18-Hour-Baguette

Numerous recipes use the method of “retarding”, i.e. letting dough ferment in a cool environment, like a fridge, overnight or even as long as 48 hours. The water has time to absorb flour and sugar is being made available to the yeast, which is dormant during the time of retardation and will act on the sugars as soon as the temperature rises again.

By reducing the yeast to 0.1% and with the dough proofing at room temperature, I believe these two processes are running more synchronized and give an even better result.


Baguette (yield: 2)

  • 300g strong white flour
  • 210g water
  • 6g salt
  • 0.3g fresh yeast

To weigh 0.3g of yeast, dillute 3g in 100g warm water and add 10g of this mixture to 200g of good mineral water. Discard the remaining 90g. Next, stir in the salt and then the flour. Mix to a smooth dough.

Bulk Fermentation: 15-18 hours at room temperature.
Final Fermentation: Divide into two pieces. Depending on how aeraeted the dough is at this time, either stretch the pieces out to baguettes and bake directly or proof until they feel light.
Bake-Off: 17-20 minutes at 240°C.

Published in: on 8 March 2008 at 10:50 pm

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14 Comments Leave a comment.

  1. On 9 March 2008 at 4:50 am mutablematter Said:

    I’ve always been intrigued by the ‘fridge dough’ method. Must try it out soon. Those baguettes look too delicious! The fridge method seems to be handy when you don’t want to bake all the dough at once.

    I also liked your posts about the salt-yeast method and making your own sour dough. I often make my own pizza and my own bread and rolls, but despite my experience I am not sure if I can follow all of your recipes, because I have very primitive equipment, e.g. no proper scale, no access to grains/little access to different types of flour (I live in the UK), no heating in the house to create ‘warm places’ and an old gas oven which just seems to have two temperatures: on and off! So I constantly have some experimenting to do…

    By the way, I’ve just been given some buckwheat flour, some of which I have used for cake. Do you know if you can also make some good bread with (or containing) buckwheat? Have you tried it out? So far the only other buckwheat things I’ve heard of are pancakes and porridge!

  2. On 9 March 2008 at 3:47 pm theinversecook Said:

    I think a proper scale would be the best investment to make experimenting easier. If you know the dough has not changed, then a changed result can only by explained by factors like oven or rising times, factors different from the dough recipe.

    I get different results during wintertime too. The ambient temperature usually drops by 1 or 2°C, which makes quite a difference. I don’t really have a reliable warm place for proofing bread either, the small room that houses the washing machine is always an option though.

    I think buckwheat can be added to a bread dough made with strong white flour in small quantities, maybe up to 15% or even more without too many negative side effects such as poor loaf volume.

    Regards,
    Nils

  3. On 9 March 2008 at 7:02 pm MyKitchenInHalfCups Said:

    Beautiful baguette!
    I’ve found most American books use far too much yeast in the recipe and almost always cut back but I’ve not tried for this long a rise. Do like the idea.
    I wouldn’t call my house cold but it is cool enough in winter to want double layers. When I want a ‘warm’ spot, I generally find that even wrapping my dough container in a big towel will insulate it and retain it’s own warmth enough for a lovely rise. I guess that is a bit primitive but it works well for me.

  4. On 10 March 2008 at 3:15 pm theinversecook Said:

    That’s clever, I think the yeast produces heat as well in order to maintain a cozy environment that will make reproduction possible. I might be wrong here. I do remember a warm feeling inside a bowl that has been sitting in a cool place fermenting for a while. Maybe good isolation is all that is needed. Often I have found that the simplest approaches give the best results.

  5. On 15 March 2008 at 10:28 am baeckersuepke Said:

    Das ist ja eine wahnsinns Porung, da läuft einem glatt das Wasser im Mund zusammen. Man sieht ja schon wie es schmeckt! leider kann ich nur wenig Englisch, aber ein bisschen was habe ich verstanden.
    Ich habe einmal gehört, das der französische Bäcker, wenn er seine Baguettes aus dem Ofen holt, immer ein Baguette mit einem scharfen Messer quer aufschneidet und wenn er dann eine schöne grobe Porung hat (so wie Ihres), dann schaut er dankbar zum Himmel.Also: schauen Sie rugig auch zum Himmel!

  6. On 15 March 2008 at 2:40 pm theinversecook Said:

    Danke für die freundlichen Worte, Bäcker Süpke. Die geringe Hefezugabe und die lange Stehzeit schienen die unregelmäßige Porung zu begünstigen, ich war verblüfft. Dankbar in den Himmel gucken - mach ich, auch, obwohl der Himmel momentan nur mit Regen antwortet.

    Grüsse,
    Nils

  7. On 15 March 2008 at 10:28 pm baeckersuepke Said:

    Das ist genau der Grund für die Porung! Die lange Stehzeit bringt auch den Geschmack durch die mehleigenen Enzyme. Davon haben wir deutschen Bäcker bisher wenig Ahnung gehabt. Aber ich habe es gelernt: Aus der Schweiz! (Ricolaaaah) :-)

  8. On 16 March 2008 at 4:41 pm theinversecook Said:

    Hatte ich mir auch so ähnlich gedacht, obwohl ich es backtechnisch nicht so präzise hätte ausdrücken können. Der Geschmack ist wirklich sehr viel besser.

    Interessant, wie sich die Brotkulturen in Österreich, Schweiz und Deutschland (und innerhalb dieser Länder) doch deutlich voneiandner unterscheiden.

  9. On 17 March 2008 at 1:31 am baeckersuepke Said:

    Ja, Brot Geschmack ist wirklich regional. Aber ich finde es sehr schön, das die Menschen neugierig sind auf neues. Vor 15 Jahren (ca) kam das Baguette, dann das Ciabatta (heißt übrigens Pantoffel)nach Deutschland. Sehr spannend! Unser Renner ist das Wurzelbrot, ein Schweizer Brot. Einen Tag reift der Vorteig, einen Tag der Teig, dann kommt es erst in den Ofen. Lecker!

  10. On 17 March 2008 at 3:22 pm theinversecook Said:

    Zwei Tage Reifezeit hören sich phantastisch an, mit viel Geschmack. Beruhigend zu hören, dass man die Geschmschmacksgewohnheiten der Menschen doch noch an echte Qualität zurückgewöhnen kann. Aber vielleicht gab es in Ihrer Umgebung ja immer gutes Brot. Das kann ich nämlich leider vom Umkreis meiner ehemaligen Stammbäckereien nicht sagen.

  11. On 22 March 2008 at 9:08 am baeckersuepke Said:

    Leider gab es da auch immer Unterschiede. das lag daran, dass Brot stark subventioniert war und der Bäcker nichts dran verdient hat. Aber es gab keine Fertigsauer und keine Backmittel. Also haben “wir” den Sauerteig nie verlernt.

  12. On 22 March 2008 at 9:42 pm theinversecook Said:

    Ja, dieses Verlernen der geschmackserhaltenden Techniken und Einsatz von Fertigmischungen hat wohl erhebliche Ausmaße angenommen und ist meinem Empfinden nach verantwortlich für die (von mir intensiv wahrgenommenen) “Misere” des hiesigen Brotes.

  13. On 7 April 2008 at 7:59 pm Bart Said:

    Amazing crumb! Did you steam the baguettes?
    Bart

  14. On 8 April 2008 at 1:00 pm theinversecook Said:

    Indeed, I did spray a little water directly onto the baguettes. I am not sure if it helped a lot. Thanks for stopping by, Bart.

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