#yourfocusneedsmorefocus

So I’m a little backed up.  I’ve been absorbed with bike maintenance and anime (so flat out avoiding recording my notes).  I didn’t bake anything this weekend except for some Kouign Amann, which were a little burnt, so I could settle my tab before setting up for another bake.

The weekend before last I made some baguettes and molasses brown bread from one of the basic yeast bread units from last year.  Both are straight dough method.  The baguette was a recipe from a unit handout.  I remember it being quite wet when I made it last. This time I used 28g less water in my mix, but left everything else the same.  The molasses was also from the same unit, it gave me more trouble this time around.  It’s a little embarrassing since this bread was made several times over the school year in large quantities.  Think large lexan containers about the size of the common storage Rubbermaid.  I think what caused the problem was autolysing the whole wheat.  I was hoping to cut down the mixing time in the small stand mixer but let it sit for too long.  I was distracted with something else and by the time I was ready to mix the rest of the components the whole wheat the mass was quite tough and dry.  I had to switch to hand mixing in order to break down the dough as well as spare my aunts small stand mixer the stress.  In the end I managed to recover from the soupy mess but it was still quite wet.  I should have reacted and added more flour.  Maybe I did but not enough, maybe I was hoping it would get better with the folds.  I can’t recall my thought process at the time.  I started both projects late in the day, once both doughs were mixed and ready for folding it was evening and my aunt and uncle wanted to go for beers.  I was able to get a fold in on each before refrigerating them while we were out and doing the last two folds once we got back about an hour or so later.  I let them bulk in the fridge overnight since I didn’t want to stay up to shape and bake.  

Shaping the next day went well for the baguette.  The dough felt nice, close to the dough from the bakery I staged at down home.  I was able to make six demi baguettes from the dough I made.  Shaping went well for the baguettes, I love preshaping these logs.  They proofed just fine and I was able to bake three at a time on the back of a sheet pan.  My slashing was shite though.  The spacing was fine but they weren’t very pronounced.  It could be my pressure or the dough or both.  The molasses, however,  was nothing like what I had made before.  

The dough was extremely wet compared to how it should have turned out.  It wouldn’t hold it’s shape at all while i was trying to boule portions for one of the loaves.  I had to shape one loaf like a country loaf with some stitching and the other was two sort-of boules that, in the end, proofed into one mass.  They baked nice and tall, but that was only because of the hot air trapped under the crust.  As the loaves cooled they deflated, I think the oven spring I saw was just the steam built up within each loaf.  Cutting into them revealed large caverns in the upper section of the crumb.  Bubbles must have formed here, baking into steam pockets that held hot air.  Well, at least the gluten developed well enough to capture and hold the steam without bursting.  In addition to being such a wet dough, the aroma was betrayed by the taste.  The molasses flavour was there but not as present as it should have been.  I could easily taste the fermented wheat over the molasses.  Maybe it was because of everything else that went wrong with the dough that lost the molasses flavour.  I’ll definitely be baking this again before I consider fiddling with the ratios since it’s already been put to the test.

This past weekend I played with some pate fermente.  I love pre-ferments, they’re so handy.  pre-ferments and bowl scrapers are, by far, my favorite tools.  From the first pre-ferment unit I made some French bread batards and Vienna bread with Dutch Crunch (DC), both from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.  I started on time with these projects, I prepared my mise the night before.  Unfortunately this weekend bake went similarly to the previous.

Both doughs mixed well and were folded three times each at room temperature.  Shaping for both doughs was fine except that I forgot that I was doing batards halfway through the French bread (I couldn’t tell you how).  I ended up with three batards for subs and three baguettes, lol.  The Vienna was shaped like a country loaf and baked in a tin.  I mixed way too much DC since I was too lazy to convert the American measurements to grams.  The problems didn’t come during the mixing or shaping, I just wasn’t paying close enough attention (again) and a couple loaves of French and the Vienna went for a little too long.  I didn’t mind the French bread being a little dark, they were still soft enough when they came out.  It was the Vienna that was a bummer.  The overall tonal range was too dark, the crust was quite dry and stiff, and the DC was burnt (not black, just way too dry and dense.  Kind of warty.).  As the loaf sat over the following days I could tell it was over baked.  The crumb closest to the crust was quite tough and dry.  It made an inch thick perimeter within the loaf, encircling softer crumb in the center.  I have some frozen pate left over from that day so I’ll be making a revenge Vienna ft. DC in addition to the molasses next bake.  In addition to the breads that were made last weekend I made time for a quick puff adventure.

Ever since my trip the the Faria stand at the Davis Med Center Market I haven’t stopped thinking of that fig and pistachio basket.  It was, seriously, delicious.  It reminded me of the The Old Apothecary’s flaky treats (good God, I miss that shop!).  The figgy basket inspired me to make some quick puff and play around with that.  I made some pastry cream and blackberry compote (from Jennifer Bakes) to fill (pipe on top) the pastry with, and sliced some fresh peaches.

Again I wasn’t paying attention, out of excitement this time, and overloaded the quick puff (QP) with stuff.  I gave the QP a single/double/single fold set.  Unfortunately the liquids from the fillings and peaches proved too much for my dough and it essentially baked into a pie/tart thing.  I also baked it at too low a temperature.  I realized this this morning as I was a few minutes into baking my QP Kouign Amann … which were baked five minutes too long … because I lack focus.  The Kouign Amann were just the scraps from the pasty experiment.  I made six and ate two plus the scraps left over from those.  The sugar was really dark, not the sexy brown Kouign Amann usually is. And I should have popped them out of the muffin tin sooner rather than waiting until the end of the show I was watching (It’s called Yowamushi Pedal.  I’m in the last stage of the first day of the Inter-High race.  It’s some good shit).  I got some layers despite losing some steam power at the start.  I’ll definitely have a full weekend with some QP.  I want to have at least a couple bake days before I push for Danishes of laminated dough.