hansjoakim

I'm not sure how baguettes are made in the US either, but a 75% hydrated baguette dough is certainly not your standard fare French baguette; that sounds more like a ciabatta with my kind of (non-high gluten) bread flour.

Would you say a traditional baguette dough has a high hydration? I thought a baguette dough would be somewhere between 63% and 68% in hydration.

Hi Veloute, There is a recipe for Borodinsky rye in Andrew Whitley's "Bread Matters". Whitley has spent some time in Eastern Europe and Russia, so I guess that his version should be pretty authentic. I can write it up later today if you're interested?

Ahhh, hansjoakim, it is. But obviously you haven't seen this topic. And welcome to the forums, hansjoakim...keep on baking. ← Thanks, Mitch! Sourdough + Commercial yeast = Minefield.

In France, bakers can add fresh yeast up to 0.3% of the flour weight of their final dough, and still sell the product as a sourdough product. That's regulated by law There's been some research on this, and the results indicate that the final products are not noticeably altered by including small amounts of yeast. Just a little blob of 0.3% can reduce bulk fermentation lengths by 1-1.5 hours, and you still end up with great sourdough bread. I wouldn't call it heresy... it's just being practical, isn't it? I've also read that sourdough breads only make up about 3% of the total bread consumption in France. That was way lower than what I had expected... I believe the figures are from 2003, so it seems sourdough is pretty much a small niche still.

To knead or not to knead, that's the question! Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with buckets of dough, but, as an active home baker, my experience is that both techniques work. The final loaves will likely turn out different, so it boils down to your particular recipe, and what you find most attractive in the loaf. There's a brilliant discussion about mixing in Suas' "Advanced Bread and Pastry". If you don't have the book, a condensed version can be found here: SFBI Newsletter A very short knead, followed by a long bulk fermentation and several folds, will typically result in an irregular crumb structure and a slightly lower bread profile. The dough is often a bit wet, and the extensibility of the dough is favored over strength. A well-kneaded dough will have a much more developed gluten network, more strength, a rounder bread profile and a more regular crumb, with many small pockets. I like to do a "short mix" for your average Italian-style doughs (wet ciabattas etc.), while I prefer better mixed doughs for just about anything else. I'm usually aiming for a sort of windowpane, not a perfect one, but still signs of a well-developed dough, and then often a single (or no) fold(s) midway during bulk fermentation. But, as I said, it's down to what you prefer!

Hi everyone, And thanks again for all the thoughtful replies! Well, some good news: I took my last eggs and had a final go at the recipe I wrote in the original post. What I did different this time around, was that I loosely covered the form with a layer of aluminum foil at the start of the bake. I made sure that it was not covering the form tightly (to avoid any issues with steam), and pre-heated the oven to 170C. After approx. 25 mins., I removed the aluminum foil. The cake was then very moist at the top, and had risen from about 1/3 filling to about halfway up. I reduced the temperature to 150C, and continued to bake without the foil for roughly 25 more minutes. At the end of the bake, the cake was between 2/3 and 3/4 up the form, the top was brown and shiny and springy. I removed it and cooled it upside down. This was far less crumbly than the previous cakes, so I split it in three, soaked each layer with some cake syrup, sprinkled apricot jam over, then a layer of coffee buttercream. It was delicious I'd love to try to learn something from this, so that I can make these kinds of cakes more confidently and consistently in the future. I'm guessing that the original oven temperature was too high? Do you think this might've caused the top to set too fast, and that the interior somehow collapsed as it was trapped and couldn't expand further? If so, the aluminum foil remedied this...? I'm also wondering about how the stiffness of the meringue peaks affects cakes like this? Some recipes say soft peaks, others medium-stiff. How will the stiffness of the peaks affect volume and texture of the cake? Thanks again for your input all!

Thanks so much for your suggestions all I'll have another go later today with some modifications: - Instead of adding sugar to egg whites before mixing, I'll put it slowly in when the egg whites are well foamy. - Bake at slightly higher temperature, and perhaps a bit shorter - Check batter size vs. pan size more carefully I'll also have a look at the sugar measurements in the original recipe. I've compared with some others I've seen, and it looks alright, but I'll do some more comparisons. Thanks again!

