Pane Siciliano - BBA interpretation
On Saturday, I began making Peter Reinhart's Pane Siciliano formula from the Bread Bakers Apprentice. When I first started it, I thought it was a 2 day bread build.. lol. Needless to say I had to pitch something else real quick for Sunday dinner - thanks Jason's Ciabatta! Nope, this dough takes a full three days, but I have to say.. it was absolutely worth it.
The direction and assistance in the book is so well written that it made it easy to follow along. I just love how this book really guides you through every step. I started with his Pate Fementee and on day 2, I was able to add the remaining formula ingredients, including 1 TBS of honey. Yesterday afternoon, I was able to shape the dough and the only big mistake I made was to try and shape this dough on a lightly floured surface. This made shaping the dough into 24 inch ropes a bit tricky, but with a 10 minute rest, they ended up rolling out just fine. What I didn't realize is that with that slight amount of flour adhered to the dough, my shape didn't stay tight. Lesson learned. During the rise and oven spring, they came a bit loose.
This "S" Shaped bread is beautiful though. The smell from the oven, after three days of building flavor, was incredible. The bread was so creamy with a slight bit of sweetness from the honey that actually enhanced the flavor, not really made it sweet at all. The color of the crust is a beautiful bronze - thanks to the semolina flour. Seriously, this just melts on the tongue and is well worth the three days.
If anyone else has made this, I'd love to hear what you think.