The Fresh Loaf

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Trying to recreate Sperlonga from Whole foods at home

BiscuitsNGravy's picture
BiscuitsNGravy

Trying to recreate Sperlonga from Whole foods at home

Hi, I am a new bread baker and cooking enthusiast trying to learn more. In particular I am interested in trying to recreate the Sperlonga loaf from Whole Foods! As one blogger describes it:
" It's basically Ciabatta but heavier, longer, more doughy – all in a good way."
you can see pics here:
http://hummusboy.blogspot.com/2010/10/wholefoods-bargain-shocker.html

So after reading a previous thread, they had suggested a ciabatta type recipe with the following criteria:
"There is a distinct malty sweetness that comes from about 1.25% non-diastatic malt. Low percentage of poolish (10-15% of the flour). Overall hydration about 77-80%. "
You can find those details here:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/12568/sperlonga#comment-448518

So my challenge is to come up with a modified ciabatta recipe to produce a loaf similar to sperlonga.
Here's my attempt so far:

SperlongaBakers %
  
CiabattaTarget
Hydration80%
Malt Powder1.50%
Poolish Flour Weight10.00%
Poolish Hydration100%
Salt2.50%
Yeast.5-.6%


And coming up with a recipe for two loaves looks something like this:

Total Flour grams1000
Total Water grams800
Malt15.0
Poolish Flour100
Poolish Water100.
Salt25.0
Poolish Yeast tsp0.5
  
dough flour900
dough water700
Malt Tsp5.0
Salt Tsp4.2
Dough Yeast Tsp1.1

I used the following assumptions to turn bakers % into tsp

Malt Grams/Tsp3
Kosher Salt G/Tsp6
Instant yeast gm/tsp3.2

 

I imagine the process being:
1-poolish, room temp 4 hours. overnight in fridge

2-dough, mix in kitchenaid, rise for 2-4 hours, proof 1-2 hours.

3-oven 20-30 min

I tried to standardize around 1kg total bread flour.
Im flexible on that and all other criteria.
Wasnt really sure about yeast % and how that would relate exactly to rising and proofing times
Would welcome feedback, suggestions and so forth before I try my first batch!
TY!

 

BiscuitsNGravy's picture
BiscuitsNGravy

BiscuitsNGravy's picture
BiscuitsNGravy

BiscuitsNGravy's picture
BiscuitsNGravy

gummy interior

sfsourdoughnut's picture
sfsourdoughnut

Seems to me that the only issue is that the loaf was undercooked.  Most loaves bake for about 50-60 min.  You stated 20-30 min.  Perhaps the oven temp was too high to begin with if the outside was burning before the inside got a chance to bake?

Still looks delish.  I plan to try and see what results I get.

Thanks for the post.