The Fresh Loaf

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First try at Tartine Bread - a learning experience

pizza fool's picture
pizza fool

First try at Tartine Bread - a learning experience

So I ordered the book but was impatient for its arrival, so I thought I'd try it with his recipe as published on Martha Stewart's site. I also decided to try it before having my coffee (because my starter was floating so what better time than now?) so I was zombie-ish. I microwaved my water to heat it up to room temperature but forgot to check the temperature when done. Oops.

Autolyse went fine, although when I added the extra 50ml water plus 20g salt the dough got very squishy.  I folded it about 8 times (8 quarter-turns) every 30 minutes at 0:30, 1:00, 1:30, 2:00. Dough was only around 70F at 1:30, then I tried putting the fermentation bowl on the radiator and got it up to 75F by 2:30. It looked like it had expanded significantly, and it definitely was tighter and more structured, so at 2:30 I divided and shaped. I proofed Loaf 1 in a banneton without cloth (Oops! Pretty wet. And it stuck.) in the oven with the light on for nearly 3 hours. Loaf 2 I proofed on the counter in a cloth lined bowl (upper 60's F) for 4 hours. I used the parchment paper sling method for transferring it to DO. Loaf 1 was definitely overpoofed (saggy and baggy and draggy with lame and didn't spring), and the crust didn't brown enough (temperature registered 210F). I forgot to reset oven temp to 500 before 2nd loaf, which seemed perfectly proofed, so the DO was definitely not hot enough, as you can tell from the light tanning on Loaf 2. Crumb is a bit spongy on both (I waited 2 or 3 hours before slicing) and there's no crust worth mentioning.  Makes an acceptable platform for a slathering of Nutella.

So aside from the obvious mistakes, I'm wondering if it really just needed more S&Fs.


Thanks and Happy New Year!