10/18/10 - Il Pane di Matera Shaping Experiment

This is a crazy looking bread from the town of Matera in Southern Italy made with durum flour and a natural sourdough starter…  I had tried making this bread before with the durum flour, but made the dough too wet so it wasn't very easy to shape.  This most recent attempt was reasonably successful.  What makes this bread interesting is that it is shaped after the final proof and dumped into the oven.  Please see the links below about this bread and how to make it...

Links about this bread in Italian:
http://mollicadipane.blogspot.com/2008/12/il-pane-di-matera_7869.html
http://www.gennarino.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=14036
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng4jnGnLTb4

My attempt is using my sourdough starter to make a biga naturale and AP flour.  I have also taken liberties in the processing of the dough, so the taste is probably not that "authentic"...

Total Recipe:
1250g AP
825g Water
125g Sourdough Starter @ 100% Hydration
30g Kosher Salt
6g Instant Yeast
2232g Total Dough Yield

Biga Naturale
250g AP
126g Sourdough Starter
144g Water
520g Total

Final Dough
1000g AP
682g Water
520g Biga Naturale
30g Kosher Salt
6g Instant Yeast
2232g Total

6:45pm - Mix biga natural and let sit covered for 3-4 hours.
7:15pm - Mix flour and water from the final dough.  Mix until combined well (2-3 minutes) and place in lightly oiled large plastic tub, cover and let rest.  This is basically a long autolyse.
9:45pm - Sprinkle the kosher salt and yeast over the flour and water dough.  Cut up biga natural and distribute over the dough.  Knead for a few minutes until well combined and the yeast and salt are dissolved in the dough.  About 5 minutes.  Do not add flour.  If the dough sticks, just wet your hands and continue.  Cover and let rest.
10:30pm - Turn dough (stretch and fold method), cover and let rest.
11:00pm - Divide dough into 2 equal pieces, preshape into boules, place each in it's own plastic bowl that is 2x it's size, seam side down.  Cover and let rise for 2 hours.
12:00am - Place baking stone in oven, preheat with convection to 500F.
12:50am - With a plastic scraper, gently scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, shape (Watch the video.  It's tough to explain this one…), slash, place on lightly floured peel and place into oven directly on the stone.  When last loaf is in, bake for 15 minutes at 450F with convection.  Then, turn off the convection, bake for another 15 minutes at 425F, then 30 minutes at 400F.  Turn off oven, and leave in for another 15 minutes.  Cool completely before cutting.

I made these for some friends of mine, who I hope will give me a crumbshot as I don't have a loaf for myself…  I saw one of them today, and it looked very good…

Tim