September 11, 2012 - 9:30am
Tartine Bread
I think I have read almost all of the postings about this remarkable bread. So of course I decided I must need yet another bread book.
Earlier this week I baked my first loaves of Tartine bread. They were good but not as good as the second baking when I found enough patience to pay more attention to the dough than to the clock. Baked one last night and one this morning. The first half of last night's loaf has disappeared into pan toast and grilled cheese sandwiches already.
I am amazed at how good it tastes. There is an almost English Muffin feel to the holey crumb. My testers say I don't need to ever make any other kind of bread. While I know that won't go that route, I am glad they enjoy this one. It was fun to learn something new too.
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me about the Method is that it is so flexible and the crust just can't be duplicated any other way. Cold oven Hot oven. cold DO hot DO. let rise in the DO or any combination works. Glad you aren't going to throw your other bread books away and only make Tartine. How would we get to see you 3 gals upcoming ITJB creations!
to consider. Guess that is one of the things that I like so much about reading about the creative ways to bake our daily bread! When you do the cold oven or cold DO how do you know when the steaming time is up and its time to take the lid off? There I go with the clock business again but how can I ask the dough to tell me if it is encased in cast iron? Oh my, more to learn....
We are all looking forward to ITJB creations, hope it is starting soon. Over the summer hiatus we three still baked every Friday or Saturday, together in our vicarious manner. It was mostly something that one of us was going to bake and so challenged the other two to join in, from English muffins to ITJB cheesecake and back to bagels.
I learned this from MiniOven, if starting in a cold oven just wait for it to come up to temperature and time lid removal from there IFfyou normally take the id off in 20 minutes then wait for the temp to be reached that you bake at an then time 20 minutes from that point.
It is harder putting a cold DO in a hot oven. I add 5 minutes to teh time and use 25 instead of 20. Seems to work but there might others who do it different or have better ideas.
I've never had any luck with the actual country bread recipe in the tartine book, I love the method and use of a dutch oven, and use it for nearly any round bread I make (any post of mine with a boule uses this method). The recipes I do use from this book (and love) are the baguette recipe and the kugelhopf recipe (which is decadent to the max). Glad to hear it's working out for you.
My experiences with Tartine have been uneven, to say the least, but with perseverence and a keen attention to detail, the country bread has now become my "go to" bread. I like the fact that the amounts are easy to remember, but I've also been getting consistently good results -- finally! I have to say that wasn't always the case, and though I agree with the poster who said the formula is endlessly flexible (DO, no DO, hot or cold starts, etc) there are things about Chad Robertson's directions you really have to pay strict attention to -- namely, don't rush the bulk fermentation and treat the dough gently in its final stretch-and-folds. I have also reduced the final cold proof to just 6 or 7 hours as opposed to overnight, which not only guards against overproofing, it also allows me to mix and bake the bread all in one day. I've been happy with the results.
Im a big fan of chad and the tartine book. I found what works for me is just throw all of it into the bowl and mix. No, flour and water then salt and starter. I turn the dough every 30 min intill I see bubbles across the surface of the dough and the dough itself is well developed. If it takes 2 hours or 5 doesnt matter, let the dough tell you when its ready. I scale and round then let rest for 30 min. Fold and shape again then transfer to bannetons for the final rise. I have used the double cooker he calls for and baked 6 loafs at a time on stones with steam and gotten great results. Keep at it. Took me a year to get the method down and produce consistant results. When are we starting the ITJB challenge again?
Got these phots from my baking genie of a sister Barb.... the bread she is talking about in this post... thought you would like to see it... it looks awesome to me.
there ya go.... a picture is worth... just saying!
Just beautimous! Bet the cadre is right - it tastes great too.