Poolish Baguettes
 
 
 Recipe Source

Author: Bob and Robin Young

Web page: www.rockinrs.com

 
 Recipe Type
French Bread
 
Ingredients  
Poolish  
1¼ c    Bread flour  
1½ c    Water  
¼ t    Dry Active Yeast  
Final Dough  
  All of the poolish  
1/3 c    Whole wheat or Spelt flour  
2 1/3 c    Bread flour  
1 c    Water, plus more if necessary  
1½ tsp    Salt  
¾ tsp    Dry Active Yeast  
 
Poolish
1 The night before, dissolve the yeast into the water for the poolish, and then mix in the flour. Cover and let it ferment at room temperature for 12-16 hours. Once the poolish has bubbles breaking on top and has started to wrinkle, it's ready.
Final Dough
1 Measure out the flour and add the water. Mix well and let set for 20-30 minutes. This is called "autolayse".
2 Add the poolish to the dough. Add the salt and yeast. Mix well with a wooden spoon and, once everything is hydrated, knead it for about 5 to 10 minutes. The dough will be very soft.
3 Cover and let it ferment for 2 hours or more at 70-75°F, giving it a stretch-and-fold at the one hour mark. The dough should double or tripple in size and it will be very soft.
4 Divide the dough into 2 pieces, and preshape into rounds. Cover and let them rest about 20 minutes.
5 Shape into baguettes and place in a baguette pan. Cover, letting them rise for about 1 - 1½ hours or until doubled in size.
6 Score and bake in the baguette pan on a preheated stone in a 475 degree oven with steam for about 25 minutes. Spritz the oven with water about once every 8-10 minutes.
 
Yield: 2 Baguettes
Preparation time: 15 hours
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Ready in: 15 hours and 45 minutes
 
 Cooking Tips
36% of the flour is pre-fermented as a poolish at 100% hydration with .07% yeast
Try not to handle the dough roughly. Caress it. The dough should be "loose". The longer it takes the dough rise, the better it should be. The temperature of the rise should be 70-75 degrees F.
These baguettes are much better if you use a baguette pan and not set them flat on a stone. On a stone, they tend to flatten out.
 
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