Recently, my baker friend Marcos Cerutti shared a baguette formula that uses high extraction flour which is a 80-percent milled wheat flour. He told me that it was something he learned from Jeffrey Hamelman. I tried it, going "all-out" on levain and no yeast. The...
Basile Kamir is a legendary Paris-based boulanger I have always wanted to meet. Visiting France a few years ago, I managed to find his bakery. It was August. He was closed. Damn! But I did buy a bread book he wrote, and have been trying some formulas, most...
Here's a version of sourdough baguettes, benefit of Ian Lowe's Dropbox. Besides using his indirect retarding method before, this levain was spiked with a bit of sugar, something I had never considered. What came out? The best tasting and structured baguette I've done...
While I've been sort of mute of late, it's due primarily to my getting the flu. I haven't baked, cooked or even made coffee all week. Well, enough is enough. Craving a decent loaf, I refreshed my levain and made three loaves. Or was it four? Whatever, most came out...
Inspired by Gregoire Michaud's EM micro-organism baguettes, I made a batch with wild yeast. The results were amazing. The crust was somewhat soft but still had an eggshell. And the crumb? Sublime and filled with the "Special K flavor," Ian Lowe's definition of...
Back to Louis Lamour's baguette tradition. Baked a few batches, including one for a charity function. Louis' formula is a sure path to a perfect Parisian baguette. And the steps are simple; autolyse, bassinage and retarde! If those terms are unfamiliar, I invite you...
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