Tartine Bread

I wanted to start baking my own bread because of how difficult it is to get a decent loaf of bread that is not loaded with chemicals and preservatives. I started out with some King Arthur Flour recipes available online, and quickly decided I wanted to try my hand at sourdough breads. I followed the instructions over at King Arthur Flour to create a starter, received a little advice from The Fresh Loaf forum, and then decided to buy this book. As others have written, the book is not one that has hundreds of bread recipes in it, although there are actually quite a few. I have baked two loaves from the book -- the Basic Country Loaf, and the same bread with roasted walnuts. The breads have been amazing. And what is perhaps more exciting, the same dough makes fantastic pizza. Is it worth the price? Well, it was to me. It was nice to have a set of instructions to read over a bunch of times before taking the plunge into making my first Tartine loaf. Chad Robertson gives a lot of detail, and quite frankly, the instructions are a bit overwhelming and could do with some serious editing. Not because they are confusing, but because they are very lengthy. There is nothing wrong with lengthy; but I encourage anybody reading this book to sit down at their computer and type up those portions of the instructions that they need to bake the basic country loaf, and then print those out. Otherwise you will find yourself needing to turn pages with sticky hands to figure out what you are supposed to do since the recipe spans many pages, and the book is too beautiful and expensive to get dirty. If you are not familiar with bread baking, but you are willing to commit the time to learning and making this "no knead" bread, you won't be disappointed. But, I would do what I did first, and get a sourdough starter that is working nicely before buying the book. It will only be a huge frustration if you buy the book and never get the starter to work. While he gives instructions for creating a starter, I can't say with certainty that they will work for everybody. You can always try it after you've created your own following the advice from King Arther Flour or another source. The process for the basic loaf boils down to this: Take some of your starter (you can take it straight from the fridge, unfed), and build a levain with it. That just means adding water and flour to it, and letting it sit out on the counter for 12 hours or so. Once the levain is ready (a spoonful of it will float in a bowl of water), you mix the rest of the flour and water and make a very sticky dough, which you will "turn" 4-6 times over the the course of 4 hours. Then you can divide the dough and make pizzas with it, or divide it and shape into loaves which will then "proof" in a bowl or basket, overnight in your fridge. The next morning, you can fire up the oven, and get baking. He suggests the Lodge Combo Cooker, and that is what I purchased here on Amazon. It is basically two cast iron pans where one acts as a lid to the other, and traps the steam generated from the wet dough as it bakes. I have never had a problem with my breads burning on top or on bottom, however, if you bake too low on the stove you may find that the bottoms burn. Baking in the middle rack as suggested, has always given me beautiful loaves. I've "scored" my bread (cut it before baking) with a sharp knife or with kitchen shears. The breads make great grilled cheese, PB&J, toast and that is basically all I have done with them to date. They also taste great fresh out of the oven (well, after waiting a couple of hours). I've added a photo of one of my best tasting loaves yet. You will see that I baked it rather dark. It does not follow any formula in the book though it is based entirely on the book's process using the same ratio of levain to flour, etc. It is just that altered the percentage of All Purpose, Whole Wheat and Whole Rye flours to suit what I had on hand. Ken Forkish's Flour Water Salt Yeast is also an excellent book with similar baking techniques (i.e., lodge combo cooker) but has both commercial yeast and sourdough recipes which also come out quite amazing.

I'm one of those people that decided to make sourdough bread without ever making a regular loaf. My first few loaves failed miserably using other books, recipes, and online videos. I made some regular loaves with other books that turned out great but could not get the sourdough loaf to work. There are basically 3 ingredients needed to sourdough bread (not counting starter) but the process, timing, temperature, and other nuances that go into it make a huge difference. I was close to giving up before I got this book and tasted sweet success finally! The book does a good job of explaining what is going on, what to look for, and how the environment in your kitchen impacts your bread. The pictures are also very helpful so that you can see what your dough should look like in each stage. I'm still not sure exactly what went wrong likely a few little things but it made all the difference. I've made 3 good loaves and am now sharing them with friends and working on scoring patters etc. I agree with other reviews that this book is not a collection of recipes and may not be for the experienced baker. There are other recipes in the book that I am looking forward to trying but I mainly purchased the book to learn how to make basic sourdough. All I can say is that it worked for me where other books failed so if you are setting out on your sourdough journey and want to learn from a book - I highly recommend this book. As a side note, if you want to conserve flour and don't want to be a slave to starter, I recommend Josey Baker's (from the Mill in SF) video on maintaining a small amount of starter is great to use in connection with this book. You only need a table spoon of starter for the basic recipe and will then refresh it when mixing the Leaven the night before. Unfortunately, his basic sourdough recipe in his book did not work out for me but he has other recipes and tips that are great and will try to incorporate now that I have a basic recipe down.

