“Sunday…bed & breakfast
…and even nicer with a super crunchy baguette.”
I’m happy to fulfill this wish for you – a brand new, hot, crispy, super aromatic baguette, which combines French tradition with a classic Italian method, is already waiting to be prepared for your next Sunday breakfast:
Il Baguettino: Open Crumb. Flavor-bomb. Bigastic.
Mailänder Krusties* – a flour dream from South Tyrol gives our Open Crumb baguette rockets an amazing fluffiness. The malted and dried rye soaker* which is incorporated into the dough ensures an amazing roasted flavor and an incredible crunch (I don’t take responsibility if the neighbors ring your doorbell because of the cracking crust).
And because we are always “baking out of the box” here on #brotokoll – we also quit with the common philosophy that you need (commercial) yeast for baguettes and you always have to use a Poolish (yeast-based pre-dough consisting of the same amount of flour as water and a small amount of commercial yeast) as leavening pre-dough.
Pasta Madre Biga
We rely on the bigastic fermentation power of a Pasta Madre Biga! Never heard of it? You will find everything about the Biga (a classic Italian pre-dough) and the #brotokoll Pasta Madre variation in the recipe: “WTF… What The Foc-accia: Open Crumb Focaccia with Pasta Madre Biga”
So you know what to do next Sunday? Bake the baguette and then get back to bed!
Tag your results with #brotokoll on Instagram & Facebook. I can’t wait to see your results!
For even more tipps, tricks and recipes, join me in one of my upcoming workshops! Check out my #brotokoll workshops overview. For individual workshop requests (individual coaching and /or live baking via WhatsApp, Zoom & Skype) send me a message!
Happy baking!
I have to mention at this point that this is an unsponsored blog post – however, as for transparency reasons I inform you that the * marked links are affiliate ones. The final sales price for you doesn’t change in any way!
- 148 g Manitaly (alternative: Italian strong Tipo 0) "Manitobo" available at bongu.de
- 346 g "Mailänder Krusties" Medium strong Italian Tipo 0 "Mailänder Krusties" available at bongu.de
- 5 g Rye soaker (malted and dried) "Roggenaromastück" available at bongu.de
- 345 g Water
- 7 g Pasta madre (Lievito madre) 1-2 times refreshed
- 11 g Salt
TA (Hydration) 170 (70%) Ingredients
| |
70g Water (cold, use the described formula for calculation!)
7g Pasta Madre
The required Pasta Madre amount for the Biga is taken from the (weekly/daily) refreshment of your Pasta Madre (Lievito Madre) ! To balance the acidity correctly, 1-2 refreshments will be necessary.
The refreshments are done at a 1:1 ratio with 45% water. That means (e.g. 20g of your Pasta Madre/Lievito Madre/stiff starter): you feed 20g of your starter with 20g flour and 9g water. The water temperature should be around 25-27 degrees Celsius.
Before the first feeding (right after taking your Pasta Madre out of the fridge) I recommend to do a so called „bagnetto“, in order to get rid of the high acidity load, which was built during the days without "fresh food" in the fridge. For the bagnetto you simply soak the Pasta Madre (cut into slices) in water (water temperature: 18 degrees Celsius - the water amount should be around three times the Pasta Madre's weight, you are going to soak) with a bit of sugar for 15-20 minutes. Now, squeeze out all the water and proceed with the feeding (adding fresh water and flour).
After each feeding let your Pasta Madre mature at 27-28 degrees Celsius until the Pasta Madre at least doubles in size. As described above, 7g of your matured Pasta Madre (after the first or second refreshment - depending on your Pasta Madre's strength) will be used for the Biga.
Now let's proceed with the Biga: The Biga requires a consistently stable fermentation temperature of 18-20 degrees Celsius (those who are not equipped with a wine refrigerator will find this ambient temperature in the cellar or e.g. in the garage). Depending on this temperature, the water temperature for the Biga is calculated. This is easily done with the following formula:
55 (fixed value) minus ambient temperature (the said 18-20 degrees Celsius) minus flour temperature (usually this is your room temperature or the temperature of the room where you store your flour). Calculation example: Garage with 18 degrees Celsius, kitchen temperature (or storage temperature of your flour) 22 degrees Celsius. The required water temperature is therefore: 55-18-22= 15 degrees Celsius!
For the Biga, you first dissolve the Pasta Madre with your fingers in the indicated amount of water (don't forget to calculate the temperature as explained before!). Then add the flour and mix everything by hand.
Attention! Gluten should not yet be developed when mixing the Biga! However, it is important that all particles come into contact with the water (similar to the autolyse of our doughs). In the end only walnut-sized lumps should remain (as you can see in the article above). If too many of these lumps are already stuck together, simply tear them apart with your hand. Make sure that no loose flour is left over - this would not ferment and your Biga would be "farinosa" ("floury").
Now put the Biga into a container and cover it with cloths (not airtight!). The container is then moved to the 18-20 degrees Celsius room of your choice and the Biga rests and ferments for 18-20 hours.
For an even deeper aroma profile, let the Biga ferment at 5 degrees Celsius (the 5 degrees have to be considered when you calculate the required water temperature) for 24 hours, followed by another 16 hours at 18 degrees Celsius!
243g Wasser (cold)
Mix all ingredients together lump-free and leave to rest covered at room temperature for 120 minutes (autolyse).
210g Pasta Madre Biga
11g Salt
5g Rye soaker (malted and dried)
40g Water (cold)
Add the Pasta Madre Biga in small pieces to the Autolyse dough and knead for 4-5 minutes with your kitchen machine at slow speed level until the Biga is well incorporated and the dough releases from the bowl. Now increase the speed and add the water stepwise.
With the last part of the water, add the rye soaker, and a minute later the salt. Keep kneading until all the water is absorbed by the dough and you can do a nice windowpane test. The final temperature of the dough should be around 25-27 degrees Celsius. Pour the dough into an oiled container and let it rest covered for about 60 minutes at 25 degrees Celsius room temperature.
During the overnight fermentation, the volume of the dough should have approximately increased by 50-60%. Before continuing with the next steps, take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it acclimatize at room temperature for about 60 minutes. If your dough has had less increase in volume - let it acclimatize until it has at least gained +60-80% in volume compared to when it was placed in the refrigerator.
Now shape the dough pieces by rolling the dough pieces towards you (while building up tension!). Do this in 3-4 rolling steps, always pushing the dough forward. Make sure that each cylinder is well sealed.
Let the cylinders rest, sealed side down for 15-20 minutes. As a last step, bring each dough piece by rolling (always starting from the middle) into its final baguette shape and length (approximately 35cm).
The indicated recipe quantities are for 3 Baguettes (280g each).
Don't miss the Biga and Pasta Madre Biga info-section in the recipe: WTF...What The Foc-accia!
Do you have specific questions or issues? Contact me via the contact form. I am happy to help you.
