Julie McLeod's blog

Another of the porridge breads from Tartine No. 3.  For this, the millet seeds for the dough are toasted and then cooked. Having absorbed all the water from cooking, they are added to the dough after the first couple stretch and folds (an hour into the bulk ferment).  Compared to the two oat porridge breads in the book (fermented and not), this one uses less of the "porridge" grains. I think it may have contributed to a lighter, airier loaf than the oat ones.

I've been making the basic Tartine Country Loaf (from the first book) for a little over a year.  I love the method and have been really happy with the loaves but my goal has always been to make a sour sourdough loaf, like I remember from a favorite bakery in California years ago.  Along the way, I've read lots of varying suggestions and have tweaked the maintenance routine for my homegrown starter and the timing/temperature for the proof but that sour loaf has eluded me so far.

Both these loaves are based on the basic formula and technique from Tartine Bread.  The formula for both:

500 grams unbleached white flour

375 grams water

100 grams leaven (100% hydration, white flour)

10 grams salt

I've been baking the Country Bread from Chad Robertson's Tartine book a lot over the last year.  I tweaked the formula and procedure a bit each time and learned a lot about working with sourdough all the while.  Last month, I received Tartine #3 as a gift and I'm ready to be challenged by the higher whole grain formulas.  The Spelt Wheat is my second bake from the book (the first was the Oatmeal Porridge Bread).  It uses spelt flour, white unbleached flour, whole wheat flour (I used Red Fife), and a bit of wheat germ.

My first blog post here.  :)

This loaf is a modification of the Tartine bakery formula and method.  I wish I could figure out a way to prevent solids added to the dough from popping out after shaping.  The cherries on the surface charred a bit much but the rest of the bread is so nice that I can overlook that fault.  Lovely untoasted with butter.

Cherry and Chocolate Sourdough Boule 

Formula:

100 g. leaven

375 g. water

500 g. unbleached organic white flour

10 g. sea salt