My adventures with yeast continued this weekend, when I attempted a much more complex recipe than usual. Pane Pugliese is a simple, rustic bread, but some effort is required to achieve the seemingly nonchalant result.
First, this is a sponge based bread. This sponge, known as biga, worked overnight (unlike previous 1 hour sponges I’ve used), which caused the water, flour and yeast mixture to triple in size and look all bubbly and active. So, start the biga around 10pm, mix the dough together around noon the next day, and after all is said and done you will have excellent fresh bread for dinner!
I used the Kitchenaide mixer instead of the bread machine (another first) to knead the dough. Finally, after multiple rise cycles stretching over 3 hours (2-3 times longer than normal), the bread was shaped and allowed to rise one last time. It was then soaked with water from are a squirt bottle right before baking in a very hot, 450 degree oven.
The water contributed to a loaf that had the crunchiest crust I’ve ever baked. The bread also had excellent flavor; the depth and complexity resulted from using the biga and the long, slow, multiple rise cycles. Pretty amazing results considering the only ingredients were flour, water, salt, and yeast!
Postscript: the bread didn’t age well, and was dry and chewy the day after it was baked. Oh, but the excellent toast it made; in some ways better than it was the day it was baked! (Sorry, all you Atkins advocates 🙂
I used to link to the recipe on the King Arthur site. Then I discovered it’s impossible to provide persistent links to their recipes. Plus, their search engine simply doesn’t work. Herewith, then, the recipe:
Pane Pugliese
This crusty, slightly domed and delicious peasant bread is made with a very slack (wet) dough. The dough is almost impossible to work with, but produces a pleasingly open texture. A long fermentation enhances the bread’s flavor.
Biga
1/2 cup (4 ounces) water
1 1/4 cups (5 1/8 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/8 teaspoon instant yeast
In a small mixing bowl, combine the water, flour and yeast to form a soft dough. Don’t knead it; just make sure all of the ingredients are well-incorporated. Set this mixture aside in a warm place, covered, for 12 to 16 hours.
Dough
all of the biga (above)
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) water
4 cups (17 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
Knead all of the dough ingredients together, using a mixer or bread machine (this is well nigh impossible to knead by hand), until the dough is cohesive and elastic (though not necessarily smooth), about 10 minutes. Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place for 2 to 3 hours, gently stirring it down each hour. (The longer you let the dough rise at this point, the better the flavor of the finished loaf will be).
Lightly grease a half-sheet pan or other flat pan. Scoop the very wet dough, in two separate pieces, onto the pan lengthwise, shaping each piece into a rough oval as best you can. Cover the dough with heavily greased plastic wrap, and allow it to rise for about 90 minutes. It’ll spread quite a bit; don’t worry, it’s supposed to.
Spray the loaves heavily with warm water, and bake them in a preheated 450