Bagette Success!

There has been a lot of bread experimenting in my kitchen since the beginning of January.

It's time consuming and I've gone through a heck of a lot of flour in the process.

I decided it would be wise to experiment in smaller batches, 

so that's why I've been stuck on baguettes.

And finally I've had a small but very happy moment of Eureka!

It's called the preferment.

I noticed "make the most of your straight doughs" and read on...

(Bread Making, by Lauren Chattman, from Rose Levy Beranbaum)

The suggestion was to use this method with a favourite recipe in order to see the difference.

Either make the mixture below and let it sit in a warm spot on the counter for an hour 

or leave in the fridge between 5-24 hours before adding the remaining ingredients. 

The rise was also much more successful (actually I was quite surprised with this achievement!!!) 

and the flavour took on something slightly more complicated... Yum.

The rising times are also shorter using this preferment method.

Mix 2.5 x flour, half the yeast and all of the water.