June 22, 2010 - 9:15am
My 1st Pugliese
Been looking forward to make this bread. Finally got my Durum Flour in the mail (not available at local stores). Followed the recipe from Rose Beranbaum's The Bread Bible. Flour (bread:67%, durum 33%), Water 80.4%, Yeast .79%, Salt 2.2%.
Biga: 75 g Flour, Instant Yeast 1/16 tsp, water 59 g, optional: Malt Powder 1/2 tsp.
Worried that I totally ruined the dough. I allowed the biga to ferment in a cool area for 24 hrs (recommended @ 55-65 F). I thought my storage room is that cool. When I checked the room temp it was 72%.
Baked on stone: 5 mins @ 500 F; 20 mins @ 450, turned half way thru. Internal Temp. Target: 205 F, Actual 200 F.
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It's one of my all-time favorites.
Yours looks terrific!
About the room temp concern: one lesson I keep learning over and over is that bread is relatively forgiving. Which makes sense, given that it has its origins in environments and with ingredients of much greater variability than anything most modern home bakers deal with.
Note about ingredients: I used Bob's Red Mill Semolina, which is coarser than the duram flour recommended by Beranbaum. On a hunch, I made the biga with the semolina and increased the water a little--maybe about 5%. Sort of a "soaker"+biga approach.
I let it ferment on the counter for about 5 hours, then stirred it down and stashed it in the fridge for about 20 hours. Turned out great.
Oh, and I didn't "steam" in the traditional sense. I used the celebrated "magic bowl" technique of covering the boule with a large stainless steel bowl I had preheated. After about 10 minutes, I removed the bowl.
Good results, plus I don't have to worry about steam infiltrating--and ruining--the digital controls panel.
Have you tried the "sweet potato pugliese" variation that was featured here some time ago? It's also very, very good.
I so like the "magic bowl" technique idea - I will definitely try that approach. Thank you so much for sharing.
Your boule turned out beautiful! RB Pugliese is one of my very favorite loaves to make, I always 3 X the recipe to make two nice size loaves. I love anything made with the Duram flour or the semolina pasta grind. I've been wanting to bake up a batch and just seeing your lovely loaf and now having a little more free time with some home projects coming to an slow..I will bring out the Duram flour I have stored. Another one I'm baking next is a great recipe that uses duram flour..It's called Tom Cat's Filone from 'Maggie Glezer Artisan Baking' a wonderful bread book I highly recommend. dmsnyer has the recipe posted on his blog if you don't have the book. It's a very delicious bread.
Sylvia
Thank you, Sylvia! I'm very new at this baking. I'm constantly looking for new inspiration and idea.I did not buy much Durum so I'm going to have to order more. I love the bread's crust color. The Durum I bought on line was much finer than the Semolina. I'm going to have to try the Filone. I bought the one they sell at Von's here. Gosh! I ate the whole thing!
Hi
Stick to the regular flour in the biga. However, soaking the semolina is a really good idea. Why not autolyse the semolina in all the dough water for half an hour before adding all the other ingredients to form a final dough?
That's a technique I've adopted with semolina in bread, and it works very well indeed.
BW
Andy
Thank you, Andy, I appreciate that idea. Autolysing the durum in all the dough water.
Hi Avie93309,
My technique involves coarse semolina, not durum. It should work, but the water uptake may be different. You may want to look here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/17308/semolina-durum-bread-and-sourdough-seed-bread
Best wishes
Andy
That's one very delicious looking loaf. i have never tried bread with Semolina, but your bread makes me want to try that anytime soon.
It's not the Semolina - I used Durum, the finer one. Yes, I love it! It goes with anything. I know RB says just plain olive oil but I just love brie and fig spread so much!