Bread

Tartine-Style Baguettes (Levain and Poolish)

By Willy Bear ·

Chad Robertson’s baguettes in Tartine Bread use two preferments at once: a sourdough levain and a yeasted poolish. Between them there is enough rising power that the final dough needs no extra yeast, and you get a lot of flavor, a dough that stretches easily and bread that keeps. This version comes from a home baker who scaled the book’s recipe down to four or six baguettes and adjusted it after baking it many times.

What he changed from the book: the poolish uses 0.4 g of instant yeast instead of the 3 g the book gives, because 3 g ferments far too fast for such a small poolish, and he folds the dough four times every 45 minutes instead of six times every 30. He also found the book’s dough makes far more than the two or three baguettes it says. If you have Tartine Bread, compare as you go.

The Dawg House Bakery’s scaled version of the baguettes in Chad Robertson’s Tartine Bread, written out here in my own words.

Ricotta BearRecipe by Willy Bear

Tartine-Style Baguettes

Baguettes made with both a sourdough levain and a poolish, scaled down from Tartine Bread. Makes 6 baguettes of 40 cm or 4 of 60 cm.

Prep
1 hr
Bake
30 min
Rest
10 hr
Total
11 hr 30 min
Makes
6 baguettes (40 cm)
Level
hard

Recipe originally written in grams and auto-converted to US cups. Conversions can be slightly off, especially for flour, so weigh when you can.

For the levain

For the poolish

For the final dough

Equipment

  • Kitchen scale
  • Two containers for the preferments
  • Mixing bowl
  • Couche or floured towel
  • Baking stone or sheet
  • Steam pans
  • Transfer board and parchment
  • Lame

Method

  1. Make the preferments. Mix the starter with the 150 g each of flour and water for the levain, and the flour, water and yeast for the poolish. Keep both somewhere warm, 78 to 82°F (26 to 28°C), so they are ready in 3 to 4 hours, ideally at the same time. Both should float in water when ready; the poolish will be heavily bubbled on top. If one is ready first, that is fine.
  2. Mix. Set aside 50 g of the water. Put the 229 g of each preferment in a bowl, loosen them with the rest of the water, then sift in both flours and mix until there is no dry flour and no big lumps. It will be shaggy and stiff; do not add water. Cover and rest 30 to 60 minutes.
  3. Salt and water. Sprinkle the salt over the dough, add the 50 g of water you held back and squeeze it all through with your hands until the water is absorbed and you cannot feel any salt crystals. If you use a mixer, keep it on the lowest speed: the folds will build the strength.
  4. Bulk rise with folds. Keep the dough warm, 78 to 82°F (26 to 28°C); a cold oven with the light on works. Fold it every 30 to 45 minutes, stopping once it is strong and stretches into a thin windowpane, usually after about 4 folds. Bulk takes 4 to 5 hours in all, until the dough has grown 25 to 30%.
  5. Divide and preshape. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, ease it into a rough rectangle and cut four 330 g pieces for 60 cm baguettes or six 220 g pieces for 40 cm. Fold each in thirds like a letter, then roll it up loosely and seal the seam and ends. Set them seam up on a well-floured couche and rest 30 to 45 minutes, until relaxed.
  6. Shape. Roll each piece out into a baguette, keeping your fingertips and the heels of your hands on the board so your hands make a cup, and flattening your hands a little to push the dough longer.
  7. Final proof. Let them proof up to 3 hours. This stiff dough needs time to relax and rebuild its bubbles. They are ready when a fingertip press gives easily at the surface, has a little resistance deeper in, and springs back slowly. Handle them very gently from here.
  8. Heat the oven. During the last hour, heat the oven with a stone and steam pans (a pan for hot water and loaf pans with soaked towels) in for 10 to 15 minutes before baking, so the oven is full of steam. Oven: 500°F / 260°C (240°C fan)
  9. Bake with steam. Slide the baguettes in on parchment, turn the oven down straight away and bake 12 to 15 minutes, until the crust just starts to color. Oven: 475°F / 245°C (225°C fan)
  10. Finish. Take out the steam pans and the parchment, turn the oven down again and bake 12 to 15 minutes more, until deep golden brown. Cool on a rack, or eat them warm. Oven: 425°F / 220°C (200°C fan)

Baker's notes

This dough is only 64% hydration, so the crumb is chewier, more like a sourdough loaf. In a 2025 update the baker says he now prefers making it at the standard 75% hydration with 0.5% diastatic malt powder for a lighter crumb; that version is not what is written here.

ricottabear.com/tartine-style-baguettes · US measures, metric in brackets

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