First time in a long time I've made the tartine country loaf and actually followed the recipe. God, it's so good. The way the dough feels, the sheen on the crust, the smell is incredible, just an absolutely fantastic recipe
(I will admit they look pretty underproofed, this recipe usually doesn't have that vigorous of oven spring or a big ear, but I was impatient)
My shaping was also mediocre at best
Loaf 1: 15 hour cold proof
Loaf 2: 16ish hours
Cooking is Art, Baking is Science.
If you want to get anywhere in baking, take a proven recipe and stick to it to the letter. If it says "lick the loaf", do it, it has a reason...
I mean, that being said, once you get a good guy feeling for the process you can improv pretty well
But as a general rule I 100% agree
For improv, especially on a bread recipe, you'll need a load of experience.
I mean... It looks like OP got it down
There still is a difference between closely following a recipe and being able to wing it.
The post before this one was without a recipe
In fairness, though, I have this one largely memorized, so anytime I don't use a recipe it's more like, "A jazz rendition of the Tartine country loaf"