March 4, 2017 - 9:08am
Ideas on replicating Tartine flat bread?
I love Tartine bread and most loaves done in a similar style. My biggest concern is the thick crust and irregular shape make for not ideal sandwiches or restaurant usage.
I recently visited Tartine and they sell sandwiches on a very flat, dark, Tartine-ish loaf. Crust is sturdy but very easy to eat. Great sandwich. It's something they've only been doing for 5-6 months. And I have no clue how to replicate that texture.
Could it be just a flatter country loaf baked in 15 minutes? Would that decrease chew that much? Thanks for any insight.
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I don't know what they do, but I make a Stout Multigrain boule that, when I made the first test loaf, had a very thick, chewy crust. I tried replacing half of the unbleached bread flour with AP flour and the crust is wonderful - thinner, more tender and crispy, but still with 'chew'. I also added a bit of olive oil to the dough.
Hmmm. I did suppose a softer flour might do the trick. In the upper midwest that's not the easiest thing to find. But I'll give it a whirl, as well as a hybrid poolish/sourdough dough.
Well, if I can find softer flour here in Western Canada, you should be able to! You could even try cake and pastry flour though that might be a little too soft. Any all purpose flour should be a bit less 'strong' than bread flour.
Have you thought about using white whole wheat flour? It is a soft wheat that is milled from hard white winter wheat according to the KAF website. I use it to make sandwich bread; 1/2 bread flour 1/2 white whole wheat. I also add flax seeds, pepita seeds & a KAF harvest grains blend to my dough. The resulting bread is perfect for sandwiches. Just a thought; give it a try to see if it works.
Claudia
I have had success changing out part of the water for milk in a Tartine bread recipe and having a softer crust/crumb because of it.
50% hot tap water / 50% milk right from the fridge worked out to just the right temperature to mix in.
and soften the crust with milk before and when it comes out of the oven with a quick brushing. I think it makes great sandwich bread that way even though it isn't enriched with butter, sugar, cream or milk. But enriching Tartine bread would also be another way to go for a nice pan bread with a supple crust and baking at 375 .
Baking regularTartine at 425 F also makes for a thinner softer crust
Good luck with the experiments.
I talked to Chad Robertson briefly today and asked him about his flat bread. He says they bake it "a little different" and the dough "is a little different." About the only definitive thing he would tell me is that the temperature is "a little different." In my mind I thought "thanks for the details, Chad!"
find out more??
I never did solve this problem. I’ve also been unable to find anyone else even mentioning it.