POPPYSEED CRUSTED YORKVILLE SOURDOUGH BAGUETTES

Steps:

• Levain Build
• As the cooler fall temperatures have come upon us in the northern hemisphere, I've modified my formula to incorporate an overnight levain build for convenience. My home is around 68-70ºF overnight. If your home is warmer or you're making this recipe in warmer months, you can build your levain in the morning so you don't miss the peak, or you can chill your ingredients and your levain container before mixing, so everything is fridge temperature when it starts to ferment on your counter overnight. Try to place it in the coolest part of the coolest room.
• In a container with space for tripling, dissolve your starter in the water. Add the flour and mix thoroughly.
• Cover loosely and leave on the counter at cool room temperature overnight, until the levain has peaked and the dome is just barely flattening.
• Mixing and Bulk Fermentation
• Note: I don't autolyse my baguette dough, even though it is my usual practice with hearth loaves. Why? This dough uses only refined flour, so there's no bran to hydrate and soften ahead of fermentation via autolyse. The other benefit of autolysing dough is releasing amylase to break down starches ahead of fermentation, but I use a relatively high amount of diastatic malt to boost the naturally occurring amylase that's released during my fermotolyse (autolyse with levain).
• In a bowl or straight-sided container, dissolve the diastatic malt in the water, then add the levain and mix thoroughly.
• Add the flour and mix until you have a shaggy mass and no dry flour.
• Let the dough rest for 20-30 mins. I use a proofing box at 80ºF for the bulk fermentation.
• Sprinkle salt on the surface of the dough, with your 9g of bassinage water, wet your fingers and dimple and pinch the salt into the dough. Then start Rubaud kneading and gradually add more of the remaining bassinage water until the dough feels right. After about 4-5 mins of Rubaud kneading, your dough should look and feel smooth and there shouldn't be any palpable salt.
• Aliquot Jar: At this point I remove approximately 30 g of dough and set up my aliquot jar. I've made a video of how I use the aliquot jar and a forum post as well. If you decide to use the aliquot jar, always keep it next to the dough to ensure that it accurately reflects the fermentation of the main dough. This includes when you take the dough out of the proofing box to do coil folds. If you don't use the aliquot jar, try to use a bulk fermentation vessel that will allow you to read a 20% rise.
• Cover the dough and, if possible, put it in a proofing box at 80ºF.
• After 50 minutes, complete one coil fold and check for a windowpane. The dough sometimes already has quite a good windowpane at this point, but not quite perfect.
• Repeat another coil fold in 50 minutes, checking again for a windowpane. Typically there is a very good windowpane at this point and if so, gluten development is adequate. If the windowpane is poor (rips before you can see light through the dough), do one more very gentle coil fold in another 50 mins.
• Continue the bulk fermentation until there is a 20% rise as measured by the aliquot jar or a little less than 20% rise in your bulk container (coil folding will have masked some of the rise). In my proofing box this typically takes about 3.5 to 4.5 hours from when I added the levain. Ending the bulk fermentation at 20% rise may seem far too little if you're used to the more typical 30-70% expansion of sourdough baking. One of the reasons for such low rise is that highly fermented baguette dough is notoriously difficult to shape. You'll see that this less fermented dough turns out well in the end because during the final proof, we give our shaped dough more time to open up.
• Cold Retard
• Place your dough into the coldest part of your refrigerator for 12-24 hours, preferably between 2-3ºC (35.6-37.4ºF). I've let the dough go as long as 36 hours and the baguettes turned out well. We don't want much in the way of growth happening in the fridge, and higher temperatures may allow that. At 2-3ºC there will be metabolic activity but no reproductive activity of the microbes. This means that flavour producing compounds will be made as well as some CO2, which at these temperatures will be dissolved in the dough which is a good thing.
• Dividing
• The next day, proceed to dividing the dough without letting it warm up. This makes it easier to handle. Lightly flour the bench and the top of the dough, then scrape your dough carefully out of the bowl. Do your best to divide the dough into equal thirds. I use a scale and will remove a portion of the largest third to add to the smallest third to approximate equal portions.