this book is about making possibly the best bread in the world in your own home. How dare people write a review without themselves attempting to make the bread described in this book? This is the book. This is what I've been missing. I have made Jim Leahey's no knead bread ever since Mark Bittman published it in the New York Times. Good bread, very good. But after a few years, I'm not enthused about it anymore, its lacking something. I tried sourdough... I purchased Ed Wood's " Classic Sourdoughs", good work on sourdoughs but not helpful for my bread making. I tried two different starters, tried bread, tried pizza. It didn't work for me. What Ed Wood lacks in his book is the intricacies, the small details, the tricks that are essential to making that perfect french loaf. Yes this book is about making that perfect french loaf of bread. For whatever reason, the French make the best bread in Earth. The author of this book "Tartine bread" apprenticed with French artisan bakers. Chad Robertson shares his tricks that he has picked up from fifteen years of artisan bread making. Apparently, he makes good bread, his bakery in San Francisco sells out his daily production within one hour of hitting the shelves. Anyways, about the bread, about MY BREAD. I made the bread yesterday, actually I've been in the process of making it for four days. I had an Ed Wood's starter that had been stashed away in the back of my fridge for over a year. It took me three days to reactivate it, with repeated feedings finally got the batch to double in volume two nights ago, so had my starter ready to go (which is cheating because the author describes how to make your own starter from scratch in 3-5 days). On the first day I made an active leaven, then in the evening added this to flour and water and salt to make the dough. I let the dough rise overnight, then prepped it the next day and baked it in the afternoon. Bakes just like no knead bread. The results? Well, it looks pretty much like no knead bread, but when I cut into it, it has a sour smell, but when I taste it, the sour taste is there but not sharp and not unpleasant. The crumb is fantastic and the texture, when you bite into it fresh, is unbelievable. The bread is now a day old, and looks and tastes great, it definitely has more character then no knead bread. My bread is not perfect (who do you know that does things perfectly on the first go?). My dough was a little flat, lacks oven spring. My slashes didn't expand during bake. My dough was tough, lacked extension, when I folded it for final shaping. But I am pretty happy with this new methodology. A lot more involved than no knead bread, but achievable for anyone with the motivation to make a great loaf of bread. If you want to take your no knead bread to the next level this is the book. thanks Chad

Being essentially lazy, I seldom write an Amazon review. It feels a lot like homework, and nobody likes homework, right? Still, I occasionally discover a book or a product that so exceeds my expectations that I feel a duty to share my good fortune with my fellow consumers. Chad Robertson's "Tartine Bread" is one of those discoveries. Robertson's book contains an important ingredient that other bread books lack: detail. For example, in her book "The Italian Baker," Carol Field provides recipes for dozens of Italian breads. I have enjoyed the book, but each recipe is more of a rough guide than a detailed road map. She uses instructions such as "Make a big round shape of it [the dough] by just folding and tucking the edges under a bit." She tries to describe the state of dough development using words like "velvety" and "moist." The book contains a few line drawings but no photographs. By contrast, Robertson's book contains detailed instructions together with hundreds of photographs leaving no doubt what the developing dough should look like at each stage of the process. The photographs and Robertson's autobiographical tale make "Tartine Bread" a joy to read. Most important, the bread I've produced following Robertson's instructions has been wonderful: a cracklin' crispy crust, soft chewy crumb, faint aromas of hazelnut and chocolate (I have no idea why), and beautiful colors ranging from creamy white to almost black. I have shared this bread with just two friends so far. Both have now placed orders for the book and for the dutch oven combo that Robertson recommends. I have seen some concern that this book contains too few recipes. My advice: don't worry about it. If this book does nothing more than teach you to bake the "Basic Country Bread," it will be well worth the price. I am unsure about the propriety of criticizing a review written by another Amazon user, but I cannot resist taking E. Hanner to task for his November 10, 2010 misleading critique, "Tartine -- choose another book." Hanner finds fault in Robertson's explanation of baker's percentages, saying: "Robertson ... attempts to de-mystify bakers math so you learn to `think like a baker.' Then his representation of the recipe or formula is in my opinion very non standard and confusing." In fact, Robertson's explanation of the baker's percentage is entirely correct. (See, Harold McGee, "On Food and Cooking" (New York: Scribner, 2004), p. 527 and Michael Ruhlman, "Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking" (New York: Scribner, 2009), p. 5.) Hanner seems unhappy that the components in a baker's percentage add up to more 100%. That, however, is why it's called a "baker's percentage" and not a "mathematician's percentage." Hanner also seems to misunderstand that the flour in the leaven is included in the percentage of leaven rather than the percentage of dough flour. Finally, Hanner expresses concern for our safety, complaining that "[t]he concept of baking in a cast iron combo cooker is in my opinion, an accident waiting to happen." Even the most humble home cook handles hot pans regularly. We're not children, for crying out loud. Hanner claims that his critique is not mean spirited, but it's hard to believe anything else. Robertson has written a wonderful book that succeeds (where other bread books have failed) in providing a detailed, illustrated path to better bread building.

