Prologue – Trials at making my perfect Sourdough Baguettes
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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Keep up the great work! I haven’t tried making a baguette, mostly because my oven is too small, but when I purchase a new and larger oven I think I’ll have a similar quest.
Cheers! :)
Hi Zita, thanks for your kind words! This new project is very exciting and hope I can update more posts asap! Cheers :-) Yuko
Baking bread is like science! I never experiment with different hydration starters, but I really should, your baguettes/batards always look amazing!
Yvonne, Thanks for your lovely words! You always encourage me to bake more breads!