Whole Wheat Tartine Bread Moves People

In the Emergency Department, one of the primary goals is to “move people.” One of my consultants told me that a common question in an EM residency interview is to be asked, “how are you at moving people?” An inquiry into how efficient you are with patient care, with, I believe, more of an emphasis on quantity and velocity than the quality of care or management of emotions involved. I am decidedly not a people mover. Actually, I rather enjoy collecting people. I like to sign up for them when they come into my ED ward, get their work up started after physical exam, go back for a nice conversation, maybe linger over them while stitching something that has torn, or while packing a wound that I have numbed and cleaned out. I like to bring them meals, relieve their pain and calm their nausea, entertain with jokes, throw another warm blanket around their shoulders, and then when the doctor in charge asks me “Where are we with your patients?” I may nearly say that we are in my living room having a grand time before I remember that we are in the hospital, and that I have not eaten or sat down in ten hours. He will want me to move them along, admit or discharge, and each time I say farewell to this new person in my life I will always think, Too bad, I was just getting to know them. #sogladIchosepsychiatry.

It is calming to come home and mix yeast and flour and to know that you can’t hurry bread.

Whole Wheat Tartine Bread

Adapted from the Tartine Bread Book

Sourdough          200 g

Water                   800 g

Wheat flour        700 g

Regular flour      300 g

Salt                         20 g

Prepare the dough using the method of Tartine Country Bread, except let the dough rest for 60 minutes in the first rise, because it needs to absorb more water.

This is the spongiest and sweetest whole wheat bread I’ve ever made and eaten. Whole wheat flour absorbs more water than white flour—so while it is recommended that you let it rest for at least 60 minutes, it is also fine to let it rest overnight. There is no hurry with bread, especially with wheat Tartine. And as for moving people, for now I’m content to remain moved by people.