figs and pecans.

Maurizio uses a combination of higher gluten AP flours than I do, but my KA WW has a little more protein than his Guisto’s Stoneground WW does, so all in all, it seems to be a somewhat even trade.  Mixing this by hand with French Folds yields an unsurprisingly super slack dough.  It comes in at ~89% hydration, a region that I've rarely ever visited, or even come anywhere close to. And it took the majority of the 5 Letter Folds to tighten up.  Into retard and then a late night shaping where the dough was much more cooperative. but still quite wet and slack.

From experience I know that I generally do not get a big grigne from oven spring nor much of an open crumb when there is a rather large quantity of fruit & nuts.  And especially when there is high hydration, as this monster has.  The additions to the dough have a tendency to weigh the dough down and interrupt what would probably be a more open crumb.  So there was some initial disappointment in the mid-bake outcome when I released the steam - until I remembered those few minor, but important details.

It is a lovely bread with a nice crispy crust and a soft crumb.  The figs were added to provide some sweetness to the mix, but they should have been chopped up smaller.  I may visit this bread very soon again, next time without the fruit or nuts.  I’m curious as to how the final product will play out and whether I can attain some of the beauty that Maurizio produces for his bread.

These were pretty big batards for me.  The smaller was ~600g and the larger ~1000g (and there's a reason for that).

One funny shaping incident: I originally shaped 3 baguettes and the smaller batard, couched them, and then went to retard.  Somewhere about a half hour later I realized that the baguettes were not the best solution for so much additive.  And so the retarded dough was un-retarded, the 3 baguette were un-couched, balled together and then reformed and shaped into the larger batard before going back on the couche to join the other.  A little crazed, but it seemed to work.

After Abel posted his 90% Biga @45% hydration (70% overall) a few heads were turned and some fast commitments made to reproduce this bread.  Mine too.  Some questions were left unanswered, i.e. the optional levain hydration, baking temp and time.  So some jeri-rigging was needed. 

Biga hand mixed, not "crumbly" as advised.

Final dough ingredients incorporated.

Completion of French Folds, awaiting bulk rise.

As my place is about 78dF-80dF year round, the kitchen was too hot to allow the biga to exist for the projected 14-16 hours.  It needs something in the vicinity of 62dF-65dF, according to Abel.  I emptied out a few bottles from my small wine cooler left it there for the duration  My notes:

• Used Gold Medal Bread Flour which is likely not as strong as what Abel recommends.
• wine cooler temp lowered the temp to 60dF
• biga retarded for 22 hours, doming slightly but nothing more was noted.
• 100% hydration liquid levain while adjusting the remaining flour and water downward to compensate.
• Used a stoneground dark rye for the final 10% flour.
• Chop biga into small pieces, add to water/new flour /salt in mixer w/paddle on slow, wait to incorporate, add next small piece...
• 300 French Folds: 150, 5 min. rest, 150 more.
• 1 letter fold at 30 minutes of the 60 minute* bulk rise.  
• 15 minute rest after the pre-shape.
• dough was very easy to shape and gave little resistance, more extensible than elastic for sure.
• Dough required very little flour on couche, and came off cleanly from couche to hand peel.
• 60 minute* bench top proof.
• Oven to 480dF for 1 hour.
• Sylvia's Steaming Towel 15 minutes before bake.
• 2 cups boiling water on Lava Rocks just after loading dough.
• Oven reset to 460dF for bake.
• 10 minutes under steam, then steam released and dough rotated.
• 10 minutes continued bake with another 3 minutes venting - oven off.

*Consideration that the levain generally takes longer than IDY to work its magic, with my kitchen being warmer than most,  I abided by Abel's timing to compensate for the warmer/faster acting environment.

Lessons applied and/or learned:

• Don't mix the biga by hand.  Too difficult and the dough is not "crumbly" as Abel puts it.  I did and it was not easy.
• Do mix the remaining flour, water and salt in a mechanical mixer with the paddle attachment.  It will incorporate much better than by hand.  After that, however you wish to complete the mixing phase is your decision.
• Do "autolyse" the final dough ingredients (remaining flour, water and salt) to get a better hydration for the final dough.  It should be slurry, but will incorporate better.  I didn't.

