Adventures in Breadmaking

The means of production, round 2

 It's been a while, Blahdeblah fans, and I admit that I'm finally settling down to write this now because I need to be distracted from the impending election. But in the intervals that I've not been writing letters to voters in swing states or going on bike rides for mental health and fitness or obsessively watching Brian Tyler Cohen videos while lifting weights, I've been trying to replicate All You Need is Loaf's basic French Loaf because Stephane has gone to France for a month and we really miss his bread. He gave me his basic recipe, a basket to use to form a loaf, and some tips before he left but, alas, he did not give me his skills. We've certainly had no trouble eating the loaves, but they are not quite right.

 And it's not like I haven't made plenty of bread in my day. I still have PTSD from the six months of working graveyard in a bread bakery, okay? What I lack, in addition to Stephane's je ne sais quoi, is a proper stand mixer and the correct type of flour. I've also been casting a doubtful eye on my scale since I think it's not really precise when it comes to measuring a few grams. 

 Round 1:

For the first batch, I used a combination of all-purpose flour, some fancy red wheat flour I bought in the PCC's bulk section, and some whole wheat flour. I had to do some googling to figure out how much yeast to use in making the "poolish" because there was just no way that my scale was going to accurately weigh just a few grams. And it occurred to me a few hours later that I probably should have used warmer water in making that though, in the end, I'm not sure that really mattered. The real challenge came when I tried to mix the dough using my hand mixer. The dough was so sticky and so thick that it actually pulled the beaters from the machine. Alas, I took no photos at that stage, and instead dumped it onto the pastry board to knead it by hand. Another entry for the error report: I didn't know what the dough was supposed to be like after it had been mixed for ten minutes so I just kneaded it for roughly the same length of time / until it seemed like I'd want bread dough to be.

Kneaded dough, ready to rise

The recipe called for "folding" the dough at the 45-minute mark. I had nodded sagely when Stephane mentioned this step to me, thinking it was just what the French called kneading, but I googled to find that it was something else entirely. My dough was much more like regular bread dough than those in the videos I watched, reinforcing my doubts about whether kneading gives you the same results as using a powerful mixer. I did my best, with uncertain results. Eventually I had the bread ready to put into the oven at which point I introduced another error: I forgot to put ice into the oven to create the steam that was to give it a proper crust. Merde.

Round 1 loaves ready to go into the 465-ish-degree oven

But they seemed to bake well enough, though they lost their shape somewhat 

Round 1 loaves cooling

and the crumb was acceptable, but the loaves were pretty heavy.

What I am calling "the crumb shot"

It was decent for toast and held together nicely for sandwiches. But it was nothing like Stephane's French Loaf. 

 Round 2:

A few nights later I mixed up a fresh poolish, using warmer water this time. I had also invested in some Bob's Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour, thinking that might be closer to what Stephane used. (Spoiler: I was wrong.) The following day, I measured and mixed--skipping the hand mixer fiasco this time--and kneaded and then put the dough into a soup pot to rise since this time I was consulting volume II of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and she advised using a container with less slanted sides which seemed to mirror what I'd seen in the "folding" video. Did it actually make any difference? I don't think so.

Round 2 dough, post-folding

Round 2 loaves, pre-bake

The error report for round 2 might include that I slashed the loaves earlier than I should have, though I don't think that made any serious difference. But I also overcompensated for forgetting the ice cubes in the oven on round 1 by both brushing the tops with water and adding ice cubes to a pan that had heated up along with the oven. I think that's what led to these loaves coming out a bit dark on top.

Round 2 baked loaves,  a bit misshapen and dark

The bread was a bit chewier than I really wanted, but I went ahead and served it at dinner and the guests were polite enough not to complain.

Round 2 crumb shot

Round 3:

I read Julia a little more closely and did some googling on Bob's Red Mill flour, finding out that while Julia says proper French flour is less glutenous than the average American flour, the Artisan flour has, in fact, more gluten. I figured that I'd been adjusting in the wrong direction so I went with pure all-purpose flour for the third attempt. I also opted to go with measuring my yeast rather than relying on the scale, using slightly less than a full teaspoon, and I used a plain old mixing bowl, rather than something with straighter sides. 

Round 3 dough, post-fold

The pre-risen loaves, round 3

This time around, I left the dough a little rougher before putting it in the baskets to rise, and I moved the rack a little lower in the oven. I also skipped brushing the loaves with water, though I did use the ice cube trick. When the loaves came out of the oven, I declared them to be "quite rustic!"

Round 3 loaves, fresh from the oven

One of Julia's observations is that "while bread still warm from the oven is exciting, it's better to allow it to cool for an hour or two to allow the bread time to compose itself." I allowed the bread to compose while I went for a bike ride.

The composed bread, round 3 crumb illustration

This third round is the closest I've gotten to Stephane's loaves, but it still falls sadly short. Oh, we'll bravely make do, but I do look forward to his return to the West Seattle Farmers Market. Assuming he does return. So much is riding on this damned election which, I find to some surprise, I'd almost put out of my mind entirely writing this endless post. 

Vote, Blahdeblahhers, VOTE! (And make sure everyone you know is voting too.)