On Wed, 08 Oct 2003 21:41:29 GMT, "RLK" <bookhound_99_@_hotmail._com>
wrote:

>The first thing I thought of is to omit the final rise.  After it is formed
>and placed in the troughs, place it direct into the oven. This would make
>your crumb much denser. -Or- instead of a 40-minute rise, try a 20-minute
>rise and use your 150% quantity. It will rise in the oven, just not as much
>as before.

That's basically what I have done, namely, lessen the time of the
final rise. I am still experimenting with how long to let it rise. I
want a "chewy" and "dense" product, but not too "chewy" or "dense".

>Another thought is to mimic the texture of bagel dough by lowering the
>hydration ACK! ...sacre bleu, c'est une baguette mauvaise!

I tried that once and it was a disaster. I will mention, however, that
the dough I end up with using the KA technique is rather on the dry
side. But it is not as dry as you mention above.

>I happen to like my baguettes airy and try everything in my power to avoid
>the above

I also like the airy type of baguette but I wanted to be able to make
the kind of baguette that is sold in the grocery store. IOW, I am
curious as to the method, which I now believe I have found.

>but since you are specifically looking for a dense texture,
>give it a try. Do you think it might work?

It has worked much better than I thought it would. By not kneading the
dough much at all and by allowing it to go thru several rises, it
comes out about as close to what I want as I can get it.

I wanted to check with the experts here to see if there was something
I could do to improve on it. It appears that the technique used in
that KA online school recipe is the way to go, namely knead the bread
for only 7 minutes and then put it thru several long rises and punch
downs.