Pugliese bread from the Lighthouse Bakery
My wife's christmas present was a baking course at the Lighthouse Bakery, a small bakery focussing on teaching and some wholesale.
We were 4 participants and made some wonderful breads out of 5 different doughs using biga, rye sourdough, sponge, poolish and pate fermentee.
The most surprising and spectacular of the breads we made was the pugliese, which is also the "signature" loaf of the Lighthouse Bakery.
Liz and Rachel, who run the bakery, are happy for the formula to be shared, so here it is:
This bread is made with strong flour, water, salt and yeast, and yet has a sweetish, creamy crumb. It keeps well and is still excellent as toast 4 days after baking (given it survives that long).
Here is the formula:
Biga
The biga can be stored in the fridge and keeps for a week.
| Ingredient | Weight(g) | Percent |
| Strong White Flour | 500 | 100 |
| Water | 350 | 70 |
| Fresh yeast | 4 | 0.8 |
Mix and ferment at room temperature for at least 1 hour (until the yeast gets going), then put it into the fridge overnight. It will expand further, so choose an appropriate bowl.
Here a picture of the biga after 1 night in the fridge (the surface scraped off):
Dough
The given amounts make 1 loaf.
| Ingredient | Weight(g) | Percent |
| Strong White Flour | 500 | 100 |
| Water | 340 | 68 |
| Biga | 100 | 20 |
| Salt | 10 | 2 |
| Fresh yeast | 4.5 | 0.9 |
Mix and work the dough.
Our teachers recommend to use a mixer: 5min on medium speed and 5min on high speed.
I have no mixer; but I got great results with Bertinet's slap and fold technique.
Bulk ferment for about 3 hours (until trebled in size).
Preheat oven to 220C.
Shape into boule, be careful not to handle the dough too hard, it's quite sloppy at this stage.
Avoid using flour on the worktop.
Put the dough onto a baking parchament for the final proof (about 1 hour, check with the finger test).
Here a picture of the boule after final proof, it spreads a bit, which is not a bad thing:
Then dust it with flour and dimple it with your fingertips - a bit like captain Nemo playing the organ in his submarine.
Here is the result, ready to go into the oven:
Rather flat.
But the oven spring is quite amazing, and on the course when the oven door opened there was an astonished Ooooh in unison.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes at 220C without steam.
The result is the first picture in this post, here a shot of the crumb:
It needs to rest a couple of hours after baking, the taste improves a lot and you are rewarded for your patience.
I hope you enjoy making this bread as much as I do,
Juergen
Comments
What do you consider Strong white flour ??
Hi,
Here in the UK this flour has a protein content of 11.8% to 12.8%, depending on the brand.
From what I found in the forums on this site (I have never baked in the US) I would give it a go with something like King Alfred AP flour. If that is too weak, mix in a bit of canadian high protein flour.
I hope this helps,
Juergen
Thanks for posting, Juergen. I have a recipe for pugliese that I have been meaning to make for years (the picture looks so enticing) but have never got around to it. I think I am going to try your recipe first. That crumb looks great.
By the way, is it meant to have no salt in it (my recipe has salt and olive oil)?
What other breads did you make on the course? What a thoughtful wife you have to give you such a nice gift!
All the best,
Syd
Thanks for noticing, Syd. It's 2%.
It happensed to me in my previous post as well.
Maybe I should look at Tuscan bread...
Juergen
Hi Syd,
The other breads we made on the course were:
1. A Bloomer and a Cottage Cob from eighth sponge white dough. We brought the Cottage Cob to oa friend who had the idea to eat it with butter, cornish cream and strawberries!
2. Polish Rye from a rye sourdough, with a total of rye of about 15%
3. Flutes and Epis with old dough
4. Wholemeal loaf with poolish
All were very delicious.
The pre-ferments were ready to go, and the day was on a tight schedule to get it all done, walking miles between worktop, oven and proof pox.
Looking forward to hear about your Pugliese,
Juergen
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe with us, Juergen!! I have wanted to try your Pugliese bread as soon as I saw your post here.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/21657/sourdough-rising-amp-baking-issue#comment-163570
I also appreciate to take the time write up well. Probably the salt's percentage is round 2%? This one looks awesome, too!
Thank you, again!! I will let you know how the Pugliese bread turns out. :)
Akiko
Thank you, Akiko, for your kind words.
I added the salt to the formula...
I look forward to seeing your pugliese,
Juergen
Hi Akiko,
I managed to bake a few things with raisin yeast water this weekend:
1. Your great muffins,
2. With some leftover poolish some wonderful brioche (Richard Bertinet's formula modified, not far from Hamelman's)
3. The pugliese bread:
For the biga I used 100% raisin yeast water, for the final dough I used 2/3 raisin yeast water and 1/3 filtered water, at 70% hydration. No additonal yeast has been used.
Again I had to fit my schedule around spontaneous family activities - I put the dough into the fridge during bulk rise, and got rather fat in there.
I think after taking it out of the fridge I could have let it rise longer.
Anyway, the result is very delicious, the sweetnes from the raisin yeast goes well with this bread.
