bread

The little baguette made the other day for the smoked salmon is all gone now. Imagine that. I sure did enjoy it making tiny cheese sandwiches and such even though the loaf suffered the mishap of the airplane hanger effect. I'll be careful not to let that happen again.

There isn't much to say that hasn't been said already 100 times. Or possibly 10 times. Okay FINE, four times. 

For this batch, though, I did try something different. The pre-fermentation prepared the night before baking in this case is a sponge that contains the full amount of flour fully hydrated, therefore a finished dough, not just a starter. By morning some adjustments might be necessary either way, that is the dough could maybe take a little more flour to stiffen it, or it might take more moisture to loosen it. Working the dough and shaping it into a loaf before the final rise usually involves flour on the work surface, although the surface could be coated with oil instead. Also, additives to the dough have unpredictable effects. This dough has a rounded tablespoon of lecithin included and that tends to tighten the dough. The thing that I tried that was different from all previous doughs is a bowl of water with active yeast was prepared to dampen the finished dough while stretching, folding, and shaping, instead of plain tap water. This second bowl of water with active yeast is exactly the same as the first bowl of water with active yeast that started off the dough fermenting. This would re-inoculate the moistened layers with fresh yeasty water as the dough was folded. I expected it to produce larger irregular holes within the crumb. That expectation was not met. FAIL!

Other than that it is a simple little loaf whipped out with a Cuisinart. The loaf was baked at high heat with water drizzled into the oven for the first 10 minutes of baking. I notice this is producing tiny blisters on the loaf. I'm not sure I like that. I could have just as easily baked this loaf within a clay baguette cloche. That might be a better idea than dropping water into the hot oven to steam it up, but not as dramatic or as fun, although just as dangerous so the rocket-hot preheated cloche has got that going for it.  

The cling film is still covering the bowl ↓. It's like a window.

ARTS !