Motherdough "Bachette"

Step 1

Feed you Motherdough and wait for it to peak to double and memory foam like texture. At 27ºC this should take 3 hours.

Step 2

Mix the flour and water together and allow to autolyse for min 60 min.

Step 3

Add your Motherdough to the bowl of your mixer, and knead until completely incorporated. It should take 3-4 minutes at medium speed.

Step 4

Let it rest for about 30 minutes, at room temperature at 22ºC. If it is much warmer, reduce the time or place the dough in the fridge.

Step 5

Add the salt and knead to strong gluten development - note that it does not need to fully detach from the bowl. The rest of the gluten will develop through the folding and the long bulk fermentation.

Step 6

Place the dough in a clear, straight-walled container so that you can observe and measure the growth. Mark the level with a scotch or marker. It will have to double up.

Step 7

Ferment for about two hours at 25ºC, and during that time do a set of coil folds every 30 minutes. You are looking for a 50% increase in volume.

Step 8

After this time, place the sealed tub in the refrigerator at 4 ° C degrees and leave until the following morning.

Step 9

Prepare couche sprinkled with layer of rice flour. This is where you will place your baguettes after forming them.

Step 10

Take your dough out of the fridge and divide it into blocks of 400g each for a standard baguette or 200g for a smaller option.

Step 11

Preshape them by pulling on the sides to stretch along the long to about 1cm thick. Folding lengthways, fold the bottom to the middle, and stretch the top all the way over. Turn over onto the seam and leave to rest on the bench for 20 minutes.

Step 12

Lightly flour everything and your hands as well, and apply first light pressure to the center of the dough, and then simultaneously to the sides, rolling it back and forth under your palms. Slowly it will stretch to the right and to the left. Put more pressure on the left and right edges to create the typical points.

Step 13

Place in between folds of the couch, arranged in such a way as to support each other.

Step 14

Prove for 90 minutes at 25ºC, but more importantly until the dough passes the poke test.

Step 15

While the dough is proving, preheat your over to 250ºC.

Step 16

When the dough passes the poke test, transfer to baking paper and score long slits in the centre third of the bread. Each slit should start 2/3 of the way down the slit next to it.

Step 17

Bake for 15 minutes at 250 ° C with lots of steam. A baking steel will deliver best results for these.

Step 18

Reduce 220 ° C for another 10 minutes without steam, then rotate and bake for a further 10-15 minutes.