Our bread for this week is going to be a modified version of Chad Robertsons’ Tartine Country Loaf. This bread has probably had more press coverage than any other sourdough bread. The New York Times has published the recipe and it has been documented on numerous web sites and blogs. It was originally presented in Chads’ book Tartine Bread. I was fortunate to find it online as an eBook for a really good price. I recommend it to anyone interested in making sourdough breads. The original formula for the Tartine Country Loaf makes two loaves of bread. That was last weeks bread. We enjoyed it enough that I decided it would be our go to bread for now.
This week will a single loaf with jalapeños and grapevine smoked cheddar cheese added. I have never tried this, so it will be a learning experience. And it will be documented whether it comes out or not. So let’s get started.
The leaven was started last night. I almost forgot to make it so it didn’t get made until 10:00 pm. The original formula calls for 1 tablespoon of 100% hydration starter for the leaven for two loaves. To me, that was a little vague. Is that of risen starter or stirred down? How does one actually measure 1 tablespoon of starter? It’s going to stick to both sides of the measuring spoon. In the end I decided to make a guess based on how much one cup of my starter, stirred down, weighed and divided by 16. That came out to 15 grams so that was what I used last week.
This week, since I am only making one I decided to use 8 grams. So the leaven consists of 9 grams (I missed my target but decided close enough) of starter, 100 grams of Poland Spring Water, 50 grams of King Arthur Organic Bread Flour and 50 grams of King Arthur Organic White Whole Wheat Flour. That was mixed and left on the counter at room temperature overnight.
I should mention that room temperature is another variable that effects fermentation and proofing times. Our kitchen is 67 F during the day and 63 F overnight during the winter. This lengthens fermentation times compared to someone who might have a 75 F kitchen. I use that to my advantage in that it gives me more flexibility for when things happen. I am fortunate to have a Brod & Taylor bread proofer so if I need to speed things up I can put the dough in there at a higher temperature.
The dough consists of 100 grams of the leaven, 450 grams of King Arthur Organic Bread Flour, 50 grams King Arthur Organic White Whole Wheat Flour, 375 grams Poland Spring Water, 10 grams fine sea salt, 100 grams of grapevine smoked cheddar cheese and 75 grams of minced raw jalapeño.
Everything except 25 grams of water, the salt, cheese and the jalapeños were mixed together in a bowl. I find it easiest to first mix the leaven into the water using a danish dough whisk. Then I slowly add the flour in and mixing with the whisk until the dough becomes too stiff to use. Then it it is time to switch to the hands and continue adding and mixing until all the flour is mixed into the dough. The dough will feel very dry at this point. The bowl is then cover and the dough rest to allow the water fully absorb into the flour for 45 minutes.
After its’ rest the dough feels wet and is very sticky. It’s time to add the remaining water, salt, cheese and jalapeños. I pressed the dough out added between one quarter and one third of each ingredient and then folded the dough in thirds. I then pressed out the dough and continued adding ingredients and folding the dough in thirds. I repeated this turning the dough a quarter turn each time until everything was incorporated. By this time the dough was very stiff from being worked. At this point I noticed I hadn’t added quite all the water. I let the dough relax for 20 minutes then added the remaining water folded a few times to work in the water. It didn’t all incorporate so I left the dough in the mixing bowl.
At this point I was worrying that I added too much cheese and jalapeño. There were bits of jalapeño falling out of the dough every time I touched it. I kept pushing them back into the dough. This continued through the process of stretching and folding the dough to develop the gluten strength.
Stretching and folding was done a total of six times on 30 minute intervals. Normally I only do four sets but I felt this needed extra because of the cheese and jalapeños. After the first set of folds, the dough was transferred from the mixing bowl to my covered container for the remainder of bulk fermentation. Total time for bulk fermentation (after adding salt and other ingredients until preforming the loaf) was six hours. The last three hours were spent in the proofer at 74 F.
After bulk fermentation the dough was pre-shaped into a round, allowed to rest for 20 minuted and then final shaped into a round loaf. At this point I was still concerned that there were too many jalapeños as they kept breaking through as I was trying to get a tight round loaf. From here it went into a well floured, cloth covered 8-1/2” banneton with the seam side up. It then went into the proofer at 74 F for one and a half hours to begin proofing. The dough in the banneton then went into a plastic bag and into the fridge overnight to finish proofing.
The next morning a small enameled cast iron Dutch oven was placed in the oven and preheated to 480 F convection for an hour. The dough was removed from the fridge, inverted onto a sheet of parchment paper, scored, and transferred on the parchment into the hot dutch oven and covered. The oven temperature was immediately reduced to 450 F. After 20 minutes the lid was removed and the baking continued another 22 minutes. The kitchen smelled wonderful while the bread baked. We could smell the dough, the jalapeños, and the smokiness of cheese.
UWhen the bread came out of the oven and went on to the cooling rack you could hear the cracking of the crust, the song of the bread. Just what you want to hear from a loaf of sourdough.
I have to say this recipe is a keeper. My worries about too much cheese or jalapeño were unfounded. I wouldn’t change a thing. Without a doubt this is one of the tastiest loaves of bread I have made.
I must admit I didn’t get my picture of the interior of the loaf until it was half gone. And not only is it great tasting fresh, it also tastes great the next day for breakfast toasted and slathered with butter.
