Poolish Baguettes: BBA

Moving right along... It's Day #26 in the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge and we're making Poolish Baguettes.  As the name implies, these baguettes are made with an overnight poolish.  

According to Peter Reinhart, "in the Coupe du Monde bread competition, the poolish baguette is now the standard that all countries must replicate."  These baguettes, created by Bernard Ganachaud, are made with a medium-extraction flour that isn't available in America.  This type of  flour is slightly higher in ash content and bran than regular bread flour.  It is similar to clear flour which is whole-wheat flour that has been sifted once (instead of the usual twice) to remove the bran and germ.  

Obviously, we don't have this special flour, so we'll replicate it by sifting whole wheat flour once to remove the bran.  According to the commentary in the book, this should provide the right amount of fiber and ash. I'm using home-milled whole wheat flour so this experiment will be fun!


Poolish Baguettes
Makes: 3 Baguettes

Making the Poolish (refer to the directions on page 106)


For the step-by-step instructions for making the poolish, please refer to the Ciabatta post. Remove the poolish from the refrigerator 1 hour before making the dough to take off the chill.

Making the Dough


Pass the whole wheat flour through a sifter or strainer, sifting out the bran.  Sift as much of the flour through the strainer as will go and set aside the bran that remains in the strainer for another use - for example, making the Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire.

Stir together the flours, salt, and yeast in a mixing bowl or in the bowl of your electric mixer.  I didn't use a stand mixer for this bread.  I just used a mixing bowl.

Add the poolish and  1 1/8 cups of the water and stir with a large spoon until the ingredients form a ball.

I started out with a wooden spoon, then switched to the danish dough whisk.

Transfer the dough to a counter sprinkled with flour. Knead for 10 minutes, sprinkling more flour as necessary.  The dough should be soft and pliable, tacky but not sticky.

Fermenting the Dough


Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to ferment at room temperature for 2 hours or until it doubles in size.

Remove the dough and knead it lightly for 1 minute.

Return the dough to the bowl and cover it again.

Ferment for additional 2 hours at room temperature or until the dough doubles in size again.

Shaping the Baguettes


Sprinkle flour on the counter and gently transfer the dough to the counter.  Divide it into 3 equal pieces using a metal dough scraper.  Try not to degas it anymore than necessary.

Shape the pieces into baguettes, as shown on page 74, or for detailed instructions on making baguettes, refer to the August 16th post on French Baguettes.


Proofing the Loaves


Prepare the loaves for proofing using either the couche method or the parchment method (page 38).  I decided to use the couche method.  Refer to the Ciabatta post for detailed instructions on using a couche.

Proof the baguettes at room temperature for 50 to 60 minutes, or until they are about 1 1/2 times their original size.

Baking the Loaves

Prepare the oven for hearth baking as described on pages 91-94.  Make sure to have an empty steam pan in place.  Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.  For more detailed instructions on hearth baking, refer to the October 5th post on Pain À l'Ancienne Baguettes.  

Score the baguettes as shown on page 90.

The method described in the book is to dust a peel or the back of a sheet pan with cornmeal and transfer the dough pieces to the peel or pan.  Then, slide the loaves onto the baking stone to bake.  Instead of using this method, I decided to bake the loaves in a special baguette pan so they would keep their shape. Mags at The Other Side of Fifty had mentioned this pan on her blog and I decided to give it a try.

  
Bake according to the instructions on page 197.  For detailed instructions on hearth baking, including using the steam pan and spraying the oven walls with water at 30-second intervals, refer to the October 5th post on Pain À l'Ancienne Baguettes. 

Bake the loaves for 10 minutes, rotate for even baking if necessary, then continue to bake for 8 to 12 more minutes.  The loaves should be a rich golden brown.

Remove the bread and cool on a rack for at least 40 minutes before slicing or serving.

Here is a shot of the crumb.  Looks pretty good.  Tastes great also.  I like these baguettes!

Thanks for joining us this week in the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge.

The next bread in Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is Portuguese Sweet Bread.  Turn to page 215 in the Bread Baker's Apprentice to make sure you have the necessary ingredients and equipment.

Be sure to Follow along with other bakers in the challenge

And, join the BBA Challenge Facebook Group

Happy Baking!
Cathy

You might also enjoy some of the other breads that we've featured in Bread Baking Blog.

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