Hi all, I hope someone can offer me some advice on a chocolate chiffon cake recipe! I want to make the mocha cake from Suas' "Advanced Bread and Pastry", and I'm having some serious issues with chiffon cake base. Let me also point out that I'm very new to pastry and cake mixing... I've baked my way through most of the bread part of the book, and now I'd like to dive into the (scary) world of pastries. I managed to mix a splendid coffee buttercream (which is now waiting in the fridge), but I'm running into trouble with the chiffon base. I've had three botched attempts so far. OK, since I'm completely new, let me give the details of what I'm doing. Please bear with me! The recipe is as follows for a 20 cm cake: Dry ingredients: ------------------- - Cake flour: 85 gr. (100%) - Baking powder: 4 gr. (4.67%) - Baking soda: 1 gr. (1.33%) - Granulated sugar #1: 100 gr. (120%) Liquid ingredients & chocolate emulsion: ---------------------------------------------- - Water: 50 gr. (60%) - Chopped semi-sweet chocolate: 65 gr. (74.67%) - Egg yolks: 50 gr. (60%) - Canola oil: 45 gr. (53.33%) Meringue: ------------ - Egg whites: 90 gr. (105.33%) - Granulated sugar #2: 50 gr. (56%) - Cream of tartar: 1 g. (0.93%) OK. Here's what I do: - I sift together the dry ingredients. - Mix the meringue to medium peaks. - Boil the water and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for 1 min., and then gently whisk together. - Whisk in liquid ingredients (yolks and canola oil) into the chocolate emulsion. - Whisk the dry ingredients into the chocolate emulsion. - Fold the meringue into the chocolate batter. I do this in three turns, and fold until there are no white streaks. - Pour into a 15 cm form, and bake for approx. 25-30 mins at 170C. I don't have a 20 cm form, so I'm using a 15 cm one instead. I'm approximately filling this halfway up (a little less actually), and I discard the rest of the chiffon cake batter. The oven is well pre-heated to the specified temperature. OK. So, for the first 15 mins or so of the bake, the cake is rising nicely, up to somewhere around 3/4 of the form. The middle of the cake is somewhat lower than the edges, so it's a bit soggy in the middle. Then, after about 15 mins, it almost looks like the top starts cracking, and there's a circular crack appearing. This becomes more and more distinct, and after approx. 20 mins, it's almost like the middle of the cake starts to cave in on itself; like the cake is not able to hold its own weight. I was surprised by this, since I'm only using a 15 cm form, and I supposed the edges would support it better than they do... Anyway, I'm freaking a bit out about the caving in part, so I immediately remove the form from the oven, and flip it upside down to cool. After it's cooled for 90 mins., I turn it around, and it looks like this: See the crack in the surface? The surface is also more greyish than dark brown. Out of the form, this is what I get: It's extremely crumbly, and there's that greyish crust color running around the top. Now, according to Suas, this base is supposed to be cut in four layers. My base is very crumbly, as you can see from the photo below, where I've gently removed the grey top: The whole thing is just very delicate and crumbly, and there's no way I'm able to get this in four whole pieces... Now, as I mentioned, I'm completely new to serious pastry stuff. I've read the theory bits in Suas' book about cake mixing, meringues etc., but there are obviously pieces I'm missing. I've had three go's at this, all with the same result. I've varied the meringue mixing (going from medium to stiff to medium-soft), but the result has always been the same. I'm using a digital scale, so I'm pretty confident that I'm scaling the amounts correctly. I'm really not sure where I should start looking? Would mixing the cake batter more improve the results? Should I bake it slightly shorter (until just before the crust starts cracking, for instance)? I hope someone can nudge me in the right direction! I still have that awesome coffee buttercream in the fridge, and I'd love to use it for this mocha cake... Thanks so much in advance!

Hi all, I'd like to buy a serious pastry book for a friend of mine. My own background is mainly bread baking, so I hope some of you can offer me some advice. I'm split between Bo Friberg's "The Professional Pastry Chef" and Michel Suas' "Advanced Bread and Pastry". I own Suas' book myself, and think it's awesome on artisan breads. I don't have enough of a pastry background to judge that part of the book however. Of the two, which would you recommend for someone who's mainly into pastry?

Awesome! Thanks so much. I'll have a crack at it sometime tomorrow hopefully.

it certainly looks interesting! i would love to see the cross section of the crust, just to get an idea of how thin it is, and how airy the "outer rim" is. it could definitely use some color to liven it up; a generous sprinkling of green herbs perhaps? what does it look like underneath?

Thanks so much, Dan! I'm thinking a couple of teaspoons instant coffee or espresso dissolved in a tablespoon of water.

Hi all, This is me --> I'm a bread baker taking my first baby steps in the pastry world, so I hope you can help me out! I have a recipe for a mocha cake that I'd like to try out. The recipe calls for coffee buttercream, where coffee flavor comes from using 3-4% (in baker's percentages) coffee extract. I haven't been able to obtain any coffee extract, so I was wondering if I can simply replace it by some instant coffee or espresso powder dissolved in water? What about the amount? Are there any extract <--> coffee powder conversions I should be aware of? Silly question, I'm sure, but thanks in advance for any help!

It's very easy to scale the recipes, so I wouldn't hold that against Hamelman. If you're looking for a professional bread book, you most likely want to set up a spreadsheet to calculate the required amounts of levain and preferments for the batch size you want to make. As long as you've got the recipe broken down in baker's %, it's the specific weights aren't crucial. I do own a few bread baking books, and I agree with the above recommendations: Hamelman's "Bread" and/or Suas' "Advanced Bread and Pastry". Suas' book got the same measurements as Hamelman, but his application of baker's % are slightly different. You'll have to convert one to the other if you want to compare recipes in the two books. I'm becoming more and more fond of Suas' book. I think it's better when it comes to explaining and visualizing the bread baking process. Besides, it's got a substantial pastry and Viennoserie section too. Hamelman's book has got a broader range of recipes, however, and is especially strong on rye sourdough breads. It's probably the best book on rye sourdough in English.