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–+ servings

Tartine's Country Bread

A crusty, mild sourdough country bread from San Francisco's famous Tartine Bakery.
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Servings 2 loaves

Ingredients
  

Levain

  • 1 tbs sourdough starter
  • 100 g white bread flour
  • 100 g whole wheat bread flour
  • 200 g warm water 78'

Country Bread

  • 200 g levain
  • 700 g warm water 80'
  • 900 g white bread flour
  • 100 g whole wheat bread flour
  • 20 g salt
  • 50 g warm water 80'
  • more flour, for shaping white flour or bread flour will both work
  • rice flour, for lining the proofing basket optional - can use all normal flour in place of rice flour

Instructions
 

Mixing the Levain

  • The night before you want to make bread, mix your levain ingredients in a medium bowl and cover with a tea towel overnight. It will expand considerably, so be sure to use a bowl with room for the levain to grow.
  • The next morning, your levain should increased in volume by about 20 percent, and have lots of little bubbles (signs of yeast activity). Test your levain by placing a small spoonful into a cup of room temperature water - if it floats, it is ready to bake with. If it sinks, let it continue fermenting until it passes the float test. You can speed this process up by placing it into a warm place.

Autolyze

  • Pour 700 grams of 80' water into a large mixing bowl. Add the 200 grams levain and mix to disperse.
  • Add 900 grams white bread flour and 100 grams whole wheat bread flour and mix thoroughly by hand until no dry flour remains. (The dough scraper is helpful to remove dough from your hands after mixing).
  • Let dough rest for 25-40 minutes.

Bulk Rise

  • After the resting period, add 20 grams salt and 50 grams of 80' water to dough. Incorporate by squeezing the dough with your hands. It will break apart, then re-form as you turn it in the bowl.
  • Transfer dough to a thick, clear glass or plastic container for the bulk rise. The dough will take 3 to 4 hours to complete its bulk rise if it is at a constant temperature of 78 to 82'. If your kitchen is much colder than this, it will take longer; if it is warmer, it will take a shorter amount of time. If you are working in a cold environment, you can raise the temperature of the water, like 90', or place the dough in a warm spot - like inside of your oven with a small pot of boiling water. If it is especially warm inside your home, you can mix the dough with cooler water to slow down the fermentation.
  • Let the dough rest for 30 minutes, then give the dough its first "turn". Dip one hand in water, then slide your hand under the dough, grab its underside, stretch it up, and fold it back over the rest of the dough. Repeat this two or three times (I use a square container and like to stretch the dough then fold it four times, turning the container 1/4 turn after each stretch and fold to ensure all of the dough gets evenly developed).
  • Set a timer for another 30 minutes, then give the dough another turn. Repeat two more times, so that the dough is stretched and folded four times, once every 30 minutes, until two hours have passed. You should notice the dough becoming smoother and softer at each turn.
    This may seem like a lot of work, but it only takes seconds to do each stretch and fold - so you really just need to be sure to set a timer and then it isn't much work at all!
  • Let the dough continue resting, untouched, until it has completed its bulk rise, about 1 to 2 hours longer (this could be much longer in colder conditions). You will know the dough is ready when it is billowy, soft, and aerated with gas bubbles. It's volume will have increased by 20 to 30 percent, and when you lightly press a wet fingertip into the dough, the indent should pop back up slowly and leave only a small indent.

Shaping

  • When the dough has completed its bulk rise, use a dough scraper to pull the dough out of the container onto an unfloured counter. Lightly flour the top of the dough, then use a bench knife to cut the dough in half and flip each upside down, so its floured side is down.
  • Fold the cut side of each piece of dough onto itself so that the flour on the surface of the dough is sealed on the outside of the loaf.
  • Using a bench knife and one hand, gently shape the dough into a round shape. Let the dough stick to the counter as you slide the bench knife underneath and rotate it, until a smooth round forms.
  • Let both rounds rest on the counter for 20 to 30 minutes. After this time, they should have relaxed onto the counter and spread into a thick pancake shape. The edges should appear fat and rounded, not tapered or spreading too much. If the dough is spreading too much and the edge is flat, it is likely the dough did not develop enough. To correct this, shape each round a second time and let rest for another 20 to 30 minutes before proceeding.
  • To form the final loaves, lightly flour the top surface of the dough rounds. Slip the bench knife under each round to lift it off the counter, taking care to maintain its round shape. One at a time, flip the rounds over so the floured side is now resting on the work surface. What was the underside should now be facing up.
  • Working with one round, and taking care not to deflate the dough, fold the third of the dough closest to you up and over the middle third of the round. Stretch the dough horizontally to your right and fold this right third over the center. Then stretch the dough horizontally to your left and fold this left third over the center.
  • Stretch out the third of the dough farthest from you and fold this flap toward you, over the previous folds, and anchor it in place with your fingers. Then grab the dough nearest to you and wrap it up and over, while rolling the whole package away from you so that the smooth underside of the loaf is now the top and all the seams are on the bottom (reference photos pictured from book above to see the final shaping).
  • Cup your hands around the dough and pull it toward you, rounding it against the work surface to tighten the tension and stretch the outer surface to close the seam. Let the shaped loaf rest for a minute and repeat with the remaining round.
  • Line your proofing baskets with tea towels and a generous 50/50 mix of flour and rice flour to prevent sticking.
  • Using the bench knife, lift each shaped loaf off the counter and transfer to the lined basket so that the smooth side is down and the seam is centered and facing up.

Final Rise

  • The loaves will complete their final rise in the proofing baskets. They can either sit at room temperature for 3 to 4 hours before baking, or be transferred to the fridge for up to 12 hours (Tartine says 12, but I have kept loaves in the fridge for up to 16 hours and baked with no problem).

Baking the Loaves

  • Twenty minutes before you are ready to bake, place your dutch oven or combo cooker in the oven and preheat to 500'. If your loaves are in the fridge, pull one out to sit on the counter as the oven preheats.
  • Using heavy oven mitts and exercising extreme caution, remove the dutch oven from the oven and remove the lid. Carefully invert your basket and dump the loaf of bread into the dutch oven (this can take some practice to do gracefully!).
  • Using a sharp knife or razor blade, score the bread however you like. This helps steam release so the bread does not burst open spontaneously as it bakes.
  • Cover the dutch oven and return to the oven. Immediately turn down oven heat to 450'.
  • Bake for 20 minutes, then remove lid of the dutch oven and continue baking for another 20 to 25 minutes, until crust is deeply caramelized in color. Remove pan from oven and transfer loaf to a cooling rack. Wipe out the inside of the dutch oven and place back into oven.
  • Raise oven temperature to 500' and repeat baking process with second loaf.
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