I finally got a "Tartine like" loaf to work for me! For some reason this Country Bread has been my kryptonite, my white whale. This bake is probably attempt 6 or 7. Only one other time did I get close to reasonable results, but the crumb was nothing like this one.
I will get to the photo's first and continue my ranting below them. It's not one of the prettiest loaves I have ever made, needed a bit more proofing, and my scoring needs work, but it finally worked!
Okay, now down to the dirty details...
Looking at the formula in Tartine, it's not clear to me if Robertson included the levain in the total formula hydration/flour. So my initial attempts to bake this were at 77.27% hydration. Not a great difference, I know. But I modified the formula so it came out to 75% total hydration (including the levain water/flour).
Now down to the process (or method, technique, whatever you like to call it). For my previous bakes I tried as best as I could to replicate Robertson's process, including BF/Proof times and temps. Yeah, I know, "One bakers method is another bakers madness!" I've done it successfully in the past with other authors process', but this one defeated me. Lesson learned. I decided to ditch Chad Robertson's process. Instead I chose to follow the Trevor J. Wilson method for mixing, stretch and folds, and shaping. The BF and proof I do are a hybrid that has been working well for me. I BF at 79F-80F (in the oven, light on, door cracked). This particular BF was 4:45 at about 60-70% volume increase. The proof I did at room temp (70F-71F) for 2:30 (should have gone another :30 or so). The bake was in my cast iron combo cooker preheated to 500F. Baked covered for :20, then uncovered and temp reduced to 450F for another :20. It's hard to tell from the photo's but the oven spring was great! And it had that wonderful crackle as it cooled. Internal cooked temp was 212F.
The crust is crunchy and had that "well caramelized" taste to it. The crumb was light, airy, moist, creamy and shiny (if that makes sense). The taste of the crumb was very light and had almost a vanilla like flavor. My wife said it tasted sweet.
So for those of you that have also tried and failed at this recipe, don't give up!
Jeff
Wow, that looks delicious. Thank you for sharing this.
?? Nicely done!
There have been few satisfactions in my bread baking to equal that of having finally succeeded at producing a loaf that is arguably (read: not so modified from that it is no longer worthy of being labeled) a Tartine Country Bread. If you've achieved as picturesque a rise and crumb as that after only 6 or 7 attempts, you have gifts to be thankful for. Chad Robertson's process works for him and those lucky enough to be able to read between the lines and/or channel his secrets. A Class 5 ascent for the rest of us.
I've often marveled at how, without the exquisite and unprecedented production quality and photography of Tartine Bread, if rather it had the bland ascetic simplicity of Joy of Cooking, nobody would be talking, posting or blogging about the Tartine Country Loaf, much less trying to bake one. Says something about the dying art of book publishing. And the power of bread porn.
Very nice baking. Feels good, doesn't it!
Tom
“She felt like Captain Ahab, for the first time sighting his great white whale.”
Well done. It's a worthy challenge and a testament to your tenacity to attempt it so many times. I admire that. It is what makes the reward so much more than what another man might simply dismiss as "toast".. :)
Thanks everyone for the kind words! It did feel good to finally break that barrier.