Tartine Bakery's Country Sourdough Loaf

Time = 2 days
Servings = 2 country loaves
Calories = unknown
From = Yi-Chang Liu and Tartine Bakery

[Day 1: After dinner--prepare the leaven]

|Weight | Ingredient | Baker's Percentage| |:------|:---------|:-----| |31 g |Mature sourdough starter (100% hydration)|28%| |110 g| Whole Wheat Flour| 100% | | 116 g| Water | 105%|

1. Mix the following ingredients, lightly cover, and set the leaven on the counter overnight.

2. This recipe assumes you have a mature starter. To make a new sourdough starter, follow these instructions for 1 week:
   https://www.theperfectloaf.com/7-easy-steps-making-incredible-sourdough-starter-scratch/

[Day 2: 9:00 am--Autolyse]

• 250g leaven
• 300g whole wheat flour (Great River Organic whole wheat flour or similar)
• 700g unbleached all-purpose white flour (King Arthur or similar)
• 20 g salt
• 740 g water + 50 g water (reserved)

1. Add 250 g leaven to a large mixing bowl

2. Pour in 740 g water and mix with your hands until leavening is dispersed.

3. Add 700 g white flour and 400 g whole wheat flour. Mix by hand until all dry bits of flour are gone.

4. Cover your bowl with a towel and let it autolyse for 30 minutes.

5. After 30 min, add 20g salt on dough and slowly pour the remaining 50g of reserved water on top. Gently squeeze the dough with your hands to incorporate the salt.

6. Reach your hand under the dough and pull the side up and over itself. Continue to do this as you spin the bowl: grab, pull, push. Do this until the dough just comes together and becomes sticky. Approx 5-10 turns.

7. Transfer your dough to a plastic or glass container and set a timer for 30 minutes.

[Day 2: 10:00 am--Bulk Fermentation]

1. Here, we will perform 4 sets of turns, plus 1-2 hours rest on the counter.

2. As above, a turn consists of reaching under your dough, grabbing the bottom, and pulling the dough on top of itself. Do this a total of 4 times, 1 on each side of your container.

   • 10:10 = Turn 1
   • 10:40 = Turn 2
   • 11:10 = Turn 3
   • 11:40 = Turn 4
   • 11:40-1:40 pm = rest on counter

NOTE = Do this rather vigorously, the stretch up and down gives the dough strength.

[Day 2: 1:40 pm--Pre-shape dough]

1. When the dough has risen 20-30% and your see a bunch of air pockets, it's reach for pre-shaping.

2. Remove the dough from the container onto an UNFLOURED work surface.

3. Sprinkle flour on top of your dough and divide into 2 halves.

4. Take half, flip it over and pull each of the 4 edges from under up onto the top. Form loose boules here with your hand and dough knife. The work surface will grab the bottom of the dough slightly as your spin it around to make a ball.

5. Repeat with the other half and then cover with an inverted mixing bowl for 30 min.

[Day 2: 2:10 pm--Shape dough]

1. After 30 minutes, the resting dough should have spread out, but not quite into a pancake shape. If it has formed a pancake, pre-shape 1 more time and wait an additional 40 min.

2. Flour the top of 1 boule and flip it over with lightly floured hands and a dough knife.

3. Shape the dough. Take the part of the dough that’s closest to you and fold it up and over in half. Next, take the part that’s to the right, stretch it out as far as it will stretch, and fold it up and to the left. Repeat with the left side and the side of the dough farthest from you. Then take the edge that’s closest to you, pull it up and over again towards the back. When performing this last motion, you will lift the entire dough up and over until the seam side is now down on your work surface.

4. Spin the dough using your two hands to shape into a boule. As you slightly pick up the dough and spin it, the bottom snags the unfloured work surface and creates tension. Do this several times to create a very taught surface on the top of the boule. Sometimes small air bubbles will be visible.

How to shape a boule: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/guides/shaping-a-boule/

How to shape a batard: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/guides/shaping-a-batard/

[Day 2: 2:20 pm--Proof]

1. Place towels into small mixing bowls or proofing baskets and dust with white rice flour.

2. Take taut boules and place them in the bowls with the seam side facing up. Then place each bowl into plastic bags and place in the fridge.

[Day 3: 9:00 am--Score and Bake]

1. Preheat oven to 450F with rack in bottom 1/3.

2. Once the oven is preheated, take 1 dough out of the fridge—no warmup time is necessary. Cut a circular piece of parchment paper, and place it on top of the bowl.

3. Next, place a pizza peel on top of the parchment paper (and bowl) and invert the whole thing quickly to get the dough out of the bowl and onto the paper + peel. Get your razor blade out and score the top of the loaf to allow the bread to expand while rising in the oven (score with “Roman numeral three” pattern or a single long slash).

4. Quickly take out the shallow half of your hot combo cooker and drag in the parchment paper and dough. Cover with the deep half of the combo cooker and bake for 20 minutes with the lid on.

5. After this time, open the oven and lift off the combo cooker lid (you can leave it in the oven to the side), close the oven, and bake for an additional 35 minutes. These times and temps are a drastic change from the Tartine book, but I’ve found them necessary due to my elevation and climate. I want the crust to be nice and dark brown. For sea level, check the Tartine book for starting points.

6. Once loaves are done, cool them on a wire rack for at least one hour before cutting into them. Cutting too soon can cause the crust to harden drastically and the inside to become quite dense.