I’m no professional baker but I have been making sourdough bread for years at home. think this is a great book for experienced sourdough bakers and beginners as well. You just need to get a digital scale to weigh ingredients and a Dutch oven. Tartine is inspiring and instructive with beautiful photos and clear detailed instructions. The instructions look long and a little intimidating at first, but it reads like a friend is talking you through the entire process in detail. Once you learn the process, it’s easy. Interesting read as well. So far I tried the first recipe and loved the results! Delicious artisan style bread. I will be trying all the recipes. If you know someone who wants to learn to bake sourdough bread, gift this book with a little jar of sourdough starter….

I bought this book for my son, who loves making bread. It is easy to follow and has wonderful recipes.

I love this book, so well written. That said I'm a culinary trained chef so I have a solid background on the fundamentals. It takes practice, some understanding and of course patience. Making bread using this technique is an all day experience but God damn the bread is so good and you can totally control the level of flavor.. one note this book recommends using a double dutch oven (I bought 2, to cook both loaves at the same time) and you great results. I 've made dozens of loaves now and have the basic country loaf down, but there were plenty of fails. After a few loaves you start to know when the dough is ready to move to the next step. The book talks alot about the need to create steam and the double dutch oven works great for round loaves but I've found with a good really hot baking stone elongated loaves and baguettes can be made in a regular oven with great success. First thing I did was get some metal tape used for duct work and taped over the vent inside the oven this traps the moisture, greatly increasing the steam capture, then use wet towels on a sheet pan on the bottom shelf, it's like a sauna. 2nd let that stone get really hot, it normally takes a good 40mins. Last in the cold months I was having a hard time getting the rise I wanted so I started adding 1T sugar when I added salt and this helped kick start the yeast without compromising flavor. I've had the starter working for over year now. Keep it in the fridge sealed in a mason jar, every couple weeks I dump 3/4 and refeed. I normally don't have enough leaven left over to used. Get hooked, get fat. But a good fat... jk

I’ve been making sourdough for 4 years. I bought this book last year and thought it was too advanced. One year later I’ve purchased it again to search for the perfect sourdough loaf. This book is AMAZING. I’ve made 5 different variations of loaves and they are all beyond perfect! I highly recommended this book!

Baskı ve sunum muhteşem. İçerik beklentimin üstünde.

I am not formally trained, but I am a seasoned baker. I have made bread for years, but I have had THE WORST luck with making sourdough bread. I was on the verge of thinking there was no hope for me, until... THIS BOOK CAME ALONG!!!!! I was seriously on my last try before I labeled it as a hopeless cause. I made the best damned sourdough you could possibly imagine using the Tartine Bread book!!! Crackling crust, beautiful crumb, pronounced, but not overpowering tartness, incredible spring, bubbles throughout... I couldn't believe it! Now, I'm pretty sure I can make just about anything!!!! I have read many books on the subject, but none of them go into the depth that is required to actually teach a person how to make sourdough. The author describes each step in detail, including what to note in terms of smell, appearance, feel, etc. Detailed pictures supplement this instruction. Also, his back story detailing his journey in bread-making is truly inspiring! I really enjoyed reading it. There is something truly noble and humble about bringing bread to the masses. A fantastic read... I'd give this book a million stars if I could!

I am very glad that I bought it.

It arrived on time and exceeded all expectations.. thank you

Excelente produto! Explica o passo a passo pra quem está começando nos pães artesanais. Tem várias fotos que exemplificam.