The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Tartine recipes. I hope it's just me, but has anyone else noticed..

RoundhayBaker's picture
RoundhayBaker

Tartine recipes. I hope it's just me, but has anyone else noticed..

..an awful lot of people posting problems they've had baking Tartine recipes on the forums?

Anyone got an explanation? 

AbeNW11's picture
AbeNW11 (not verified)

A lot of people like to try the Tartine. 

I believe a Tartine is quite a high hydration dough. Could that be the reason? 

RoundhayBaker's picture
RoundhayBaker

Abe, I noticed the beer bread you're doing today is Tartine. What do you make of the recipes in general? 

RoundhayBaker's picture
RoundhayBaker

...maybe Drogon has an opinion?

RoundhayBaker's picture
RoundhayBaker

Apologies, Drogon and Abe.

drogon's picture
drogon

I don't follow the Tartine ways, don't have the book, never been to the cafe ...

However - it's just sourdough by another name and technique. There are 1000's of ways to make bread. Over the years I've worked out a way that suits me to bake daily to sell and for myself. It's not "Tartine", but it is a sourdough bread.

Maybe one day I'll delve into the Tartine way!

-Gordon

AbeNW11's picture
AbeNW11 (not verified)

But I think its just Tartine inspired. It was high hydration and did have quite a high ratio of whole rye starter. 

I think the main problem with such high hydration is gluten formation. I'm always wary of this and do more than the recipe requires. Get better results this way. 

baybakin's picture
baybakin

I think this is due to the rambling nature of Chad's recipie (something like 30 pages for the basic country bread).  The dough is also quite slack, much more so than the majority of home bakers are used to. One more factor might be the relitivly low amount of pre-fermented flour in his recipies, so your levian must be very active and happy to get the same results as he does in the book.

I always saw the Tartine book as more of a "bread journey" book then a recipe book, more along the lines of "Local Breads" by Dan Leader (which others list similar issues with) then "Bread" by Jeff Hamelman.

just my two cents, different books for different styles of people.

AbeNW11's picture
AbeNW11 (not verified)

What still makes it a Tartine I do not know but here arethe results... 75% hydration. All in the gluten formation I think. 

estherc's picture
estherc

The one time I attempted Tartine's country bread it flopped out of the banneton like a pancake. I ended up with flat bread with a huge bubble just under the top crust.  

robertmullins's picture
robertmullins

(could not find my old user account so I'm using this)

I have tried to nail this down and what I have found is that you have to follow the instructions pretty close.  You can fudge a bit on bulk fermentation, and proofing (as long as you don't overproof) but I am guessing (after MANY failed attempts) that you cannot fudge on the 'bake inside a cast-iron pot' part.

As a restaurant owner I really wanted to have this technique work for me, so the narrative in 'Tartine Bread' regarding 'Chad' and his restaurant appealed to me.

I have not tried baking in a cast-iron pot yet, however it looks like I am going to have to.  Every loaf I turn out is beautiful, delicious, but is extremely gummy and wet inside despite the beautiful open crumb texture.

I think this is due to the fact that baking 'free-standing' loafs using this technique allows the outside to become 'case-hardened' and the moisture can't escape.

Can anyone confirm?  Thanks in advance.

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

I recently baked a couple of loaves of Sunflower Flax levain from Tartine 3. They were not as wet and floppy as the basic Tartine bread (because of the soaked flax seeds, I expect). I have had a real problem with Tartine breads over-proofing and not having enough structure, but these ones seemed to turn out nice just proofed in bannetons then baked on the granite stones in the oven. That said, they were for the shop so I didn't check the crumb. Haven't heard any complaints, but that doesn't mean anything.

DianaS's picture
DianaS

My first 2 country breads were good. Then somehow I changed the conditions. Too cold, then a bit more water...I think you get a good bread if you adapt the recipe to your flour and your oven. But then again...I ordered Bread. Maybe is more challenging ?

AKSourdough's picture
AKSourdough

I have been on a Tartine learning curve for a few weeks. I really thought I had it nailed this time. I started w strong starter (doubled in under 4 hrs) and a good levain from it. My dough temp going into bulk was in the 78-82 sweet spot and remained there the whole 3 hrs. Dough rose 30% and domed. Four S and Fs at 30 min spacing. After 3 hrs, pre-shaped, dough was pretty slack. 30 mins later final shape and into bannetons and into fridge for proofing. A boule and batard. Boule had nice oven spring in dutch oven and nice ear. But when cooled and cut in half very disappointed to find a crumb that, though light and springy, had very few holes. Lots of tiny ones throughout. So now confused again.