I finally spent the time to go through all the steps to make my first loaf of bread from my Tartine Bread book! The book was created by the owners of the Tartine Bakery in San Francisco that bake the well-renowned (what seems like should be simple) crusty-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside bread.
Now, I am not new to bread-making as you can read from my post on bread last year (well, I guess I am pretty new to it, last summer is when I started). But I am very new to this particular- very time consuming- process.
The first step was to make the starter, which turned out to be a little more than a week-long process. It consists of merely water and flour and it draws in natural bacteria from your hands and the air to create a wild yeast. It sounds sort of gross, but that's how all great bread is made apparently!
You are supposed to learn the texture and smell of your starter to know when its ready- I just guessed. Smells like over-ripe fruit? Check. A little bubbly and yellowish? Check.
Then you start to "feed" it by throwing out 80% of your starter and replacing it with equal amounts flour and water. You do this every day until you notice it rising and falling predictably- then you can make bread.
So I didn't exactly notice it rising and falling predictably when I started. It all happened when I woke up one morning to find my wild yeast had gotten a little too wild and rose all over my make-shift pantry. (I was storing it on the top shelf and it made its way down about 4 shelves). So I thought- OK, it must be ready. So I made bread.
The recipe is all in grams so first I had to convert it to something I could measure in my kitchen (sans scale). The Gourmet Sleuth's conversion calculator was very helpful. So I added my starter, flour (bread flour and whole wheat flour), water, and a little salt. Unlike the bread I have made so far, there is no kneading. There is a very specific folding/ turning method that you do once every 30 minutes for 3-4 hours. After that is complete, there is yet another 3-4 hours of rising time.
Once you are ready to bake. You throw a dutch oven into the stove and preheat at 500 F. I didn't have a dutch oven so I used my large stock pot .Once preheated, you place the dough in the pot, score it, and cover. This is to allow the steam to form. Most home ovens are designed to extract moisture, so this was the way the Tartine guys figured out it could work in a personal kitchen. Bake for 20 min., then take the lid off, turn the oven down to 450 and bake another 20ish minutes until it looks right (and right is obviously subjective, so once again I guessed).
After a week and 9 hours I was overly anxious to see if it worked and if my bread was crusty on the outside and soft and moist on the inside.
IT WAS INDEED!
Now, I am not new to bread-making as you can read from my post on bread last year (well, I guess I am pretty new to it, last summer is when I started). But I am very new to this particular- very time consuming- process.
The first step was to make the starter, which turned out to be a little more than a week-long process. It consists of merely water and flour and it draws in natural bacteria from your hands and the air to create a wild yeast. It sounds sort of gross, but that's how all great bread is made apparently!
 |
| Left: Starter after week of acquiring bacteria; Right: after first "feeding" |
You are supposed to learn the texture and smell of your starter to know when its ready- I just guessed. Smells like over-ripe fruit? Check. A little bubbly and yellowish? Check.
Then you start to "feed" it by throwing out 80% of your starter and replacing it with equal amounts flour and water. You do this every day until you notice it rising and falling predictably- then you can make bread.
So I didn't exactly notice it rising and falling predictably when I started. It all happened when I woke up one morning to find my wild yeast had gotten a little too wild and rose all over my make-shift pantry. (I was storing it on the top shelf and it made its way down about 4 shelves). So I thought- OK, it must be ready. So I made bread.
The recipe is all in grams so first I had to convert it to something I could measure in my kitchen (sans scale). The Gourmet Sleuth's conversion calculator was very helpful. So I added my starter, flour (bread flour and whole wheat flour), water, and a little salt. Unlike the bread I have made so far, there is no kneading. There is a very specific folding/ turning method that you do once every 30 minutes for 3-4 hours. After that is complete, there is yet another 3-4 hours of rising time.
Once you are ready to bake. You throw a dutch oven into the stove and preheat at 500 F. I didn't have a dutch oven so I used my large stock pot .Once preheated, you place the dough in the pot, score it, and cover. This is to allow the steam to form. Most home ovens are designed to extract moisture, so this was the way the Tartine guys figured out it could work in a personal kitchen. Bake for 20 min., then take the lid off, turn the oven down to 450 and bake another 20ish minutes until it looks right (and right is obviously subjective, so once again I guessed).After a week and 9 hours I was overly anxious to see if it worked and if my bread was crusty on the outside and soft and moist on the inside.
IT WAS INDEED!
Dave and I spent a good chunk of time admiring it; and then it was gone in about 24 hours. I made some a couple days later, which was still wonderful, but did not compare to the first loaf. Was there truly any difference? Probably not, but the taste of the first loaf, after so many laborious hours (and a big question mark as to what would happen), had the taste of victory on the first try! Here's to wild yeast!!
