A Bread Adventure

For Christmas I received the Tartine Bread Book, the bread bible from a small bakery in San Fran that I had always heard about. The book is a phenomenal introduction to bread for anyone interested in culturing their own leaven. I could never rewrite their complex instructions here, but I documented (most of) my process and wanted to share some pictures.

I spent about 10 days culturing my starter (due to the colder temps in NYC, I often had to crank the heat in my apartment to get the air warm enough). Armed with a scale, newly purchased bread flour, a coarse whole wheat flour, and my new pastry scraper, I used my started to create a leaven the night before, left the bread for a cool, 8 hour bulk fermentation on Day 1 (with a few "turns" in the bowl),  did an hour bench rest, and then shaped the loaf for an overnight final rise in the fridge. On Day 2, I baked the loaf, after scoring the top, for 25 minutes at 450 in my Le Creseut, and another 25 minutes without the lid on.

I've experimented with bread baking a few times, and I would say this is the only loaf I can truly call success. It had a beautiful airy crumb, a crunchy crust, and a delicate flavor. In the next few days, I will be baking another loaf-- but this time adding more whole wheat flour because I'm just a whole wheat kinda girl.

Fresh From the Oven!

 

After the final rise, done overnight in a towel-lined bowl. This dough was then inverted into my hot baking pan,
and scored before going straight into the steaming hot oven.

My bubbling starter, ready for a daily feeding.

Bench rest: the dough has been smoothed into a round shape, and is
getting ready for a quick kneading before the final rise.