Tartine Troubleshooting - Progress
Starting to make some progress! I have another attempt in the fridge, so we'll see how that one goes.
I posted yesterday about getting mediocre results when retarding in the fridge. (No activity during the final rise!) The bread in this photo was proofed at 80 degrees and had a final rest at around 90 degrees. Levain was about 4.5 hours old before I used it.
I made another batch of dough from the same levain at the same time. I am currently retarding it in the fridge during its bulk ferment. It has been in the fridge over 12 hours now, but not seeing any activity. I'll keep checking in on it. Maybe my yeast is just not strong enough to handle the cold? Or maybe it is too cold in my fridge? Will report back.
I think my crumb on this one would've ended up better if I hadn't handled it so much during the final shaping. (Still working on getting better at that!) I do find that this high hydration dough shaping method by SFBI works best for me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEG1BjWroT0
7am: Mixed Levain
11:30am - 1:00pm: Autolyse
1:30-6:30: Bulk Ferment
6:30-7:15 - Bench Rest
7:15 - 11:00 - Final Shaping + Final Rest (Set it near fireplace, so this was probably right around 90ish degrees and went fast.)
Seems like you've mastered this. Hope it's all delicious.
hester
Looks great, Marcie. Must taste great, too. I don't recall the recipe calling for such a long bench rest, but I did a lot of baking from Hamelman before getting the Tartine books, and those are usually 10-30 minute rests.
As to shaping, I wish Robertson had an instructional. I've watched videos where he shapes, but only at full speed, and I still can't quite tell how he does it. Hamelman has a l video on shaping that is quite instructive.
Thanks! It doesn't normally call for such a long bench rest, but my kitchen was pretty cold last night, so a longer rest was necessary.
Yeah, I watched some YouTube videos of him shaping bread and he did it so quickly that it was hard to follow. It's hard for me to get tension and do those folds without deflating my dough a bit, so I think I'll stick with that SFBI method for now.
Your crumb is beautiful.
Congratulations :)
Thank you! Hopefully next time it'll be even better now that I have a bit more practice on shaping!
I think your fridge is too cold. You ought not see much rise in the fridge. Your previous photo showed under proofed bread.
Thanks for the comment. Yeah, I figured it had to be underproofed because I just wasn't getting any sort of rise. Lesson learned - no more fridge proofing for me!
Nice crumb Marcie. That bread looks pretty good to me!
The video is helpful too. Like you, I have struggled trying to deconstruct Robertson's rounding and shaping technique.
My dough never looks that good and is sticky and hard to work. I think I need to lengthen the time for the bulk ferment and do a bit more folding as well to get a bit more gluten development rather than inflexibly watch the clock.
I am now further inspired and look forward to the next weekend of baking
Great picture.. I can almost taste it. Yum Yum..! Congratulations!
As to the fridge, don't give up on it. Slow bulk fermentation in the fridge develops incredible flavours. If you have an instant read thermometer why not try this. Take a large glass of water and leave it in the fridge for several hours.. then take it out and use your thermometer to take the temperature. That should tell you if your fridge is running too cold - the water will cool to the temperature of your fridge.
Bake happy.. bread1965!
What temp should my fridge be for proofing? Robertson doesn't say anything about that. I had the same issue as Marcie. I seem to have much better results proofing at warm room temp (or in my makeshift proofing box - my oven - keeping temp between 75-85.)
Hi sagvig -
I would basically consider myself an expert at making this bread by this point.
I gave up on the fridge. Someone suggested this: https://www.amazon.com/Brod-Taylor-FP-105-Folding-Proofer/dp/B01MEEH0SE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1512768188&sr=8-1&keywords=bread+proofer
It has been a real time/sanity saver. Nothing ever goes wrong anymore, everything proofs in almost exactly the time the book suggests, so it becomes very easy to plan. Buy it for yourself or put it on the Christmas list! I could never part with it now!