Sourdough baking
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
awesome! care to show is the insides?
Bad news, actually, the insides are ugly
looks don't count nearly as much as taste - and this sure looks tasty!
at least you get big bubbles, even though they are quite irregular. i never manage to get such big bubbles
Sure looks like the kinds of breads you get with a new starter, don't you think?
Hasn't happened enough to say with certainty, but if I had to guess, I'd say you're probably right
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"