3/27/2017 Tartines Country Bread Recipe - NYT Cooking

Tartines Country Bread

By The New York Times YIELD 2loaves

INGREDIENTS PREPARATION

FOR THE STARTER AND LEAVEN Step1

Make the starter: Combine 1,000 grams white-bread flour with 1,000 grams whole-wheat flour.
1000 gramswhitebreadflour Put 100 grams of warm water (about 80 degrees) in a small jar or container and add 100 grams
1000 gramswholewheatflour of the flour mix. Use your fingers to mix until thoroughly combined and the mixture is the
consistency of thick batter. Cover with a towel and let sit at room temperature until mixture
FOR THE BREAD begins to bubble and puff, 2 to 3 days.

Step2
200 gramsleaven
When starter begins to show signs of activity, begin regular feedings. Keep the starter at room
900 gramswhitebreadflour
temperature, and at the same time each day discard 80 percent of the starter and feed remaining
100 gramswholewheatflour,plusmorefor starter with equal parts warm water and white-wheat flour mix (50 grams of each is fine). When
dusting starter begins to rise and fall predictably and takes on a slightly sour smell, its ready; this should
20 gramsfineseasalt take about 1 week.(Reserve remaining flour mix for leaven.)

100 gramsriceflour
Step3
Make the leaven: The night before baking, discard all but 1 tablespoon of the mature starter. Mix
the remaining starter with 200 grams of warm water and stir with your hand to disperse. Add
200 grams of the white-wheat flour mix and combine well. Cover with a towel and let rest at
room temperature for 12 hours or until aerated and puffed in appearance. To test for readiness,
drop a tablespoon of leaven into a bowl of room-temperature water; if it floats its ready to use. If
it doesnt, allow more time to ferment.

Step4
Make the dough: In a large bowl, combine 200 grams of leaven with 700 grams of warm water
and stir to disperse. (Reserve remaining leaven for future loaves; see note below.)

Step5

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3/27/2017 Tartines Country Bread Recipe - NYT Cooking
Add 900 grams of white-bread flour and 100 grams of whole-wheat flour to bowl and use your
hands to mix until no traces of dry flour remain. The dough will be sticky and ragged. Cover bowl
with a towel and let dough rest for 25 to 40 minutes at room temperature.

Step6
Add 20 grams fine sea salt and 50 grams warm water. Use hands to integrate salt and water into
dough thoroughly. The dough will begin to pull apart, but continue mixing; it will come back
together.

Step7
Cover dough with a towel and transfer to a warm environment, 75 to 80 degrees ideally (like
near a window in a sunny room, or inside a turned-off oven). Let dough rise for 30 minutes. Fold
dough by dipping hand in water, taking hold of the underside of the dough at one quadrant and
stretching it up over the rest of the dough. Repeat this action 3 more times, rotating bowl a
quarter turn for each fold. Do this every half-hour for 2 1/2 hours more (3 hours total). The
dough should be billowy and increase in volume 20 to 30 percent. If not, continue to let rise and
fold for up to an hour more.

Step8
Transfer dough to a work surface and dust top with flour. Use a dough scraper to cut dough into
2 equal pieces and flip them over so floured sides are face down. Fold the cut side of each piece
up onto itself so the flour on the surface remains entirely on the outside of the loaf; this will
become the crust. Work dough into taut rounds. Place the dough rounds on a work surface, cover
with a towel, and let rest 30 minutes.

Step9
Mix 100 grams whole-wheat flour and 100 grams rice flours. Line two 10- to 12-inch bread-
proofing baskets or mixing bowls with towels. Use some of the flour mixture to generously flour
towels (reserve remaining mixture).

Step10
Dust rounds with whole-wheat flour. Use a dough scraper to flip them over onto a work surface
so floured sides are facing down. Take one round, and starting at the side closest to you, pull the
bottom 2 corners of the dough down toward you, then fold them up into the middle third of the
dough. Repeat this action on the right and left sides, pulling the edges out and folding them in
over the center. Finally, lift the top corners up and fold down over previous folds. (Imagine
folding a piece of paper in on itself from all 4 sides.) Roll dough over so the folded side becomes
the bottom of the loaf. Shape into a smooth, taut ball. Repeat with other round.

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3/27/2017 Tartines Country Bread Recipe - NYT Cooking
Step11
Transfer rounds, seam-side up, to prepared baskets. Cover with a towel and return dough to the
75- to 80-degree environment for 3 to 4 hours. (Or let dough rise for 10 to 12 hours in the
refrigerator. Bring back to room temperature before baking.)

Step12
About 30 minutes before baking, place a Dutch oven or lidded cast-iron pot in the oven and heat
it to 500 degrees. Dust tops of dough, still in their baskets, with whole-wheat/rice-flour mixture.
Very carefully remove heated pot from oven and gently turn 1 loaf into pan seam-side down. Use
a lame (a bakers blade) or razor blade to score the top of the bread a few times to allow for
expansion, cover and transfer to oven. Reduce temperature to 450 degrees and cook for 20
minutes. Carefully remove lid (steam may release) and cook for 20 more minutes or until crust is
a rich, golden brown color.

Step13
Transfer bread to a wire rack to cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing. The bottom of the loaf
should sound hollow when tapped. Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees, clean out pot and
repeat this process with the second loaf.

Tip
Theremainingleavenisyournewstarter.Continuetofeeditifyouplantobakeagainsoonor
holdinanairtightcontainerintherefrigeratorforfutureuse.Whenyouwanttobakeagain,
beginfeedingthestarterafewdaysoraweekbeforehanduntilitonceagainbehaves
predictably.

PRIVATENOTES

Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.

Adapted from Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson

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