How to Get an Open Crumb in Tartine Bread
An open crumb is one of the most recognizable features of Tartine-style bread. When the loaf is cut, the inside should look light and irregular, with holes of different sizes separated by thin, elastic walls.
Many bakers assume that large holes come from adding more water. They increase the hydration, struggle with sticky dough, and still end up with a flat loaf and a dense or gummy interior.
Water helps, but it cannot create an open crumb by itself. The dough must produce enough gas, develop a strong gluten network, and retain that gas through shaping and baking. If one of these elements is missing, higher hydration usually makes the problem worse.
For my Tartine-style recipe, approximately 73% hydration is enough to produce a beautifully open crumb. The real work lies in building strength, judging fermentation correctly, and handling the dough without destroying its structure.
Begin with a Strong, Active Starter
An open crumb starts before the dough is mixed.
The starter must be active enough to ferment the dough evenly. Use it close to its peak, when it has risen noticeably, contains many bubbles, and has a light, aerated interior. Its aroma should be pleasantly fermented rather than sharply acidic or strongly alcoholic.
A weak starter may eventually produce a few large bubbles, but the rest of the dough can remain dense. This creates tunnels surrounded by tight, heavy crumb rather than an evenly open structure.
A starter that has already collapsed significantly can also cause trouble. It may still contain living microorganisms, but its strongest period has passed, and its acidity can begin weakening the dough before enough gas has accumulated.
Do not judge the starter only by whether it floats in water. Watch how quickly it rises after feeding, how much volume it gains, and what its internal structure looks like.
Use Flour That Can Hold the Water
Tartine dough needs enough gluten strength to hold expanding gases during fermentation and baking.
Strong bread flour is usually the safest choice. A small amount of whole-wheat flour adds flavor and supports fermentation, but too much bran can interfere with the gluten network and make an extremely open crumb more difficult to achieve.
Flour strength cannot be judged only by the protein percentage printed on the package. Two flours with similar protein levels may absorb water and develop gluten very differently.
If your dough remains loose after several folds, spreads immediately, and tears whenever you lift it, the flour may not be able to hold the recipe’s full amount of water.
In that case, reduce the hydration slightly. Well-developed dough at 70–72% hydration will usually produce a more open crumb than weak, shapeless dough at 80%.
Do Not Add More Water Than the Dough Can Support
Higher hydration makes dough more extensible and allows bubbles to expand more easily. However, there is a limit.
When the dough contains more water than its gluten network can support, it spreads sideways and loses gas during handling. The finished loaf may be wide and flat, with a moist, compressed crumb.
Hold back a small portion of the water during mixing. Add it gradually after the flour has rested and begun developing strength. If the dough absorbs the water and becomes smooth again, continue. If it turns slippery and cannot regain structure, do not force in every gram.
The best hydration is not the highest number you can put into the recipe. It is the amount of water your flour and technique can control.
Build Strength Early in Bulk Fermentation
Tartine dough is not usually kneaded intensively. Its strength develops through rest and a series of folds during the first part of bulk fermentation.
For most dough, four to six sets of stretch and folds or coil folds are enough. Perform them about 30 minutes apart, beginning while the dough is still loose.
Each set should improve the structure. The dough should gradually become smoother, more elastic, and easier to lift as one connected mass. It should sit higher in the container and hold the shape created by the fold for longer.
The first folds can be more deliberate because the dough contains relatively little gas. Later folds should be gentler. Once the dough has become aerated, aggressive stretching can tear the gluten and press out the bubbles you want to preserve.
Stop folding when the dough has enough strength. Continuing only because the schedule calls for another set can make it unnecessarily tight or disturb fermentation.
Bulk Fermentation Determines the Crumb
Correct bulk fermentation is one of the most important conditions for an open crumb.
Underfermented dough has not produced enough gas. It usually feels tight, heavy, and resistant during shaping. In the oven, a few weak sections may expand dramatically while the rest remains dense. This often creates one or two enormous tunnels under the crust with compact dough below them.
Overfermented dough can look extremely airy in the container, but its gluten structure has begun to weaken. It feels sticky and fragile, spreads after shaping, and may lose much of its gas before baking. The crumb can then appear flat, wet, or compressed despite the long fermentation.
For my Tartine-style recipe, a rise of approximately 40–60% during bulk fermentation is a practical starting point. Warm dough or dough destined for a long cold proof may need to be shaped closer to the lower end of that range.
The dough should show several signs at once:
- bubbles are visible along the sides and underneath;
- the surface is slightly domed;
- the edges look rounded;
- the dough moves with a gentle jiggle;
- it feels lighter and more elastic;
- it still holds together when lifted.
