To TxFarmer et al: Tartine book arrived..... awesome!

I am glad you got the book and liked it! Now I can't wait to see your breads!

I got my copy a week ago. What a beautiful book it is! I've had almost a years hiatus from most bread baking, but I need to get my starter back up and running. It's about an 85% hydration, kept in the frig and produces loaves with a definite sour tang. Tonight I'm going to use the discard to convert to the Tartine white and wheat mix. I figure since my starter revives in 3  12 hour apart feedings I can get a jump and maybe try the country loaf Monday. Do you think this will work or do I need to do the whole week's worth of building from scratch?

My negative on this book is the "take a handful of flour..." at the beginning of the levain instructions. It just really put me off. So I'm looking to compromise using the established starter. I think the mix of flour and room temp storage will change it's intensity.

My experience with "pot" baked breads is that they always seem to spread rather than rise. That was with a 5 qt. cast iron DO. So I got a smaller 3 qt. enamaled cast iron one with somewhat better results. I was thinking to use this smaller one,...adequate size?

Everything right now is with fingers crossed, as the oven needs a new thermostat. But any decent result will peak my enthusiasm.

Take care and bake on....

Dosi

I'd say if you have time to put a 50/50 AP/WW starter through a couple of feedings and if you have a Dutch Oven to bake in, just do it!

The Dutch Oven should buffer any ill effects from a marginal oven, as long as the temperature of the oven is within your control.

I'm glad you like the book. As with Daniel Leader's "Local Breads," I can recognize "Tartine Bread's" limitations and still love it for it's strengths - one of which happens to be the wonderful bread Robertson's formula turns out.

David

can't wait to see your loaf, bet it'll be gorgeous as usual.

Mine are cooling beside me. I 'followed' the formula with 2 important differences: i used a fully developed leaven and not the 20% growth one that i think Chad advocates. Secondly, lacking a Dutch oven, i used a Chinese claypot instead. So does that still count as an attempt? :) Imperfect as it is -  my shaping and slashing are horrendous as always - the dough smelt very very nice as it was developing and i can't wait to taste it.

This was also an experiment to compare pot baking vs your towel method. I attempted this juggling act bakign one in a preheated claypot setting on an oven stone with a cast iron griddle as lid, and another one directly on the stone. After abt an hr of preheating, i loaded steaming towels onto the cast iron griddle as well as a cake tin that had also been heating up inside, then loaded one loaf into the claypot, replaced the griddle lid, loaded one onto the stone and poured more hot water onto all the towels (3 in all). As you can see, it was all quite precarious and i was getting quite confused myself. 

Results are:

1. the claypot is no substitute for cast iron i'm afraid. I had my doubts that the claypot gets as hot as cast iron but went for it anyway for the sake of experimentation. Indeed it baked up less brown than the one on the oven stone and had less oven spring.

2.on the other hand, your towel method really works! I could have singed my eyebrows! what makes it different from the ice cubes and boiling water method is that the steam is sustained thanks to the towels. Thus my nicknaming you Sally full-steam (also for your intense baking!) :))

with this attempt, i was also reminded of how important it is to observe and follow the dictates of the dough. I wanted to do more S&F but thought i should stick to the instructions as much as possible. Also it was already 2 in the morning.. another lesson there, don't try things late at night but i think this particular lesson will never be learnt ..

happy baking!

Converting my starter worked just fine. Instead of Fri I started it Sat a.m. so it got 3 healthy conversion feedings before I built the levain Sun p.m. This was the first time I have done everything by hand;  kind of a primal rush, with a little eeeww factor :) This is an intensive bread on the attention level.  When the loaves reached the final shaping and into the bannetons I put 1 in the fridg for an hour  so it would be ready to pot right after the first one finished. I had a gigantic mishap with the first loaf. I tried to plop it into the hot Dutch oven from the banneton but it stuck a little snagged the side of the pot and kind of summer saulted in on its side. I shoved it into a round as best I could but there was no way this could be scored. To make things worse I couldn’t get to it when the last timer went off and it is much too dark...crust tastes burnt. It’s got some interesting fake ears from sliding down the side of he pot. LOL
The 2nd loaf went off much better. I used a small metal peel inverted over the banneton then flipped it together so the dough could ease out with the aid of gravity then angled it over the Dutch oven an it slide off nicely. This one was hard to score, factor of the depth of the Do and the wetness of the dough. I got some decent spring anyway.
The crust was very crisp and the crumb was just beautiful. Creamy moist with a spongy kind of a chew.  A pure delight. (Quick hand me that bottle of truffle oil) And no hint whatever of sour. This surprised me because my starter is assertively sour and past attempts at other conversions still bake off as a sourdough; sometimes mildly so but always with some sour note. This bread has none.

Here’s the pixs:

Weird photo...they look like they’re hovering. Strange light off the enamel surface. The first  loaf is to the right.

Here’s a crumb shot of the 2nd loaf, the better of the 2.

The crumb is about the same on the 1st darker loaf but I just don’t care for the burnt taste. Maybe croutons with the crust removed.

For whatever problems exist with the text I think Mr. Robertson's easy style is encouraging. The step by step photos are good. If you’ve never gotten that  hands on before,  i.e. up to your elbows without a spoon it can seem daunting. This is a relaxed hey-you-can-do-this not overly technical approach and it’s kind of refreshing.

All the best to you and ...Bake on!
Dosi