• Pre-Shaping
• Using the least amount of flour possible needed to prevent sticking, carefully roll each dough into a loose cylinder and not the typical boule of a pre-shape. In the end, you want little tension along the length of the baguettes, and more circumferential tension, so rolling in a cylinder will start off that process.
• Bench Rest
• Lightly flour the cylinders and place them on a lightly floured surface. Cover them with a towel and allow them to rest for 20-30 minutes until the gluten has relaxed.
• Shaping
• Shaping probably causes the most anxiety to new baguette bakers; it does for me still, but know that you'll improve each time you do it. Your work surface should very very lightly floured at most.
• Dust a small area with flour that's reachable but not your main workspace. When you need more flour, you'll dab your dough or your hand there instead of sprinkling the baguette or main work surface with flour.
• Using a bench scraper, flip your pre-shaped dough onto the barely floured small area. Lift the dough and place it in front of you dusted-side (the outside of the baguette) down. Tap the heel of your hand in the floured area, and using that part of your hand, pat down your dough, gently but firmly, to flatten it somewhat.
• Next, with the dough lengthwise parallel to your body, fold the half of the dough farthest from you towards the center of the dough. Using the heel of your hand, or the thenar eminence (chubby part of the base of your thumb) pat down the folded section of the dough to make it stick.
• Grabbing the ends of the dough, give it a tug to lengthen it gently while also giving it a 180 degree turn so that the newly folded section of the dough is now closest to you. Next, repeat the fold, however, this time, fold the dough right over to the edge of the dough closest to you to create some tension and a cylinder. Ensure you get a tight seal, pressing with the heel of your hand, your thenar eminence, or even your fingers.
• At this point it is very important that you know where the seam of the baguette is, because if you lose sight of it and you bake it anywhere except down, you may have a blowout. Check that the seam is sealed well and pinch any areas that aren't sealed.
• Assess how long your final baguette needs to be, remembering that it shouldn't be longer than your baking surface, which in my case is 16 inches. I usually keep a ruler on the counter as a guide.
• Pick up the dough, briefly drop it in the flour area, and then roll and stretch it. I like to roll the dough with the seam side down because that area is the stickiest compared to the outside of the dough which has been exposed to the most flour. In rolling, you need some friction with the counter. Too little friction (over-floured), and the dough just shifts around. Too much friction (under-floured), and the dough flattens and smears. You may find it helpful to watch my video or one of the many available on YouTube to see how the rolling and stretching is done.
• Because I intend to coat my baguettes with poppyseeds for this recipe, I try not to roll my dough to the maximum length. I do this because the dough will stretch each time I pick it up.
• Topping
• The next steps require you to set up three baking sheets that are longer than your baguettes: one with a wet towel, one with poppyseeds, and the third with your lightly floured couche. Keeping your couche on a baking tray allows you to easily transfer the baguettes into the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes before baking. Because these baguettes are seeded, very little flour is needed on the couche. You can make these baguettes without the seeds and they will taste just like a Parisian baguette. Perhaps if you're making these for the first time, you can simplify things by trying them without the seeds until you feel confident to challenge yourself with the seeding of your dough.
• Place a baguette seam side up on the wet towel, then pick it up and roll it in the poppyseeds (leave the seam side unseeded) then finally transfer it to the couche, seeds down and seam up. Make a pleat in the couche to be ready for the next baguette. Repeat the process until all three baguettes are resting in the couche.
• Finally, dust the exposed side (seam side facing up) of the baguettes with flour so they don't later stick to your transfer board; trust me I've done this and it can ruin your day.
• Final Proof
• About one hour before you bake your baguettes, begin preheating your oven to 500ºF, no fan. Place your cast iron skillet in the oven at the start of pre-heat.
• The final proof is 30-60 minutes at room temperature, followed by 30-40 minutes in the refrigerator. The length of the room temperature portion will depend on the temperature of your home. In the summer when my kitchen was 80ºF, this was only 30 minutes, and now that it's fall, I give them 60 minutes at room temperature.
