It’s been a while since my last baguette bake and I’ve always admired the beauties coming out of fellow TFL baker Alfanso’s oven.
I decided to give his formula adapted from master baker Jeffrey Hamelman a go. I only changed up a few things by using KAF French style flour instead of bread flour and I also used fresh whole wheat I milled myself. The other things I changed were using a bulk ferment of the dough overnight in the refrigerator and also using my mixer on low for a nice 6 minute ride around the bowl. I then did stretch and folds at 3 intervals over a 2 hour period before putting it in the refrigerator to sleep until the next evening. I followed my normal procedure of letting the dough rest in my proofer set at 79 degrees for 1 hour. I then pre-shaped into rounds, let them rest for 15 minutes, finished shaping and let them rest in a couche for about an hour before baking.
My shaping didn’t come out all that bad. Could still use a bit of practice so I guess I need to make baguettes more often :0.
The taste was fantastic with a nice sour tang and a nutty flavor from the whole wheat and small percentage of rye. I couldn’t be more happy with the crumb on this one as it was as open as you can ask for without going overboard.
I will definitely be making this one again and probably changing up some of the flour combinations in the future as well.
Thanks Alfanso for your inspiration and advice.
mookielovesbread 