Baguettes are something iconic and I’ve had a mental hurdle in front of me regarding attempting them. I find that a bit odd since I jumped right into making sourdough croissants!
I was inspired watching Chad Robertson the other week. So I bought his book, read up on his baguette journey, recipe and method.
Now is as good a time as any to start learning…
Before I continue let me share the recipe for each of the major ingredients in the overall bread recipe. Further posts will expand on the method and some of my thoughts about that portion of the process.
Recipes
The following should make 4 baguettes (580g at shaping)
Levain
- 20g Sourdough Starter
- 200g All Purpose Flour
- 200g Water (80°F)
Poolish
- 3g Active Dry Yeast
- 200g All Purpose Flour
- 200g Water (75°F)
Dough
- 550g All Purpose Flour
- 100g Spelt Flour
- 350g Bread Flour
- 500g Water (75°F)
- 24g Sea Salt
The overall process has a mix of Levain (made with sourdough starter) and Poolish (made with active dry yeast). Both of these are the rising agents in the dough. The mixture of both sourdough levain and yeast poolish makes for a milder flavor.
In my attempt here I followed my own process and mixed my levain on a 1:1:1 ratio to get my amount. Therefore I had 140g of my freshly-activated starter, 140g each of AP Flour and Water. My levain had a higher concentration of starter than the above and therefore imparted a bit more of the sourdough flavor.
I’d never really understand what the difference between a Levain and Poolish were until now. What I believe the difference is that the Levain is made with sourdough starter and the Poolish with yeast. Now I “know” … (until I’m corrected)
Enough for now…. I’ve family in town and the method parts will come as I’m able to find time in the following days.
Baked By Bear Sourdough 