
"Stretch Bread" -- Anyone ever heard of it?
There is a bakery in my area (Syracuse, New York) that makes the most delicious and unusual bread as their signature item. They call it "Stretch Bread," and it is a ciabatta-like loaf (although longer and not quite as wide), with very large holes throughout the loaf. The crust is slightly crisp, but iif you pull off a piece rather than cut it, it stretches before it tears. The inside of the loaf is very elastic, not crumbly at all (unless you let it sit out for a day) and the upper crust is bumpy, evidence of the large air bubbles directly under the crust in the dough inside. The flavor is very mild -- no sourdough or overly-yeasty taste, I don't taste any olive oil or anything else, for that matter, except maybe a little salt. It's obviously baked on a little corn meal and the loaf is barely brown, usually a little more brown where the air bubbles are and more beige or tan over the bulk of the loaf.
I'm dying to learn how to make this wonderful bread. Has anyone ever haard of such a thing or do you have a recipe you would recommend or share? I'm brand new to this site and a relatively new bread baker, but am not afraid of a challenge, so if you have any suggestions, I would be much obliged.
