Loads of loaves

I'm loving the loaves.. but loathing the lethargy with lumbering to lab before its light out. Okay, I know a baguette isn't quite a loaf, but I couldn't help throw in a mild alliteration. Today class started at 6:30 AM. That meant getting up at 5:00 AM. Which means that if this blog entry is riddled with spelling/grammar errors and nonsense... you know why.




Bread has always been one of those things I've been apprehensive about baking. There are so many variables that can affect proper fermentation and proofing of the bread. You have to measure the temperature of the room (and take into consideration any humidity), the temperature of the flour, and the temperature of the water. On top of that you need to make sure your yeast is lively and ready to make friends with the flour.

We used type 65 flour. In the U.S, as with many things, we don't categorize our flour as specifically as they do in Europe. The number is based on the ash content in the flour. And no, we're not talking about fire ash, ash meaning the amount of the hull that hasn't been milled out of the flour. Type 65 flour is pretty close to bread flour.

So we formed 350 gram balls out of our flour, rolled them out to long strips and let them set them aside to rise.



After about an hour and a half, we transferred the baguettes over to the oven roller thing. I'm not sure what its actually called, but a large mechanism used to roll tons of bread into the oven at once. We sliced the baguettes and into the oven they went.



Most of the baguettes were put in wire baskets and rolled off to the cafeteria and other kitchens. The boulangerie bakes about 300 baguettes daily for the school. I was allowed to take one home for dinner though!