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Hi everyone!

A few months ago I gave my colleague some rye starter, using which she's been successfully baking 100% rye breads at home. Now some more people have expressed interest in baking a "rustic" white bread. My job was to develop a simple formula that a someone new to bread baking could easily follow, while at the same time yielding a good-looking, crusty loaf with good flavor. I pondered whether to develop a simple formula using sourdough or commercial yeast and finally decided on the later.

There is a lot of discussion of Chad Robertson's Basic Country Loaf, as written about in Tartine Bread. This was the first truly successful loaf I ever baked, having purchased the book because I wanted something extraordinary to bake with the sourdough starter that I had been in the process of developing while trying to figure out how to bake with yeast. 

Yes, same old multi-grain loaves this weekend, but I don't mind.  Healthy, easy, tasty...

Less words this time and more photos.

I baked two loaves of the Tartine basic country bread today. Both loaves were from the same batch of dough and were proof retarded in the refrigerator. The loaf on the left was baked on a baking stone with a stainless steel bowl as its "cover". The loaf on the right was baked in an enameled cast iron combo cooker.

2014 Dabrownman’s TFL Blog Index

1/1/2014 - New Year’s Panettone - 2014

1/3/2014 - YW SD Spelt and White Whole Wheat Miche

1/5/2014 -  Saturday Night Pizza - 1/4/2014

Lucy loves naan more than she loves Indian food but she really loves Indian food the best of all.  So when she found out we were going to make Fusion Chicken Curry for dinner at 10 AM she was a little put off since she likes her naan to snea a long cold nap in the fridge just like pizza dough.

Well my hiatus is over.  The full market has begun and I'm ready to return to the weekly trading routine.  Been hooked on the stiff levain lately so i decided I'd switch in up and build a liquid levain and then do a second build and use a young levain to keep it mellow and sweet.  I had honey in the formula and opted to omit and allow the young levain to bring the sweetness.  I kept the pre-fermented flour low to give enough time to gently build the gluten.

Image

Sorry this is upside down. Don't know why that happened.

Lloyd D.

This is a country style bread (mix of rye, ww, and bread flours) 75%(+) hydration leavened with my home culture. The added protein and fiber comes from pre cooked French Lentils. The crumb is soft but chewy, aroma sweet caramel, and the taste is nutty and rye. Just some slight lentil flavor. Bread has depth of flavor but only slightly sour, which is the way I like it.

AM mix, ferment at 75deg F for 8-10 hrs, will smell very fruity like peach schnapps at the end

50g starter (AP 100% hydration)

175g rye (Hodgson Mill)

Something about bagels that make a Yooper (this is now an official Webster dictionary word) winter......I mean Spring.....

tolerable. 10 inches of snow on April 5th is a cruel joke, but I've decided to make lemonade out of lemons. Bagels, a hot toddy and a good book in front of the fire. Ok, more than tolerable. 

This is a photo from last year but the recipe is the same. Very easy if anyone wants it, let me know!