Blog posts

Pane Tipo di Altamura

31 March, 2016

David Snyder

Back in 2011, several TFL bakers worked on trying to replicate Pane di Altamura at home. I participate with one bake (see: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/24139/pane-tipo-di-altamura-quotlocal-breadsquot), but did not work to refine it and have not baked this bread since. Abe's (A BakEr on TFL) recent efforts have inspired me to give this bread another go.

After a few brain farts where I confused the matter of posting a simple reply as opposed to starting a new blog post:

Now that is some windowpane!

We are getting pretty good at keeping baked bread out of the freezer by sticking to only baking one loaf a week.  When out future son-in-law came over for breakfast in Easter weekend he rolled away with the last of the frozen bread and a couple of homemade jams and some citrus to take back to Colorado.

I have been making a ton of whole grain breads lately, breads were the flavor comes entirely from fermentation and the actual flavor of the grain, and while I think that is essentially the only way that great bread should be flavored every once in a while I feel like messing around and experimenting with flavors that would be otherwise impossible to coax out of grain alone.

My very first attempt at making one of these loaves. It's still cooling so I don't know what it will taste like. I thought the dough a little dry and my plaits aren't too even but it looks good.

I decided to go back to Tartine Bread's Country Loaf since I had quite a bit of success the last time I made it. I need some bread for a staff snack this week (working a stretch of 8 days even though I am retired) and wanted something a bit different so I chose the Country Loaf with Sesame.

    I was in the mood for a nice soft flavorful bread, so since I had some fresh milled Kamut flour ready to go, I mixed it with a good amount ricotta cheese, olive oil and some Artisan style flour from KAF.  The end result was a dough that was soft as silk and ended up with a wonderful soft and flavorful crumb, perfect for sandwiches, toast and grilled bread.

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The copycat is back, that would be me.  David Snyder's recent post on his work in progress, Semolina Capriccioso, had my brain already plotting a visit to this bread, especially as he described the taste.  I've already professed my adoration for his Sourdough Italian Baguette bread a few times on TFL.  So the wheels encased inside my cranium were turning and I just had to scratch that itch.

hello all!

Since my last post, my microbakery business was uprooted along with much of my life. It's a blurry spectrum of crisis, growth and rebuilding, but if my returning passion for bread is any indicator, life is much better these days. 

My beau is quite the fermenting aficionado and has a great interest in beer, traditionally prepared food, etc. We've been watching Michael Pollan's Cooked lately, and made it to the bread episode and he was thrilled and wanted to learn the ropes from me.