Tartine Basic Country Bread
When I heard the forecast last night for ice storms, I figured I'd be house bound today so I may as well bake some bread (I'll use any excuse!). I made Tartine's basic country bread. I follow the book fairly closely, but I do deviate a bit in some of the technique.
Since no room in my house is between 75 and 80 degrees F, I improvise my own proof box using a cooler. Microwave a cup of water in a pyrex measuring cup and place it in the cooler. A probe thermometer allows me to monitor the temperature inside the box. Although I cover the proofing baskets with a towel (removed the towel for the photos), the hot water creates a nice humid environment so there's no risk of a skin forming on the dough. I'm not comfortable letting the dough free-fall into a 500 degree cast iron dutch oven so I use a parchment paper sling. An added benefit is it allows me to score the loaf without exposing my hands and wrists to the hot dutch oven. I'm fairly pleased with how these came out, although as you'll see in the crumb shot, some of the holes in the crumb are a bit too large. I focus on handling the dough so gently, maybe I need to get rougher?
Lid off after 20 minutes 
Your loaf looks amazing.
Having been to Tartine and purchased many of their loafs, I can confidently say that they love big holes in their crumb(Just look at the loaf on the title page, or p 78, 81, 92). If you don't like it so much, it's worth experimenting on when to get aggresive to squash those bubbles, let us know what you find.
Thank you very much for the compliment. You're right, some of the crumb shots in the book do show very large holes! :)
I just got the book for Christmas! And I've tried making the rye bread. I haven't used a dutch oven yet so I've just been putting it in the oven on baking sheets.
My question is about the crumb.
Your crumb looks excellent! and that's what I'm striving for. My crumb has many holes, but the actual texture is weird. The bread is sorta sticky and rubbery though it has a good taste. Maybe I just need to do it in the dutch oven..? Or is it supposed to be like that?
Are you using some other steaming method? The Dutch oven contains the steam created when the water in the dough vaporizes. You need some method for creating steam during the initial stage of baking so that the starches on the surface of the dough don't gelatinize before the interior of the dough gets hot enough to expand and create the proper crumb structure. In the absence of steam I would think the interior would be very dense and, therefore, under baked by the time the exterior is done. The result would be a sticky, gummy and rubbery crumb.
Oh yes, I just put a pan in the oven, and after I put the bread in I put a cup of ice cold water for steam.
That's the strange thing, the interior isn't dense, it's very airy and chewy.. it's hard to explain. When I touch the crumb, it actually sticks to my finger. I'll try it with a Dutch oven soon.
The basic country bread does have quite a moist crumb, but I wouldn't describe it as rubbery or gummy. If you cut into the loaf before it fully cools the crumb will be sticky and somewhat gummy.
Just as a side note, you may want to use very hot (just off the boil) water instead of ice water to create steam. It will vaporize more quickly and it won't drop the oven temperature as much.
Thanks! I will try both. Well actually, I'll try my dutch oven next! But I'll wait until it's completely cool before cutting.. it's just so hard to wait sometimes.. :)