350g x 3 baguettes/long batards

I performed my due diligence (old IT terms die hard!) and came up empty when looking to see whether anyone on the internet had posted a reference to the FWSY Field Blend #1 as baguettes.  So the door was swung open for me to get in “first”.

I’ve had several bakes since my self-imposed isolation from baking to avoid "diet-restricted” temptation, dropping ~12 lbs. of mostly mid-section tire (okay U.K.  - tyre.  Happy now?).  While still being careful, I've gone back to my morning toast this past month.  Most all of the breads were in the service of holiday bakes for gatherings of one sort or another.  And just as I was venturing into my diet, now ~2 months ago, I had a list of new breads that I was eager to try and placed in pecking order.  And the first on my list was this FB#1.  Now that the deed is done, I can write up several notes on it which will include:

Mixing by hand, the dough was very goopy when the levain was added and somewhat difficult to incorporate.  This lasted through the first half of my 300 French Folds.  After the 5 minute rest, mid-way through the FFs, the dough had begun to smooth out although it remained, at 75% hydration, a bit "too wet”.  And then it settled down and became more manageable.  And quite extensible for the bulk ferment.  Caraway seeds were added on the first of 4 Letter Folds.  After a long nap in retard, the dividing and pre-shaping were dandy but the final shaping created “issues”.  The dough was hard to shape cleanly, whether sticking to the bench or sliding mercilessly on the little flour I used to stop the sticking.

After an overnight retard I was questioning how these would look and how difficult they would be to come off my very modestly floured couche.  And to my surprise, they came off with just about no hesitation.  The bake went well, and other than some mild shaping imperfections, I am pleased.

This is the test run, as we are headed up to see family in NY Christmas week, and my wife (you know - the smart one of us) mentioned that her folks would probably really like this as batards.  But the recalcitrance in me forced me to bake these as baguettes.  Bad dog...

Steam released and loaves rotated.  The little black "bugs" on the surface are actually the caraway seeds.

And the money shot - awaiting the toaster this morning

375g x 3 baguettes/long batards

 alfanso-style.

Friends paid a visit last week from the other side of the peninsula.  And I baked them some bread.  Jim is the extraordinarily talented chef of his own small restaurant and does indeed like my bread, so I was pleased to provide him and Donna with two favorites.  The remaining batards sent home with them.

 In conversation, Donna expressed her enjoyment for one particular item from Amy’s Bread – Amy’s being one of the better known bakeries in NYC, that little burg from whence we all started.  It was a 1992 creation of Amy’s – a semolina studded with raisins, fennel seeds and pine nuts.  Donna suggested that I try my hand at it.   She forwarded the above link to the formula to me.  It employs a ~79% biga. And with a little searching I found Susan’s, of Wild Yeast, version of a similar, quite similar, bread using a levain.  A semolina with fennel, currants and pine nuts. So it was time to investigate, and make one to send along with my wife to her Tuesday night taiko practice for all those hungry drummers who now well know my bread.

The levain is a two stage 100% white flour build. Mixed yesterday and baked this morning.  This bread also asks for olive oil and IDY, two items I tend not to use in my own baking of levain breads, but so be it.  And as usual, I had to, just had to, tinker with the formula to make it my own version of the Susan/Amy creations.

 Using Susan’s formula as my template, I abided by her 1100g total dough weight as well as most of the other ingredient percentages.  But went off the rails on a number of instances.  Some of her formula ingredients are not completely stated. And here are the differences:

•  The Levain build doesn’t specify what kind of flour to use, so I made the assumption that it was an AP, but instead I used Bread Flour.  Also used for the Final Dough mix.  I decided on Bread Flour over AP as I like to bolster my durum with the stronger white flour. 
• The formula calls for “semolina” and while taking that at face value, I decided to use semola rimaccinata instead. 
• While abiding by the white flour and semola percentages, I upped the water content from 64% to 65% while lowering the Olive Oil from 4% to 2% - plenty if you ask me.  According to Mr. Hamelman, oils are considered to be part of the hydration, and therefore my take on this clocks in at 67% total hydration.
• Being a cautious chap, as well as deciding on a long overnight retard, I opted to just about halve the IDY down to 0.35%.

