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Baking from Tartine Bread

January 5, 2012 by Nicole 52 Comments

Tartine Country Loaf

One of the best gifts I received this year was the gift of bread.  No, I wasn’t given a loaf of bread, but I was given a tool that allowed me to bake the best bread of my life.  This book:

Tartine Bread Book

I had the pleasure of visiting Tartine Bakery in San Francisco last year and yes, the bread was fantastic.  The sandwiches were wonderful.  The lemon tart was so good that my mouth still waters just thinking about it.  It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

At that point, I already owned and loved the first baking book produced by the husband and wife team behind Tartine Bakery.  But I noticed they were selling a new bread book at the bakery counter called Tartine Bread.  As much as I wanted to buy it then and there, I knew it was out of my budget. Besides, my cookbook shelves were already overflowing with books – many of them baking books dedicated to bread.

This past year has been an interesting one for me when it comes to baking.  I’ve swung wildly between not baking at all for a few months while trying to recover from reactive hypoglycemia and then a later resurgence in my sourdough baking that culminated in Doughvember.  It was my return to sourdough baking that prompted my boyfriend to give me Tartine Bread for Christmas and it turned out to be a wonderful gift to both of us.  I’ve learned a new method for baking with wild yeast and he’s been eating the best bread of his life.

Tartine Country Loaf, Sliced

If you’ve been baking with a sourdough starter and are ready to take your bread to the next level, I highly recommend this book.  Once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down.  Chad Robertson’s story is fascinating and he is a wonderful teacher.  The first loaf of bread to come out of my oven following his instructions was seriously the best bread I’ve ever made.  It is mixed completely by hand and requires no stand mixer or special mixing equipment.  It is baked inside of a dutch oven, so there is no need to steam the oven or preheat a baking stone.  Although any cast iron dutch oven will do the trick, I am really glad that I bought the one piece of special equipment that was recommended in the book, a cast iron combo cooker like this one:

Lodge Cast Iron Combo Cooker

The thing that makes this easier to bake bread in than a traditional cast iron dutch oven is that the whole thing can be flipped upside down.  You put the proofed loaf in the shallow skillet then cover it with the dutch oven rather than dropping the loaf into the deeper pan like you would with a traditional dutch oven.  There are a couple of reasons why I prefer this over baking in a regular dutch oven.  First of all, regardless of which you use, the pots need to be preheated before loading the bread.  When baking in a traditional heated dutch oven, it’s hard to drop the bread in without either deflating it or burning yourself in the process.  Also, the bread doesn’t get scored (the top slashed) until it’s loaded in the pot.  In a traditional dutch oven, this is another chance to burn yourself.  In the skillet, it’s simple.

There are definitely ways to make a regular dutch oven work for bread baking, but for me the combo cooker solution is wonderful.  In fact, I went out and bought one (as a Christmas present to myself) as soon as I finished reading the book.  Luckily I was able to find one locally so I was able to start baking immediately.  And as it turns out, I had been wanting to replace the 10-inch cast iron skillet that I lost in the divorce, so this set is getting used for many tasks in the kitchen other than baking.

So far I have only tried the very first bread in the book, which is the Tartine Country Bread.  It’s made with nothing more than a wild yeast starter, unbleached bread flour, whole wheat flour, and sea salt.  Unlike the sourdough breads I’ve been baking for the past 5 years, this bread is not sour.  The flavor is wonderful and complex, but it’s not the typical in-your-face San Francisco sourdough and I love it for that.  I know how to make a sour sourdough; it’s nice to now be able to make a delicious loaf of bread that is made with wild yeast and utilizes a long fermentation time, that isn’t sour, but is packed with flavor.  All of the rest of the breads in the book are variations on this basic country loaf, so once you master the techniques for that one, the rest feel very achievable.

Although I have taken a quick hiatus from baking while I try to get my body back in balance after too many holiday sweets, I won’t be able to stay away from this book for long.  I’ll keep you updated on the next breads I bake and hopefully I’ll convince a few of you to take the plunge and give this book a try.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous, Recommendations

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. kellypea says

    February 28, 2012 at 9:32 am

    I saw your photo of this bread the other day and it inspired me to write about my first success with a mixed-starter -- so thanks! And, I'm also going to buy Tartine now. What a great way to proof and bake a boule of bread -- I love the cast iron pan! Much less hassle than flipping out of my colander.
    Reply
  2. Xean says

    February 29, 2012 at 7:21 am

    Looks new to me but it looks delicious too! :) I love bread, what ever it is-- perfect for breakfast paired with the best cup of coffee, wonderful day!
    Reply
  3. Gregory says

    May 3, 2012 at 4:48 pm

    I hope somebody knows the answer. When I bake my bread in cast iron dutch oven either I have insides of bread wet. I mean it is not baked good enough. Or if I bake it longer I have the crust of bread turning black. The temperature I use is 500F
    Reply
  4. tim says

    October 31, 2012 at 4:52 pm

    What type of flour did you use for your Tartine bread?
    Reply
  5. Leslie says

    December 30, 2012 at 10:50 am

    It's a gorgeous book, and I have experienced the same results - spectacular. The combo cooker was the key. I won't make bread any other way now. The book is truly inspiring.
    Reply
  6. Evren says

    February 20, 2013 at 9:41 pm

    Hi I would really recommend trying to use 70% hydration instead of 75% as Chad says. It makes a huge difference. You really get that big puffy Boules when it is 70%. Maybe it is me but I can not create that crazy tension when it is 75%, At first I though It was the folds then I thought it was final the rise (4 hour vs 9-12 in fridge). I changed my flour to use bread flour instead of all purpose( book says white flour for country dough). It got better. Bread flour has higher water absorption. It got a little easier to work with. I tired 70% and they now look awesome. Taste is the same. "ears" look awesome.
    Reply
  7. Gigi says

    June 26, 2013 at 11:22 am

    Yup, you convinced me to go visit Tartine and I finally did! Now I'm absolutely sure about buying the Tartine Bread book to try baking the breads myself :)
    Reply
  8. sara says

    December 12, 2013 at 9:59 am

    I just got this cookbook - on sale on Amazon today! :) Can't wait to try the bread. :)
    Reply
  9. Lindy says

    February 8, 2014 at 10:12 am

    Have the book, have made the starter, about to bake--don't have the dutch oven! Where did you get it and what size?
    Reply
  10. Bob says

    February 27, 2017 at 6:11 am

    The two piece is used with the flat side on the bottom and covered with the dome. This allows more water vapor to be trapped and allow for bread rising. A Dutch oven has the lid on top and vapor is not trapped as effectively.
    Reply
  11. Veerle says

    September 2, 2017 at 2:36 pm

    Have the book, have made the starter, about to bake--don't have the dutch oven yet! Where did you get it and what size? Or another oven, Bob ? REPLY
    Reply
  12. Nancy in FL says

    August 7, 2023 at 2:27 pm

    Your oven is too hot. Try baking at 425F; the longer time will not burn the crust. An instant-read thermometer should say 200*F when the bread interior is cooked.
    Reply
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