Perhaps a little late to the party, I too have been experimenting with the Tartine bread recipe listed
here.
This is a flavorful no-knead style bread. I too have found it relatively forgiving in terms of exact proportions and timing as I have made some modifications in the 3 breads I have baked. I have used the 50/50 ratio levain between flour and water, splitting the flours between white and wheat and adding a tablespoon of starter from my inherited culture (instead of rolling your own as the recipe calls for). I find the recipe's tip that the levain should float in water before using to be very practical when you are trying to measure the development of your preferment. Thanks, Tartine!
I baked the first couple of breads more or less as directed. On the third, I upped the whole wheat content to 20% of the flour weight and also subbed another 15-20% King Arthur all purpose flour for the bread flour (KA is still a fairly high protein content AP flour and I had more of it on hand than I did bread flour).
I'm quite pleased with the results.
I followed Bill SFNM's suggestion to bulk ferment and then refrigerate, only to pull it out the next day and finish the shaping and rising. This mad it not only a more manageable process in terms hands on time, but also featured better flavor development.
I've fond that heating the dutch oven on a pizza stone helps to avoid some bottom crust scorching I was running into. I also
have been borrowing the parchment paper sling idea from the Cook's Illustrated no-knead 2.0 recipe. I spray parchment paper, line a bowl with it, and put the bread it right-side up to rise. When the time comes, I just lift out the bread by the parchment and drop it into the hot dutch oven. At this point, it's just too easy not to do it this way and I haven't seen any difference in the rise, shape, or quality of the bread.
The texture is typical to other no-knead breads I have tried: a very crisp outside with a soft and squishable center. I store the bread cut side down on my cutting board (the cutting board prevents staling on the cut side and the crust is side does not seem to stale very quickly) to maintain texture. I think it does firm up a little bit the next day which I have liked.
The extended rise time also helped the interior texture which was less dense and had more sizeable holes.
Here is a cross-section:
I look forward to continued experimentation with this bread.
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