• I aim for the baguettes to look a bit puffy and filled out before I cover them with a plastic bag and place them in the refrigerator. This isn't a necessary step, but this final chill in the refrigerator makes the dough far easier to score and you'll want to do this at least the first few times.
• Once the baguettes are chilling, boil about 1.25 L (~1 1/3 qt) of water. Tightly roll your Sylvia towel (an old terrycloth hand towel) and place it inside a loaf pan that isn't non-stick. Non-stick coating is damaged at very high temps.
• When the water boils, pour it into your Sylvia towel pan setup, and then place it or other steaming equipment in the oven.
• Transferring to the Peel
• Take your baguettes out of the refrigerator and uncover them. For transferring the baguettes from the couche to the peel, you should have a light weight board that is at least as long as your baguettes. I use the wooden top of a wine box; I'm told that this is a traditional transfer board many bakers use. Other options include: plain wooden baseboard, bagel flipping board, or other light pieces of wood. In a pinch, you can use your own arm if the baguettes are short and well spaced on the couche.
• If you forgot to dust flour on the seam side of the baguettes after placing them in the couche, do that now so they don't stick to the transfer board.
• Pull one end of the couche to open a space between two of the baguettes. Place your transfer board in the space between the baguettes and using the couche fabric, flip the baguette onto the transfer board. The poppyseed side should now be facing up.
• You will need a peel to transfer the baguettes to the oven. I use a cookie tray without raised sides and a sheet of parchment. An upside down baking sheet works as well. Transfer the baguette by giving it a little pop off the board onto the parchment paper. Use your hands or the board to straighten the baguette so it will bake in a nice shape. Repeat until all baguettes are on the peel.
• Scoring
• Before scoring the baguettes, I usually brush off excess flour. In this case, since the baguettes are seeded, you can leave them untouched. When scoring baguettes, it's helpful to imagine that the length of the baguette is divided into three long lanes. It is within the middle lane that your score should start and stop.
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• In fact, the score is more down the length of the baguette than it is across the width. I've made a diagram to show approximately what your cuts should look like. Dipping your lame in water or oil can make scoring easier.
• Transferring to the Oven and Baking
• Boil about 1 cup of water and set it near your oven for just after you load the baguettes.
• Wearing oven gloves, transfer the baguettes into the oven by sliding the parchment paper off the peel and onto the baking surface. Sliding the oven shelf outward a bit can make this easier. The baguettes can bake on the parchment for the duration of the bake.
• Once the baguettes are loaded, lay a towel on the glass of your open oven door to protect it from drips of water and thermal shock, and then immediately pour 1 cup of boiling water into the cast iron skillet. Remove the towel and close the door. Turn the oven temperature up to 520ºF just until you see that your oven has started to heat again, and then turn it down to 480ºF. This forces your oven to activate and remedies the drop in temperature from the door being open for so long.
• Bake for 13 minutes, then open the oven door to vent the steam and take a moment to marvel at the oven spring your baguettes have achieved. Remove both the Sylvia towel pan and the cast iron skillet, then close the oven and change the setting to convection/fan if you have that option. I find this gives a more even browning to the crust.
• Bake for 5 minutes, then rotate the baguettes. You will see that parts of certain baguettes aren't getting as much heat, and rotating them will help.
• Bake for another 5 minutes, then rotate the baguettes again and assess the colour. I like a fairly dark bake, so I will often continue to bake for another 3 minutes at 480ºF. If you don't like a dark bake, you might consider turning the oven down to 350ºF or even turning the oven off and leaving the baguettes inside until you're happy with the colour of the crust.
• When the baguettes are done, place them on a wire rack to cool.
• Storing
• Baguettes tend to stale faster than other sourdough bread I've made. Any baguettes we don't eat on bake day, I wrap in plastic and freeze whole for up to two weeks. When you'd like to eat them, unwrap and put them frozen into the oven at 325ºF for 10-12 minutes. This will liven them up and they'll be almost as good as freshly baked.