Today, I’m doing Tartine’s Basic Country Bread recipe with 90% AP flour. I figure if I can get this right, I can start branching out with my own crazy.
This time, I used exact temperatures and measurements… of course, there was some embellishment.
Using the Kitchen Aid metal bowl, I added all the ingredients for the resting stage and used our hand-held dough whisk to get it started. Things seemed too dry and thick, so I quickly switched to mixing with my hands. Sure enough, the recipe works! The dough became moist and sticky like the photos.
| 1. Mix Starter (which I’ve confused with leaven…) | Fed daily, some discarded |
| 2. Mix Dough (*90/10) » Rest | 45 min |
| 3. +Salt & Water » Bulk Rise | Moved to a glass bowl, 4 hrs |
| 4. Turns | 5x every 30 min (missed one turn, so added one with another 30 min) |
| 5. Pre-shape » Bench Rest | 30 min |
| 6. Loaf 1 » Final Shaping » Rise » Bake | 3 hr rise » Didn’t hold its shape. Knead and rest a second time? |
| 7. Loaf 2 » Into the fridge for 45 hrs | Also didn’t hold its shape. |
H2O FYI: 80°F mixing water is easiest to achieve with cold tap water, adding boiled water from the kettle little bits at a time.
NOTES: Best loaves yet. Good crust, good interior… kinda dense with small/medium bubble spaces. Neither loaf held their shape, although the refrigerated loaf was better. Running a blade through the dough for scoring before baking… the blade just smushed into the dough, sinking into stickiness. More kneading during bulk rise, pre-shape, and/or final rise?
*90% All purpose flour and 10% whole-wheat.