Do not wait for the dough to double simply because another recipe gives that instruction. By that point, warm Tartine dough may already have passed its strongest stage.
Temperature Changes Everything
Temperature controls how quickly the dough ferments.
At approximately 24–26°C (75–79°F), fermentation usually develops at a steady, manageable pace. In a warmer kitchen, the dough can move from underfermented to overfermented surprisingly quickly.
Warm dough also feels softer and stickier, which can make it appear more hydrated than it really is. If your kitchen is hot, use cooler water and check the dough earlier.
Cool dough ferments more slowly, but cold firmness should not be mistaken for gluten strength. The dough still needs sufficient time to accumulate gas and become aerated.
Recording dough temperature, bulk fermentation time, and approximate rise will help you reproduce a successful crumb more reliably than following the clock alone.
Preserve the Gas During Pre-Shaping
Once bulk fermentation is complete, the dough contains the bubbles that will form the crumb. From this point, it should be handled carefully but not fearfully.
Turn the dough out gently. Avoid pressing it flat or repeatedly patting out the air. Bring it into a loose round with a bench scraper and create only enough tension to organize the dough.
A short bench rest allows the gluten to relax before final shaping. If the dough is shaped while still very tight, it may tear. If it rests too long, it can lose strength and spread.
Some large bubbles on the surface can be gently pressed out. Leaving every enormous bubble does not necessarily create a better crumb; it can produce hollow tunnels that weaken the structure of the loaf.
The goal is to preserve an even network of gas, not one or two oversized pockets.
Shape Gently but with Enough Tension
There is a balance between gentle handling and weak shaping.
If you press out all the gas, the crumb will become tighter. But if you barely shape the dough, it may not have enough surface tension to rise upward in the oven.
Fold the dough carefully and tighten the outer skin without tearing it. The shaped loaf should feel supported and hold a rounded form, while remaining soft and aerated inside.
Use only a light dusting of flour on the work surface. Too much flour prevents the dough from gripping the table, making it difficult to build tension.
If the loaf spreads immediately despite careful shaping, the problem probably began earlier. The dough may be overfermented, insufficiently developed, or too highly hydrated for the flour.
Do Not Overproof the Shaped Loaf
Cold proofing improves flavor and makes Tartine dough easier to score, but fermentation does not stop as soon as the basket enters the refrigerator.
The warm center of the loaf can continue fermenting for several hours. If bulk fermentation has already gone too far, a long cold proof can weaken the dough further.
For this reason, dough intended for a 12–14-hour cold proof is often shaped slightly earlier than dough that will be baked after only eight hours.
A refrigerator temperature of approximately 3–5°C (37–41°F) is ideal. At 7–8°C, the dough may continue fermenting actively throughout the night.
The loaf should feel aerated but supported when it enters the refrigerator. Cold temperatures can make weak dough firmer temporarily, but they cannot rebuild damaged gluten.
Strong Oven Spring Opens the Crumb
Even well-fermented dough needs rapid expansion during the first part of baking.
Preheat the Dutch oven, baking stone, or steel thoroughly. A weakly heated surface cannot transfer enough energy to the loaf, and the dough may spread before the crust begins to set.
Steam keeps the surface flexible during the first 18–20 minutes. In a covered Dutch oven, moisture released by the dough creates this steam naturally.
Score the chilled loaf with one confident cut. The score gives the expanding dough a controlled place to open. A shallow, hesitant, or poorly positioned cut can restrict expansion and produce a tighter crumb.
The loaf also needs to bake fully. An open crumb retains a great deal of moisture, and cutting the bread while it is hot can compress the interior and make it appear gummy. Allow it to cool for at least two hours.
Read the Pattern Inside the Loaf
The crumb can tell you what happened during the process.
A uniformly dense crumb often points to a weak starter, insufficient bulk fermentation, or poor oven spring.
A few enormous tunnels surrounded by dense dough usually indicate underfermentation, uneven gas distribution, or overly gentle shaping that left large air pockets trapped inside.
A flat loaf with a compressed, moist crumb may come from overfermentation, excessive hydration, or weak flour.
An irregular crumb with holes of different sizes, thin walls, and no dense band along the bottom is a better sign than the presence of one spectacular cavity.
Aim for a Light Crumb, Not the Largest Holes
A good Tartine crumb should be open enough to feel light, moist, and elastic. It does not need to contain holes large enough for the butter to fall through.
The most reliable path to that crumb is not endlessly increasing the hydration. Use an active starter, flour that can support the water, enough early folds, correctly timed bulk fermentation, careful shaping, and strong initial heat during baking.
When these elements are balanced, the holes appear naturally. They are not forced into the bread; they are the visible result of dough that developed enough gas, retained its strength, and reached the oven at the right moment.
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29.07.2026
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