It's been a while since I've posted.
First off, here's a photo of a couple of baguettes or maybe they're of a size to be called batards..,that I turned out today. (Do a View Image to see the whole pic.) I'm pleased with the appearance, aroma, and all that. Haven't yet actually tasted one, but they're from a batch of dough that I used for a couple of smaller baguettes on Christmas so I'm expecting good flavor and toothiness. (They've cooled off enough to cut into and I had a taste. It was as nice as I'd hoped.)
To do these I used the recipe from the Stella Baguette video but adjusted for my own yeast strain. I made much more dough than I intended. I keep recipes files with links to spreadsheet data and amounts typically in three columns for differing production. I read the wrong column. So having just spent some time with The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book, I used about a pound of the dough on Christmas and left the rest (about two pounds) in the fridge for later. That turned out to be today.
Since I was heading down the "Five Minutes" road, I tried out their baking procedure for the Christmas loaves: on a stone, 450 degrees all the way, water in a baking pan to steam the oven. I wasn't happy with the results. So today I went back with the foil over baguette molds in hotel pan approach...500 degrees for 10 minutes, uncovered for as much more time as needed.
I've been checking out a variety of the local libraries baking books.. The Five Minutes one is pretty good. I particularly appreciated finding out about the Danish Dough Whisk which just arrived and I expect to make my mixing much more convenient. The New version is definitely preferable to the first version: weights and well as volumes in the recipes, bonus recipes for sandwiches and bread accompaniments, and much better photos and illustrations.
The two worst of the others were Josey Baker's Bread and Classic Sourdough by Wood and Wood. The former was so fluffy as to be almost insulting. It's written in a style very much like the [Whatever] for Dummies books. I've used a few of those but I had to keep anti-nausea medication on hand. Classic was unapproachable in the opposite way: dry, scientific, and more like a doctoral dissertation than anything that would encourage participation.
That's it for now. Happy New Year to all.