Hello all,
My first post on the site so thanks in advance for anyone looking. I have been attempting to perfect the Country Bread recipe from the tartine book but every time I get to the shaping part, the dough just seems to lack strength and it makes it super difficult to pre-shape and then fold before putting it into the banneton. When I look at the pictures in the book the dough seems to be super smooth and completely uniform in texture and colour. The one thing I am wondering is whether I am getting my flour wrong?
I am incorrect when it says Whole Wheat Flour in the book by using Strong Wholemeal flour?
Thanks
Two tips from my similar newbie frustration with Roberston: 1. Reduce the hydration of your final dough to a more manageable 65-68% for your first few bakes. Then ratchet it up as your instincts and confidence grow. 2. Don't stretch and fold in a deep bucket. Nobody recommends this except Chad Robertson. Dump your dough out onto a damp surface and do letter folds with wet hands every 20 min for the first hour+ of bulk fermentation. Or best of all: Start your folding with 20, 50 or more "French Folds" (aka Slap and Fold). See Babette's (Madrid) Bakery demo. And if it still feels weak at bench rest/shaping time, give it another firm fold then too.
It's been a warm summer in the UK. Be careful that you're not over-bulk fermenting it, resulting in a weak dough for shaping. Err on the side of under-fermentation, esp in Summer.
The low proportion of ww flour in Robertson's formula would make your particular choice of ww very unlikely to be a culprit. If anything, check the protein content of your AP. Should be 11-12% for this type of bread.
Keep us posted.
Tom
This is super helpful.
I will let you know after my next bake!
The FreshLoaf user not.a.crumb.left initially had a hard time with some recipes due to the fact that UK flour is weaker than American flour. If memory serves, one of her old posts has some additional information on this.