Prologue – Trials at making my perfect Sourdough Baguettes

Posted by moon garden on 04/17/2013 · 4 Comments

Go back to the “Classic.“

I’ve been working on making my perfect Sourdough Baguettes.

Crumb : Chewy / Open / Airy / Holey

Crust : Extra crusty / Nice golden color / Happy oven spring

Tons of flavor / Good texture

Above all, DELICIOUS.

It is amazing only this much of sourdough starter makes bread rise.

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Last time I baked my sourdough baguettes with 100 % hydration of final starter,

I got a nice holey / chewy crumb, perfect crust and beautiful flavor, but couldn’t get the oven spring on my baguettes…

Sourdough Baguettes – January, 2013

Use 100% hydration final starter,

Gold medal, AP flour

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The other day, I just happened to bake Sourdough + Orange peel + Earl Grey Tea Baguette with 60% hydration final starter,

and got perfect “Oven Spring” !!!

Recently, I’ve been baking Batard or Boule quite often and I always use 60% final starter for them.

At that time, I changed my mind for no particular reason and decided to make Baguette with that dough.

I expected some minor difference might happen because of different % hydration starter, but didn’t expect this huge difference.

I was in shock. Of course I was happy about this result but …I had kind of mixed feelings.

Then, the next moment, I suspected it might come out nicely because I used Tea instead of Water…

or, could be because of Orange peel!?

I needed to experiment again with simple ingredients – starter, flour, water, salt.

Sourdough Baguettes – April, 2013

Use 60% hydration final starter

Gold medal, AP flour

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I got a nice oven spring this time too.

Ok. The key could be final starter.

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“Why don’t you change water % of the final dough?”

Because I really like the texture of an original sourdough baguette recipe, so I don’t want to change it.

I am going to test more with different % hydration of final starter, also different brands or types of flour, and these combinations

to compare the results and find my perfect sourdough baguette recipe!

I will (try to) update each result of this project :-)

Stay tuned!

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