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Baking from Tartine Bread

January 5, 2012 by Nicole 51 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. Deanna says

    January 5, 2012 at 5:40 pm

    The baguette is amazing. The whole darn book is beautiful and inspiring and yadayadayada, but I think where it really shines are the wild/commercial yeast recipes. I have been wanting to make the croissants for ages, but my starter was seriously neglected and died. The chicken stock recipe in the book is also delicious.
    Reply
  2. Janice says

    January 5, 2012 at 6:01 pm

    So glad you are baking bread again! Got this book a while back, and now I keep this starter right next to the Bread Baker's Apprentice starter. Such a different approach and style, and I even throw some of this starter in when I'm "cheating," and make a loaf of no-knead bread.
    Reply
  3. SallyBR says

    January 5, 2012 at 7:01 pm

    Tartine is one of my favorite bread books, together with Lepard's Handmade Loaf. The explanation in Tartine on mixing the dough, folding, shaping, is superb! He is a natural teacher... and your bread turned out spectacular!
    Reply
  4. Kathy - Panini Happy says

    January 5, 2012 at 7:09 pm

    These are some truly masterful results, Nicole! I would love to be able to bake bread like this. I'm embarrassed to admit that I own the Tartine bakery cookbook but have yet to try any of the recipes. Guess I'll need to change that very soon. Happy New Year to you!
    Reply
  5. Diane says

    January 5, 2012 at 7:10 pm

    Please pass on this recipe...the bread looks luscious!
    Reply
  6. Peter says

    January 5, 2012 at 7:15 pm

    Nicole, that is seriously one of the best loaves I've seen...I'd eat the whole damn thing too!
    Reply
  7. Dana Morgan says

    January 5, 2012 at 7:19 pm

    When in San Francisco, we'd get a Tartine loaf from my daughter's boyfriend who used to work as a baker there. I became a fan of the bread before this excellent book was published. I truly love the book and agree it is the best Christmas present to give anyone who wants to bake the best tasting bread possible. I've spread the gospel far and wide. Everyone deserves excellent bread like this.
    Reply
  8. AlyssaB says

    January 5, 2012 at 7:21 pm

    Oooo! Love those gorgeous bubbles on the side of your boule!! I live on the East Coast, so I haven't had the pleasure of visiting Tartine Bakery yet. Martha Stewart Living did a story on them last year and it really, really made me want to go! I was jazzed that they provided a recipe for one of Chad's breads, but I got scared off by the 3- or 4-week lead time to do... something... maybe cultivate the starter? Does this cookbook give simpler recipes? (I am baking using Reinhart's delayed fermentation method, so I am used to planning ahead, just not weeks ahead.)
    Reply
  9. Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) says

    January 5, 2012 at 7:40 pm

    That is one gorgeous loaf of bread. If only bread were on my diet right now.... sigh.
    Reply
  10. Nicole says

    January 5, 2012 at 7:53 pm

    AlyssaB- You do need a sourdough starter to begin, but it can be any active starter, you don't need to spend 3 or 4 weeks to create one. I used one of the starters I've kept for years and just followed his method. If you don't have one and don't want to spend the time creating your own (instructions here: https://pinchmysalt.com/sourdough), perhaps you could find someone local who would share one. You can also purchase an active starter online from King Arthur Flour. Once you have a starter, the bread takes less than two days to make.
    Reply
  11. Sas says

    January 5, 2012 at 8:18 pm

    It's posts like these that make me really miss wheat flour. You just can't get the same results without that pesky gluten. Are there any gluten free recipes in the book?
    Reply
  12. Nicole says

    January 5, 2012 at 8:23 pm

    Sas- No, there are no gluten-free bread recipes in the book. Sorry!
    Reply
  13. Shari says

    January 5, 2012 at 11:24 pm

    Could you describe how your method of using the two piece pan is different from the Dutch oven? Both parts, lid and pot need to be preheated before the dough is turned into the pot. Thanks.
    Reply
  14. Diane says

    January 6, 2012 at 12:17 am

    I agree with everything you said, Nicole. I was so inspired by your post on FB about this bread that I, too, baked the best bread of my life. Bought the "combo cooker" too, and I love it. I even went so far as to research and find at a restaurant supply -coincidentally five minutes from my house - that I didn't know was there - a great "dough tub" for mixing, turning, and rising this wonderful dough. I plan to make the whole wheat version this weekend. First, you inspired me with the BBA Challenge, which I finished one year ago on New Year's Eve, and now this. Hmmmmm .... leads me to ponder what could be next?
    Reply
  15. Amy Tong says

    January 6, 2012 at 1:22 am

    Your bread looks beautiful. I baked something very similar before but didn't get enough air inside the bread so the texture wasn't right. My loaf tasted amazing...but just not fluffy enough. hm....I wonder what I did wrong. Maybe it's time to get a copy of this book...as a b-day gift for myself. :)
    Reply
  16. Deena @ stay at home FOODIE says

    January 6, 2012 at 1:37 am

    The bread looks amazing! I've always wanted to start a sourdough starter... Just need to find a good stretch of time. I'm hoping spring 2012 will be it.
    Reply
  17. Abby says

    January 6, 2012 at 7:42 am

    Oh it looks so crusty and soft all at the same time. Now I just need to find the cast iron pieces...
    Reply
  18. Laura says

    January 6, 2012 at 10:49 am

    Nicole, I have to agree, that is the best bread I ever made or tasted. Unfortunately I can't eat gluten any more so I stopped making it since I couldn't stop eating it. And it stays good for days!
    Reply
  19. Rebecca says

    January 6, 2012 at 3:38 pm

    Nicole, that is a stunner of a loaf! I'm left with no choice but to buy that book immediately. So happy to see you continue your baking!!
    Reply
  20. The Cozy Herbivore says

    January 6, 2012 at 7:47 pm

    Ooooh, good friends of mine just bought this book and tried the cast iron Dutch oven method. Lucky me, I got to eat the results, and it was truly some of the best bread I've ever eaten. Your loaf looks yummy-- I can't wait to get my hands on a Dutch oven to try this for myself!
    Reply
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