I am super pleased with how my first Basic Country boules from Tartine Bread turned out. I pretty well followed the instructions from Tartine Bread but I did use the baking instructions from Tartine 3. I find that Chad Robertson's instructions aren't super clear but between both books and Youtube, I was able to figure it out. I proofed the loaves overnight in the fridge. I have mentioned before that I baked my way through FWSY but I have never gotten oven spring like this from Ken Forkish's pure sourdough breads. I like the look of Ken Forkish's bread so I didn't score the boules, but baked them seam side up and let them rip. ;) I haven't cut them yet but I will give a crumb shot when I do. I hope they taste as good as they look.
And for something different, I made baguettes from a website suggested by a friend. However, these are not sourdough. Thank you to whomever on this site suggested putting wet tea towels in a sheet pan for steaming the oven. The crust was amazing! I am sorry though that scoring is not my forte. Oh well, they tasted awesome as said repeatedly by one of my brothers who was able to score one.
Danni
Here is a crumb shot. I am surprised at how nutty it tastes considering there is only 13.6% whole wheat in it.
And perfectly yummy too, I bet. I do like the look of the 'natural' burst. Did you bake them in pots? I just ordered Tartine 3. Haven't done any of his breads yet but I think I'm ready for it. :)
The baguettes look fine, really. I think you've got the scoring angle right.
Yes, I did bake them in cast enameled dutch ovens. Robertson changed his baking method between the two books. In the first Tartine book, Robertson gets you heat the oven to 500F with the pots, load the boules into the pots and then into the oven, and immediately reduce the temp to 450F. Bake 20 minutes lid on, then 20 to 25 lid off. In Tartine 3, he keeps the temperature at 500F for 20 minutes, then reduce to 450F for the remainder of the bake. The lid is also on for 30 minutes and then 20 to 25 minutes with the lids off. I used the second method for my boules.
Thanks for your comment on the baguettes. The cuts are not very clean. I might need a different lame or something. Maybe flouring the top of the baguettes might have made a cleaner cut.
Well done and happy baking
I agree with your comment about relative oven spring.. like you, the rise in my Tartine bread is remarkable compared to FWSY loaves... you've got some great looking loaves there! bake happy..
I always assumed the difference in oven spring was due to the fact that Robertson scores his bread while Forkish allows the bread to break through the loaf natureally along the weaknesses caused by the seams. Depending on one's shaping you could end up with a much smaller Forkish loaf if your had a nice taut shape and your seams held well.
I wonder what is making the difference. Forkish autolyses only the water and the flour while Robertson adds in the levain. The hydration is about the same once you calculate the % using the levain in the Tartine recipes since Robertson doesn't include the water of the levain in his percentage. Robertson also does more folds but doesn't let the dough rise as much during fermentation as Forkish nor are the times as long. Room temp is 80F for Tartine and 70F for FWSY. They both use a young levain although Robertson's is fed twice a day for a few days before baking as opposed to once. The levain have also different hydrations: 100% to 80%. The shaping is also different. Okay, those are a lot of factors to consider. I wonder what would happen if I took one of Forkish's recipes and did them the Tartine way? Hum...
And the crumb couldn't be nicer.
I have not been impressed with a significant difference between Forkish and Robertson loaves, as long as you compare apples to apples. The flour mix will make a difference, for instance. Whole grain flours will decrease oven spring a bit.
Have you seen Scoring Bread: An updated tutorial? This might help you, although you may mostly just need practice.
David
No David, I had not seen that particular tutorial although I have read quite a bit on scoring on other sites. I guess I should give it a shot one day but I really do like the organic look of seam up loaves. It is like opening up a surprise package when I take the lid off the DO.
Thank you for your kind words about my loaves. You are probably right that the flours make a difference in oven spring. This first attempt has very little wholewheat flour in it. The loaves I am starting tomorrow will have more whole grain in them. I am also excited to be using some locally stone ground flour. Who knew that there would be a miller in the middle of nowhere? And to boot, his partially sifted flour seems to be identical to what Robertson calls high-extraction flour. I will be substitutIng unbleached flour, however, for the white wholewheat flour, since none was to be found locally.
Hopefully, these will also turn out well. We will see!
Danni,
I believe you scored 105% on a 100% scale with your crumb! Not certain it could ever be better! Now, if only I could figure out how to taste them!... ;) Bravo!
Kevin
I realily appreciate your comment. One day, they will invent something where we will be able to smell and taste over the net. Until then, we are stuck with pictures and words. ;-)
Those look delicious! Good job!