Baguette

Hello beautiful people,

This past week I have been trying to do baguettes but It just wasn't working out. I tried at first with a 70% hydration thinking it would need to be that much and then again but letting the dough proof overnight and nope. They kept coming out flat, no spring in the oven, and heavy. Needles to say I didnt take any pictures because they were just hard to stomach. But when all fails with bread there is always soup and stew to eat it with.

Looking through my pictures last night I found one of my 2011 trip to Bosnia. 

Yesterday I found some time to get a recipe modified and try a 65 percent hydration dough. I prepped the dough in the morning went through a fold each hour three times and stuck it in the fridge overnight. The dough was nice puffy and light. Scaled, shaped, preheated the oven to 550F, slashed and loaded.

I think one of my problems with the other loafs from last week was my baking. It was early, I was rushing it, didnt pay attention to the dough and it also much colder then ideal temperature for proofing (darn you vermont).

 Half Baguettes 

-220g of mature strong starter
-590g King Arthur all purpose white
-20g King Arthur Organic Whole Wheat
-400g water
-8g Sea salt
-3 Tbsp Olive oil (I always use the best olive oil, its just not something to mess around with)
- 3.14159... Love

1. The mix
Flour, water, Starter, and olive oil on low mix for 10 min with a 20min rest.  Add the salt last, mix for 3min and let it rest for an hour.

2. The Folds
Fold the dough into itself every hour three times. After the last rest period, cover with plastic and put into fridge overnight.

3. The Shape
Take out the dough in the morning, divide into fours and start shaping each one at a time. Here is a video on shaping.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdNRogR10nM  (skip to the 2min mark and just do the pre-shape) When you do the shape just loosely roll and stretch the loaves but make sure not to tear them. Let them stretch naturally. Make sure to not shape the loaves the way this guy does it in the video because he is beating on them so much. :( sad dough.
Put your baguettes on a couch or cloth that you dont care getting dusty or doughy.

4. Bake
Preheat the oven to as high as it will go (mine was at 525F) and let your baguettes rest while this is happening. Get your loading peel ready and your knife/lame clean.
Make sure you also have about a cup of water to toss into the oven before loading your loaves.
Slash your loaves and let them bake for 20 min at 475-500F. 

Enjoy!!