Basic Country Loaf: Day 1

I love everything about bread. I think it's one of the most perfect foods! It can be savory or sweet, soft or crusty. And old bread bakes up perfectly in bread puddings or stratas. Or made into a summery panzanella! A renaissance food of sorts.

But just because I absolutely adore everything about bread, doesn't mean I'm any sort of expert bread baker. I've dabbled here and there with a few recipes. Cinnamon rolls, pizza dough, bagels, naan, white bread, cheesy loaves, garlic knots, but not legit crusty bread you'd find at a bakery. So this week, I decided to dust off my Tartine Bread book and make something from it.

The very first recipe in the book (and the base for most of the other recipes) is the Basic Country Loaf. And at 27-pages long, this recipe is also the first chapter of the book. Whew.

To tackle this, Chad Robertson breaks the process down into 3 steps. Developing the Starter, Making the Leaven and Mixing the Dough, and Baking the Loaves. I took this a step further and took notes on each step. I was a notetaker in college, after all.

The whole process from starter to baking is about a week. A week!

So today was Day 1, Step 1. Making the starter.

I measured the flour. A 5-lb 50/50 mix of white and whole wheat flour.

I know, 5 lbs of flour?? For 2 loaves? I had this same thought. But I rationalized it. Maybe these are big loaves. Huge loaves. And maybe I need it for the starter...and shaping...and dusting... Well, as it turns out, this 5 lb flur mix that I so carefully measured out is just for the starter!! How did I miss that in my note taking? Ughhhhh. Needless to say, any baked goods coming out of my kitchen will be half whole wheat.

Anyway, next I mixed a few handfuls of flour mix with a small bowl of water until it formed a thick batter.

Mixing with your hands is one of my favorite parts of bread baking.

I don't know exactly what a "thick batter" is, but I went with a thick pancake batter. And hoped for the best.

My starter is now resting in a shady corner in my kitchen. And hopefully, it 2-3 days time, it'll smell acidic and ripe! (Yum?) And then I can feed it. Apparently, at some point, I'll have to remove the black layer that forms. Blechhhh. The things I do for bread.