Ok, I made two loaves, obviously, so I’ve agreed to sacrifice one a little early to see how it is.
First, though, I must say, I messed this up at three points, which I mainly attribute to a huge peeve of mine - video recipe not matching the printed recipe, and trying to find the middle ground between the two.
On to the bread:
That’s meant to be ciabatta (my first attempt), but I think I’m on the way to a good baguette!
First misstep: the video said to proof the bread on a heavy layer of flour right on the board, the printed recipe said to do it on parchment - I chose the former and that was a bad idea.
It’s a very wet dough, and it sort of absorbed all the (substantial amount) of flour that was on the board and wanted to stick a bit, so when I went to do the funky harder-than-it-looks method to transfer the dough to the peel, the dough pretty much deflated. That was the main issue, and easy to do with a wet, fragile dough.
Second, the recipe called for heating the oven to one temp, then cutting it back to a lower temp, which of course I forgot to do until halfway through baking. I hate when recipes do that, because I always, always forget it.
Last, it could have gone longer in the oven, but I was fairly upset with the first two issues, so I just baked it for the minimum time and that was that. I should have let it go about five minutes longer.
That said…I have to admit, it rose better than I expected (especially the second loaf, which I’ll post later), and the crust is excellent - MrsT heard me cutting into it from the other room, and while the crumb isn’t as open as it could be, it’s still not bad. The flavor is very good, too - it’s just the rise isn’t great.
I just have to work out that transfer method. I think what I’ll do next time is proof it on the parchment on the peel, then just sort of roll it up on itself, eliminating the need to actually pick it up and move it - that’s where it went wrong.
First, though, I must say, I messed this up at three points, which I mainly attribute to a huge peeve of mine - video recipe not matching the printed recipe, and trying to find the middle ground between the two.
On to the bread:
That’s meant to be ciabatta (my first attempt), but I think I’m on the way to a good baguette!
First misstep: the video said to proof the bread on a heavy layer of flour right on the board, the printed recipe said to do it on parchment - I chose the former and that was a bad idea.
It’s a very wet dough, and it sort of absorbed all the (substantial amount) of flour that was on the board and wanted to stick a bit, so when I went to do the funky harder-than-it-looks method to transfer the dough to the peel, the dough pretty much deflated. That was the main issue, and easy to do with a wet, fragile dough.
Second, the recipe called for heating the oven to one temp, then cutting it back to a lower temp, which of course I forgot to do until halfway through baking. I hate when recipes do that, because I always, always forget it.
Last, it could have gone longer in the oven, but I was fairly upset with the first two issues, so I just baked it for the minimum time and that was that. I should have let it go about five minutes longer.
That said…I have to admit, it rose better than I expected (especially the second loaf, which I’ll post later), and the crust is excellent - MrsT heard me cutting into it from the other room, and while the crumb isn’t as open as it could be, it’s still not bad. The flavor is very good, too - it’s just the rise isn’t great.
I just have to work out that transfer method. I think what I’ll do next time is proof it on the parchment on the peel, then just sort of roll it up on itself, eliminating the need to actually pick it up and move it - that’s where it went wrong.
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