Inspiration

I was so excited to get a fresh copy of Tartine Bread book, published just last week. While I haven’t gotten to try their recipes, it's undeniably motivated me to bake more and more. This book is not just a cookbook, nor is it just a bread book. The first 37 pages are nothing but stories and pictures. I know you love your iPad/Kindle/e-reader, but Tartine Bread book is the reason why you still want a "real" book. I think trees may even appreciate the beauty of this book, so it’s ok.

When I proclaimed my baking challenge about a month ago, I had no idea that this book was on the way to the printing press and I just can’t believe how timely it was. Chad Robertson, who has been obsessed with baking traditional European breads using the slow fermentation method for over 18 years, talks about how Tartine came to be, how he wanted anything but sour bread, and most importantly, he encourages readers (like me) to believe that baking Tartine bread at home is NOT impossible.

This week, I was working on improving my grigne. Natalie, from Bao Bread, suggested to me over Twitter: “avoid over-rise, little under-rise could help the dough expand in oven and get bigger grin. Adequate heat at bottom can help rise the dough also.” So that’s what I tried.

It’s still not perfect, but it certainly did improve. In addition to creating more steam in the oven, I sprayed the dough before putting into the oven. That also seemed to help.

Then another problem came. The bottom started to crack. I only wish this was happening on the other side, the top. I don’t know what the solution is other than being more careful with sealing the dough when shaping. I guess I’ll do more research on this. My challenge continues.