Not a perfectly distributed crumb, but considering how gassy it was after the bulk ferment ran away, I'm happy with it

Yeah, 'sweet' is definitely over the top, but it's hard to convey the specific smell of a young, active, recently fed starter, so I get why he went with it

I've never heard of that levain, but my sourdough experience is almost exclusively regular bread

Correct, not sour. The starter barely starts to expand when you mix the final dough

The recipe in the book is called that, it's because feeding the starter twice makes it much, like, softer? Flavor-wise

It looks fantastic, honestly. One of my best ever, all around

for the levain: 100 g mature active sourdough starter 400 g unbleached all-purpose flour 100 g whole wheat flour 400 g lukewarm water

for the final dough: 900 g unbleached all-purpose flour 700 g water (warmed to about quite warm) 20g table salt 500g (about 1 pound) bacon, fried to crispy, and then crumbled (think this is 500g uncooked, I'm not sure, I made like a pound and a half) 4 T reserved bacon fat 305 g of the levain . Mix the levain ingredients in a medium bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for about 10 hours, until bubbly. In a large bowl mix the flours and water by hand until just incorporated. Cover and let it rest for 20 to 30 minutes (that is the autolyse step). . Sprinkle the salt all over the flour mixture, then add the levain. Using wet hands to prevent the dough from sticking, mix the dough by pinching it to distribute the salt. Cover and rest for 10 minutes. . Spread the bacon fat over the dough and add the crumbled bacon. Using the pincer method alternating with folding, mix all of the ingredients in the bucket. Cover the dough with plastic wrap, and let it sit for 30 minutes. In the next 2 hours, stretch and fold the dough 4 times, every 30 minutes. Cover and let rest at room temperature for 12 hours, until about tripled in volume.

Gently shape the dough into a loose boule. Flour a banneton, shape the dough into a medium tight ball and place it seam side down into the proofing banneton. Cover with oiled plastic wrap. Let the loaves proof for about 4 hours, depending on the room temperature.

About 45 minutes before baking, heat the oven to 475 degrees F with an empty covered Dutch oven placed on the middle rack.

Remove the Dutch oven from the oven and remove the lid. Place a piece of parchment over the banneton with the proofed bread inside, and a flat baking sheet over it. Flip the dough over, remove the basket, and place the shaped boule in the Dutch oven using the parchment to help move it. The paper can stay in during baking. Cover the Dutch oven and place it in the hot oven. Wet the lid of the Dutch oven, and quickly use it to cover it. Alternatively, you can use your own favorite method to generate steam during baking.

Bake covered for 30 minutes, and then uncover it and bake it for 15 to 20 minutes more, until the interior of the bread reaches 205 to 210 degrees F and the bread is a deep brown.

[My ingredient alterations in italics]

For what it's worth, the 2000g is only if you're starting from scratch, with no starter

If you're into the harder stuff, I've got some bacon bread proofing as we speak

I will do no such thing. Good luck with NNN

The tartine instructions are extremely verbose, I'm happy to answer any questions

FOR THE STARTER AND LEAVEN 1000 grams white-bread flour 1000 grams whole-wheat flour

FOR THE BREAD 200 grams leaven 900 grams white-bread flour 100 grams whole-wheat flour, plus more for dusting 20 grams table salt 100 grams rice flour

STEP 1 Make the starter: Combine 1,000 grams white-bread flour with 1,000 grams whole-wheat flour. Put 100 grams of warm water (about 80 degrees) in a small jar or container and add 100 grams of the flour mix. Use your fingers to mix until thoroughly combined and the mixture is the consistency of thick batter. Cover with a towel and let sit at room temperature until mixture begins to bubble and puff, 2 to 3 days.

STEP 2 When starter begins to show signs of activity, begin regular feedings. Keep the starter at room temperature, and at the same time each day discard 80 percent of the starter and feed remaining starter with equal parts warm water and white-wheat flour mix (50 grams of each is fine). When starter begins to rise and fall predictably and takes on a slightly sour smell, it’s ready; this should take about 1 week.(Reserve remaining flour mix for leaven.)

STEP 3 Make the leaven: The night before baking, discard all but 1 tablespoon of the mature starter. Mix the remaining starter with 200 grams of warm water and stir with your hand to disperse. Add 200 grams of the white-wheat flour mix and combine well. Cover with a towel and let rest at room temperature for 12 hours or until aerated and puffed in appearance. To test for readiness, drop a tablespoon of leaven into a bowl of room-temperature water; if it floats it’s ready to use. If it doesn’t, allow more time to ferment.

