Monday 14 March 2011

Scoring baguette challenge

Scoring baguette is not as easy as one might think.
I decided to ask the experts in The fresh loaf forum and post my question there.
Using my of the tips from the comments:
1. higher temperature, i set the oven to 220 in fan bake
2. score slightly deeper

I wanted to underprove the baguette a little but this time I was districted and I think the baguette actually was overproved.

Anyway here is the result. The scorings are still not as wide open as I wanted! Well I have wait for the next weekend to try it again.



Saturday 5 March 2011

Bagels Blisters

I used to think that bagels is difficult to make before I got into my bread making hobby. When I read Cril Hitz's Baking Artisan Breads I didn't find it too intimidating so I decided to give it try.
His method takes 2 days to make the bagels, making the dough and shape the bagels on day 1 and then boil and bake the bagels on day 2.

I noticed that all my bagels crust have fill with many tiny bubbles and I was wondering why. I googled it but I couldn't really got a definite answer. So I post my question at The fresh loaf where all the artisan bread bakers exchange their experience and knowledge. The post is here but I have learned that it is normal for a bread that develop this kind of condition from the long cold fermentation and that's nothing wrong with it.

One of the posters quoted

"Bubbles on the crust, a result of retarding raw loaves at refrigeration temperatures, are well received in North America. In France, bubbles are considered a defect".
Quote from Raymond Calvel's The Taste of Bread.


Now my next challenge is to make bagels without long fermentation but still taste as good with good texture.



Full of blisters on the crust

Most people don't mind my bagels that have blisters on them, because they taste very good.

Friday 4 March 2011

In search of the perfect baguette

It is pretty hard to make perfect baguettes at home without specially equipments like baking stone,steamer oven, etc.  However my goal is to bake a good looking baguette with crispy crust and tender texture inside.

I have been baking baguettes using Ciril Hitz's Baking Artisan Bread: 10 Expert Formulas for Baking Better Bread at Home recipes for a few time. The result is not bad, but I've never got a good scoring on my baguettes.

Today I tried it again after I've done lots of reading about scoring baguette, however I still failed. The scores didn't open as big as I wanted it.