 Now, as I mix just about everything with French Folds rather than by machine, I add the ingredients differently than the original, autolysing just the flour and water.  Then pinch and fold each of the following separately – IDY, levain and finally the salt.

The dough rests for 5 minutes halfway through the French folds, and it was at that post-rest point that I returned the dough to the mixing bowl and incorporated the oil, turning a somewhat stiff dough into something luxuriously silky by the time the 2nd half of the French Folds completed.

Being that this was a hand mix, I added the fruit, spice and nuts during the first of two letter folds.  The original calls for no folds during the bulk rise.

And then retarded the bulk dough in my usual way, removing it after x hours to divide, shape and then return to retard on a couche for the overnight nap.

Baked cold from retard and abided by Susan’s baking instructions.

Just for fun, I made two fat baguettes/long batards, each weighing in at ~550g.  And as you can see, I provided ample space between scores.  But that didn’t matter to the yeast.  Their growth in the oven during steaming was explosive, and the batards blew right through most of my scoring.

 And now with this behind me, I think that I’ll make one to bring to our gracious Thanksgiving hosts, along with a Vermont SD as companion.

This being the 10th anniversary of Susan posting the formula on her Wild Yeast website - happy birthday bread.  And thank you Donna and Susan!

Coming off the couche, and scored awaiting the oven.  You can see the ample spacing between scores.

Steam released and doughs rotated.

Fresh out of the oven. The oven spring was surprisingly BIG.

Sliced up and ready to ship off to taiko practice with the wife.

long batards, 2 x 550g

 We returned home from a summer of quasi-gluttony downing pint after pint of heavy but oh-so-tasty ales and enjoying virtually every dinner out at old favorite restaurants as well as newer in our old city of Portland.  Only to immediately make a U-turn out of here when the specter of hurricane Maria bore down on Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and was barreling straight for us.  Upon return once more, I looked forward to reviving my sleepy levain and start baking again.  Which I did for a very short while.  Because soon after the 2nd return home we were getting ready to head back to the NY area again, for a friend’s wedding.  And so I needed to reach deep into the closet and try on some suitable clothes - meaning the jackets and slacks that now never see daylight with few exceptions.

Now, I’ve spent my 67 years being pretty fit, and at this stage I intend to keep it that way for as long as possible.  And while in our old Portland haunts we visited the gym 4-5 times every week, so our very long-term exercise program was still functioning as projected.  Fortunately, all digits are still attached where they were meant to be attached, and my outer extremities are still adducting, abducting and rotating as designed.  Save for numerous small (and not so small) accumulated injuries in the course of a lifetime, of which the ledger forever grows, albeit slowly.

It was during the runway modeling phase, in preparation for the trip north, to see which pants would fit and not fit so well, that I made the distinct and unpleasant discover that the summer's food and drink had indeed caught up with me.  Just above the belt-line was a small but unwelcome band of extra, to be kind to myself I’ll call it - skin.  An “ouch” to my psyche.

Wasting nary a minute I immediately declared myself to be on a diet.  No snacking, no midnight soirées with milk and cookies, smaller and greener meals, no pizza, no beer or ales, and gasp! no bread.  Drat!

Okay, so that was a few weeks ago and the change in diet has certainly welcomed in an ever-so-slightly more trimmed me.  However, my world seems empty without days of levain builds, mixes, shaping and baking.  My routine of life as I knew it has temporarily ground to a halt.  Well, life as I knew it for the 4 plus years since I decided to bake here.  There’s a hole in my unscheduled weekly schedule.  Yes, planned for by dint of this most unwelcome post-consumption, to be kind to myself I’ll call it - growth.  Oh, I cheat just a little around the edges, but my will power to stay away from the “bad stuff” for the time being has been fairly resolute.

