First experiment

To begin with, I have to prepare the ingredients for making baguettes. They are relatively simple to find; a local supermarket will do.

 Ingredients: high quality strong flour, kosher salt, active dry yeast and a bowl of warm water.

Equipment:

Electronic balance, oven, glass bowls, chopstick, warm clean towel, other bowls for the dough

Most of the preparation work will be done by hand.

As proportion for bakery is crucial (76% of hydration of dough is considered the best).

 I carefully measure the mass of ingredients.

500 g, strong flour, 7g, yeast, 1.5 teaspoon, kosher salt, 380ml, warm water.

 

I then add warm water into the mixture of flour and yeast and kosher salt little by little and keep on folding the mixture until it turns into a soggy, doughy texture.

 

Then the dough is separated into three equal pieces with the precision of electronic balance, which is separately proofed in three bowls for one, two, three hours respectively. The dough will be folded once every hour which means once, twice, three times respectively.

It is observed that the longer the proofing time is the bigger the dough will become. However, it is soon deflated when the warm towel is removed.

Dough proofed for 1 hour                                                       2 hours                                       

 

     

3 hours

 

Then three of the dough is formed into the ‘stick shape’ and ready to be baked. Despite the fact that the appearance of the dough is not identical as three of them all become very sticky and difficult to maneuver. However, it was measured that three of them are approximately 298g and was baked together in a preheated oven at 220 degree Celsius for 25 minutes which hopefully would make it experiment to be as fair as possible.

The product looks quite promising. I then measure the weight and thickness of the crust without the cotton part of the bread carefully. Prepare the color of the crust. Here comes the tricky part of the test. In order to measure the toughness of the crust I then keep adding on weight at the center of the baguette until this is a crack on the surface of the baguette. It was inspired by a secondary school integrated science experiment. As there is gymnastic equipment in my house so that it is easy to find some weight with a small margin. Here is a photo of me doing so.

PRELIMINARY TRAIL RESULT

Before, demonstrating the test results and data, it is crucial for me to define the word ‘crustiness’. From what I have researched, crustiness occurs when there is a dehydration of food ingredients. Due to fermentation letting alcohol and water vaporizing from the dough, dehydration will be more efficient. There are three criteria for an ideal state of crustiness. The thinner and better. The darker the better (caramelization), (but not burnt), (golden brown), the tougher the better. Therefore, ideal crustiness is golden brown, thin and tough (hard).

Three different dough have shown different results. I have first made the 3-hour dough, then the 2-hour dough, then the 1-hour dough. Then put it in the same oven with the same temperature and same time. Letting them rest for 15 minutes under the same environment.

Color:

Baguette (1-hour)	lightest
Baguette (2-hour)	2nd lightest
Baguette (3-hour)	darkest

Thickness of the crust:

Baguette (1-hour)	1.8mm
Baguette (2-hour)	2.0mm
Baguette (3-hour)	1.9mm

Net weight of the crust:

Baguette (1-hour)	40.5g
Baguette (2-hour)	43.5g
Baguette (3-hour)	41.4g

Weight needed for the crust to crack (at the center point)

Baguette (1-hour)	1.2kg
Baguette (2-hour)	1.2kg
Baguette (3-hour)	1.5kg

A general conclusion for the experiment:

Before the experiment, my hypothesis is that judging by the three aforementioned categories of crustiness, the longer it is proofed and fermented, the crustier it is.

However, the above results show that not three of them shows direct correlation. As only the color, and the weight needed for the crust to crack is positively related to the time of fermentation. I assume that it is because these two categories are more directly related to the vaporization of alcohol and water of the dough. As caramelization happens more efficiently when the water content is lower. And that the baking process will be more efficient to dry out the remaining water in the dough. Therefore, these two datum are more positively and directly related.

Problems identified and the corresponding measures: 

1. The toughness of the crust is tested by add weight on the baguette until it cracks. However, as the course suggests that we should measure the result using obtainable resources but not the overly scientific ones. Therefore, the marginal unit for the weight measuring but be too big to precisely measure it. By using a spring balance, the weight to pull apart the crust can be shown more accurately.

2. The placement of the bread in the oven may affect the result as the one which is the closest to the heat source is the most likely to be heated. Therefore, placing individually into the same spot and repeat the process may help the experiment to be more accurate despite being repetitive and there is a need of recording data every time it is baked.

3. As the air content, of each dough is different. There may be error when separating the dough into 3 equal piece. However, it can also be considered as part of the effect of the fermentation.