Chad Robertson's Rugbrot Recipe Help

book but Chad is famous for using his very high hydration levains when they are fresh but someone will chime in who has the book.

I have the Tartine book and this recipe is not in it.  You can find the recipe here (you'll have to sign in to the website FoodArts).  It uses a 100% hydration starter with a 50-50 mixture of white and whole wheat flours.  He basically gives instructions on making a starter, but if you've already got one going, I think the hydration of the levain doesn't matter much.  For his country bread Robertson recommends a 125% hydration in the ratio of 1:5:6 (starter:flour:water) fermented overnight (or 14-16 hours until ripe).

-Brad

I started to copy the directions from the book, then realized that you can see them here, with pictures: http://thefoxfix.blogspot.com/2011/01/best-bread-ever-or-tartine-rustic.html.  I don't think my kitchen is any cooler than the 65 degrees he expects for overnight but it seems to work better if I put the one tablespoon of starter with 200 grams of 78 degree water and 200 grams of 50/50 flour blend into the oven with the light on and the door ajar. By morning it usually passes the float test as he recommends. Then you take your 135 grams from that and reserve the rest for next time.

That said, I have to admit to sometimes using the tablespoonful of whatever mature starter I've refreshed most recently, sometimes Silverton's, sometimes Forkish's, sometimes whatever strange culture I unearth from the back of the refrigerator.

I think the concept is that this levain only builds one time overnight (unless you think it is too sour in the morning and you divide it again and let it ferment for another two hours or so). It is the combination of mature starter with new that gives Tartine bread its greatly deserved good reputation.

Hope  this helps and thank you for giving the link to this bread. I'll have to try it too.

Barbra