And when the time comes for me to start up again I know exactly what the first order of business will be.  I’ve never made the FWSY Field Blend #1.  Can’t say why, just is.  And there is this bag of white rye long sitting lonely and unloved in my pantry for quite some time just waiting to be showcased in some bread or other.

But until that now unkown future date, my only bake of October was this Sesame Semolina.  The batard was dropped off for David, owner of Laurenzo’s Italian Market, where I buy my semola rimacinata, and whose market I showcased here about a year ago.  Two gros baguettes accompanied this bake as well.  One was delivered to a new friend who we were meeting for a day of dining and fun.  The other was destined to make an express pass into my own gullet.  It was halfway through dining on this lovely bread when the above documented incident took place.  And therefore my forsworn diet prompted me to place the remaining half into deep freeze until a future date.

Oh cruel world...

After my self imposed hiatus of three months away, I decided to kick off the "new baking season" with a run of the Hamelman Vermont SD, again using AP instead of bread flour and using a rye levain instead of white flour - thus the "alfanso style" moniker.  Fortunately it looks as though I haven't lost a beat.  Funny thing is that my final blog entry before I left in June was for the same bread.  

I typically don't blog the same bread over again unless there is a change, improvement, a different shape or something I deem noteworthy to share.  However, in this case, as this is the virgin run of the season, I figured that I'd reintroduce myself with these baguettes/long batards.

And although we both disappeared from the site at the same time, I didn't run away and elope with dabrownman.  I just sure would like to know that he's okay, but he hasn't surfaced yet.  A loss for all of us here at TFL.

400g x 3 long batards/baguettes

Little T Bakery  t-shirt, Portland Oregon

Hamelman Vermont SD with 125% rye flour levain

My first foray into the Vermont SD was back in April with the straight formula: 125% bread flour levain with bread flour, plus the 10% rye flour used in the final mix as directed.  

A week later - the same bread flour levain but I used AP flour for the final mix.  The dough was more extensible and less "rubbery" to work with.  A change for the better in my book.  2 letter folds during the bulk ferment.

For this third run I swapped the bread flour levain for a rye flour levain and eliminated any rye from the final mix.  Still using AP flour and also continued with 2 letter folds.  In essence, the rye is now at 15% of total pre-fermented flour rather than the 10% used in the original formula for final dough ingredients.

Handles and bakes beautifully.

steam just released...then getting ready for venting 15 minutes later

350g x 5 baguettes (long batards)

preparing for morning toast

My most recent bread comeuppance has been thanks to Msr. Calvel.  Someone recently posted a page from his book which had illustrations of differing bread forms and an accompanying table listing the features of each.  Well, it turns out that my "baguettes" are not even baguettes according to the man.  They match his characteristics of a "long batard": size, weight, shape and number of scores.  Waddya know?  Well, I'll still cheat a bit and continue to call them baguettes because I haven't noticed any bread police nearby to pinch me on this.

I'd nicked this formula from a David Snyder post about a year ago, who in turn got it from SFBI, so I guess this a nick squared.  I ran out of bread yesterday with my last batch, and the dog's bread treat bowl was running on near empty as well.  Since she doesn't get "additives" in her treats I wanted to bake something pretty straightforward.  I decided on this one, which I hadn't baked in months.  However I did post as "baguettes" the first time that I baked them.

If you are looking for an almost all AP flour dough, relatively low hydration (68%) but feels & acts like a high hydration dough, and which has a delightfully crisp snap to the crust with a lovely fresh clean taste - then this is for you.  I was trying to fit in more adjectives but there must be an editing limiter on this website ;-) .  Here is David's post.

Minutes away from the morning toast...

I made these extra fat - just because!

430g x 4 "long batards" (darn it)