Flour additives

[arevalo53anos]

James:

Do you mind to share with us your recipe and techniques about baggetes.
I am a frustrated baker on this matter.
Thanks
Luis

[CanuckJim]

Luis,

Why don't you have a look at the description and formula given in "The Wood-Fired Bread Cookbook" on the main FB site. If you're having problems, send me an email describing them, and we can go from there. Baguette, on the face of it, is a simple formula, but it can be difficult to get just right. I spend most of my time on the dough and relatively little on shaping. I suspect people get into trouble because they over-handle the dough, looking for that perfect long torpedo shape. Fact is, many of those "perfect" loaves are machine extruded and loaded by conveyor, not hand shaped at all. That's why the slashing is so even. Look at the bottom of such a loaf; you can see the marks from the conveyor belt. Sad to say, these machines are almost all made in, wait for it, France .

Jim

[james]

Luis,

I too am a lifelong frustrated baker. I keep comparing making great bread with playing tennis.

Jim's advise is always right on, and I have learned a lot producing the e-book and the videos. On the baguettes, I think a very hydrated dough (these were 70%) and light handling goes a long way. With a super hydrated dough (70%+), you can just cut the dough into strip and lightly shape it. For these, I did the three-fold torpedo technique, and they just held together. Did you notice the slash with scissors? I'm trying a Pain Epi next.

James

[arevalo53anos]

Jim and James:

Thanks for your help.
I saw the FB recipes and videos among a lot of others.
I had tried from the no hand kneaded method to the 840 smash on board technique. No one give me the french baggette that I had in the market by cents.
Nowadays I have thousand times of fun from playing tenis that from baking breads (Pizza? well, pizza is something that I could be proud of it)
I will try bread baking soon again and I will take notes of my weak points.

Luis