Tartine country loaf
I made the Tartine country loaf on two separate occasions and both didn't turn out right. Maybe the Tartine country loaf was an overly ambitious first try at a bread made with a starter? Before making my first Tartine country loaf, I had never made nor maintained a starter before nor had I ever made a leaven. But I followed all the directions laid out in the Tartine Bread book. When my starter was rising and falling predictably, I made the leaven. I tested the leaven and it floated so I guessed it was ready to use.
Attempt 1. The flavor was a bit bland for lack of a better description. It was nowhere close to the real Tartine country loaf. The exterior slices were edible, but as I got to center of the loaf, it was so dense that I couldn't even eat it.
Attempt 2. A couple weeks later I tried again. I had to make a new starter since I didn't maintain the first. This time the flavor was quite nice. I could detect hints of that "Tartine flavor". It had more holes and was less dense than loaf 1.
Comments
emkay: Looks fantastic. I've made a couple of Tartines, but haven't had crumb like that. Love it! My husband doesn't like the holes to be very big, but I do. Great photos, too.
I didn't even attempt a Tartine until I had been working with sourdough for a few years. You've done very well. Hope you continue with your baking success. Best, Phyllis
This was among my first breads ever made. The first one, I used all of the leaven instead of 200 grams. Came out okay but a bit dense and chewy. For me it always seemed a very forgiving recipe and process.
Looks like you are making great progress. Keep at it and you will get it just the way you like it.
Beautiful crust and crumb, I would be happy with that.
Well done inside and out! Now you get that crumb with60% whole grains in Tartine 3 and you will have died and gone to heaven!
Happy Tartine baking.
Phyllis - I don't know if I'm daring or foolish for beginning with the Tartine recipe. Perhaps I'm both. :)
David Esq - The recipe and process are quite overwhelming for me right now, but I think it's because I'm so new at baking bread. But it's good to hear from others that have done it that it's forgiving.
island66 and Darwin - Thank you for the encouragement.
dab - Maybe someday I will be confident enough to make bread from Tartine No.3. Until then, I will just have to buy the sprouted rye and porridge breads from the Bar Tartine shop.
It's beautiful! I love that open crumb. :)
I agree it is a VERY wordy process. I mean he writes about it and then wriyes about it in detail. But the detailed version is less detailed in many ways. I must have read the pages over a dozen times before starting. And then I wished I had photocopied and laminated them because my hands were so sticky and I needed to check something!
But after a bunch of bakes, I do it all from memory now. You could use post-its on the stove "lower to 450!" And by the dough container "add 20 gm salt" and on the leaving "200 grams only". Or write out the steps on index cards. Your bread will improve over time, no matter what you do. Practice makes better. Learn from mistakes and keep notes of what you plan to do and what you actually do. That way if the bread comes out one way or the other you can figure out what to so or not for the next time.
Practice makes perfect and you are showing that cliche rings true.
Good job.
John