STEP 4 Make the dough: In a large bowl, combine 200 grams of leaven with 700 grams of warm water and stir to disperse. (Reserve remaining leaven for future loaves; see note below.)

STEP 5 Add 900 grams of white-bread flour and 100 grams of whole-wheat flour to bowl and use your hands to mix until no traces of dry flour remain. The dough will be sticky and ragged. Cover bowl with a towel and let dough rest for 25 to 40 minutes at room temperature.

STEP 6 Add 20 grams fine sea salt and 50 grams warm water. Use hands to integrate salt and water into dough thoroughly. The dough will begin to pull apart, but continue mixing; it will come back together.

STEP 7 Cover dough with a towel and transfer to a warm environment, 75 to 80 degrees ideally (like near a window in a sunny room, or inside a turned-off oven). Let dough rise for 30 minutes. Fold dough by dipping hand in water, taking hold of the underside of the dough at one quadrant and stretching it up over the rest of the dough. Repeat this action 3 more times, rotating bowl a quarter turn for each fold. Do this every half-hour for 2 1/2 hours more (3 hours total). The dough should be billowy and increase in volume 20 to 30 percent. If not, continue to let rise and fold for up to an hour more.

STEP 8 Transfer dough to a work surface and dust top with flour. Use a dough scraper to cut dough into 2 equal pieces and flip them over so floured sides are face down. Fold the cut side of each piece up onto itself so the flour on the surface remains entirely on the outside of the loaf; this will become the crust. Work dough into taut rounds. Place the dough rounds on a work surface, cover with a towel, and let rest 30 minutes.

STEP 9 Mix 100 grams whole-wheat flour and 100 grams rice flours. Line two 10- to 12-inch bread-proofing baskets or mixing bowls with towels. Use some of the flour mixture to generously flour towels (reserve remaining mixture).

STEP 10 Dust rounds with whole-wheat flour. Use a dough scraper to flip them over onto a work surface so floured sides are facing down. Take one round, and starting at the side closest to you, pull the bottom 2 corners of the dough down toward you, then fold them up into the middle third of the dough. Repeat this action on the right and left sides, pulling the edges out and folding them in over the center. Finally, lift the top corners up and fold down over previous folds. (Imagine folding a piece of paper in on itself from all 4 sides.) Roll dough over so the folded side becomes the bottom of the loaf. Shape into a smooth, taut ball. Repeat with other round.

STEP 11 Transfer rounds, seam-side up, to prepared baskets. Cover with a towel and return dough to the 75- to 80-degree environment for 3 to 4 hours. (Or let dough rise for 10 to 12 hours in the refrigerator. Bring back to room temperature before baking.)

STEP 12 About 30 minutes before baking, place a Dutch oven or lidded cast-iron pot in the oven and heat it to 500 degrees. Dust tops of dough, still in their baskets, with whole-wheat/rice-flour mixture. Very carefully remove heated pot from oven and gently turn 1 loaf into pan seam-side down. Use a lame (a baker’s blade) or razor blade to score the top of the bread a few times to allow for expansion, cover and transfer to oven. Reduce temperature to 450 degrees and cook for 20 minutes. Carefully remove lid (steam may release) and cook for 20 more minutes or until crust is a rich, golden brown color.

STEP 13 Transfer bread to a wire rack to cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing. The bottom of the loaf should sound hollow when tapped. Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees, clean out pot and repeat this process with the second loaf

Yeeaahh I've been meaning to, but since I use actual cookbooks it's like 4% more hassle. I can probably do that, though, lol

I suppose the lack of a crumbshot in this album is less than ideal, then?

Thank you thank you, I really dig the tartine recipe, the dough just feels RIGHT during the process

I suppose that's a fair point, I'll keep em coming!

Does semolina count as whole grain? I wasn't aware of that.

It was 100% hydration, tons of fun to fold

Yep, that's it

I mean, I'm 30 and a non traditional college student. If the weather is agreeable, I have a few nice sweaters that I'll wear with an undershirt, dark jeans, and I've got a pair of Loake boots that are very nice.

I feel GREAT when I dress like that, and get quite a few glances throughout the day. Also my wife eyeballs me as I leave the house.

I have a stark reminder of the worst period in my life where I did the same. The "account performance" chart in an investment of mine showed steady growth and monthly inputs, then there's a cliff, and over a period of a few months, it's completely emptied. Thousands, easily. And the vast majority was fast food and liquor