I'm trying to make sourdough bread with Tartine's method, and I can't seem to get past the "make your leaven float" part. I've been maintaing a liquid starter for a month now, and a dry starter for a week, and I just can't even produce a leaven that will float, so I haven't even bothered to warm the oven yet. So lots of flour and water going into the recycling bin, lots of time spent trying to keep my various colonies happy, and nary a loaf to even dislike. It's worse than bad bread. It's no bread. WTF do I do? I'm feeling exasperated. I've tried to track my leaven from start to finish, testing it regularly. It goes from sweet and floury to sour, seemingly without rising, and without every floting when put in a bowl of water. I fed my starter once a day for a while. Then I fed it twice a day. I've basically flushedd ten pounds of flour into my compost heap. Sweet.
I'm not a quitter, but I feel like I'm locked out of any gratification whatsoever from this bread thing. My garden is turning out lots of tasty treats. My cherry tree produced a dandy crop that's baking in the oven. We made the best home-made pasta-based lasagne you can imagine tonight.
But no bread for breakfast. Bummer.
Maybe I should just put "Tartine Bread" in the shredder, and pretend I never looked into making bread.