We had it tonight with smoked salmon and horseradish cream.
Here a crumbshot:
Akiko, Thank you for your inspiration.
Happy Baking,
Juergen
Thank you for sharing your great experiment, Juergen!! What a wonderful crumb you got!
I always put my multi-build levain with raisin yeast water in the refrigerator as soon as I mix the dough. When I fermented step2-3 levain at room temperature, the dough got little sour like Hamelman's Pain Au Levain. Surprisingly, it becomes to stay mild in the refrigerator. Isn't interesting? It takes 1-3 days until doubled. but it is worth it. The crumb is very shiny and moist.
I haven't tried your way.. I will put the final dough in the refrigerator to ferment when I make your delicious pugliese with my raisin yeast water. I think that raisin and apple yeast water don't get sourer like other kind of fruit yeast water even they are retarded..
Happy baking,
Akiko
Thank you for your comments, Akiko.
I come to like the raisin yeast more and more.
I had another go at the pugliese; I tried 3 variations: Baker's yeast, raisin water and sourdough.
The sourdough didn't work due to starter problems (flat and smelling strange),
The baker's yeast one turned out alright (as always), But the raisin yeast batch is really great.
The crumb is moist, shiny and elastic, and the holes are very irregular. I somehow feel that this the right structure for this bread (imagine the olive oil dripping out of it...)
Here a picture:
The ingredients and procedure as follows:
Ambient temperature 24C throughout.
Biga
100% flour (Shipton Mill No1)
70% raisin yeast water
This has been at ambient temperature for 1 night and in the fridge for 24 hours.
Dough
1000g flour
340g water
340g raisin yeast water
200g biga
20g salt
After working the dough well:
Bulk proof: 4 hours (with 2 folds)
Shaping: This time I put 500g boules into baskets (due to space limitations in the kitchen)
Final proof: 1hour
Turned baskets out and dimpeled dough
Baking: 25 min at 230C
Happy Baking,
Juergen
Wow, That is fantastic, Juergen!!
I had the same experiment with you .. Raisin yeast water doesn't have strong smell like sourdough that is why I like this raisin yeast water. :)
Thank you for the formula! I am going to print your formula out and try it out! I will let you know how my pugliese turns out. :)
Thank you again!
Akiko
Hi Juergen,
I tried your pugliese with raisin yeast water as soon as I read your new formula.
It came out good!! Nice flavor and it has good moist in the crumb!!
Next time, I will let my daughter to do " SHIATSU chop!" to make dimples on the dough for fun! :P
Could you tell me how to shape the dough? Yours looks perfect!
Thank you for your great formula, Juergen!
Akiko
Hi Akiko,
Yours looks great, too. I find the raisin yeast really suits this bread (and wonder if the old romans / italians used raisin yeast? I didn't do any research yet).
As for the shaping - I am still on the path.
I think, key is to handle the dough very gently - except for the deep tissue therapy at the end.
Preshape very gently.
There is a technique to shape rounds by moving the flat hand (edge on table) away from your body and at the same time moving it along the dough so it twists on the table and comes into ball shape fairly easily.
To be very gentle with this you can use your free hand to do the contrary movement on the other side of the doughball.
Imagine rotating a big ball of wool on the table.(I just tried it with my coffee mug...)
Let the edges of your hands and your little fingers keep good contact with the table, this helps to tuck in the dough where it touches the table, to create surface tension.
I hope this is clear enough,
Happy Baking,
Juergen
Hi Juergen,
Thank you for your kinds words and the great explanation of your shaping the pugliese.
I will let you know when I make your pugliese again. I also have a trouble shaping a boule of David's miche, http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/23593/david039s-miche-raisin-yeast-water. Syd is as kind as you are, he told me the link when I asked on his blog. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/professional/videos.html
I will be very gentle to preshape and shape the pugliese ..Thank you for your advice, again!
Happy baking, too!
Akiko
Thank you, Akiko.
The videos are in my bookmarks.
I like the way Jeff Hamelman uses his whole body to shape the boules, and how rooted he is.
I am comfortable with this technique for doughs of about 65-70% hydration, I can get them really tight quickly.
But - with my skills under construction - If I use it for Pugliese I get it too tight.
Juergen
Your welcome, Juergen :)
I am glad to know you already put the link in your bookmarks. I will take a look how Hamelman shape the dough for now. Thank you for your notice!
I came here to say a thing that you are wondering..
I will be glad to know of what you wonder! I think yeast water relates to winery... But I really don't know about the history how the yeast water came from..
Thank you again, Juergen!
Akiko
Hi, Juergen
I tried the pugliese yesterday. It is delicious, Juergen! I really don't know what gugliese bread is. Is it like between focaccia and ciabatta? All of my pugliese breads had large holes around the top. Is it a bad thing?
I baked them at 430F for 20 minutes. I thought it was burning when I saw them at the time. I like the crispy crust and the light crumb.
Thank you for sharing, Juergen!!! Now I wonder if I could use my raisin yeast for this great pugliese? :)
Best wishes,
Akiko
Hi Akiko,
Your Pugliese breads look great! I think, the big, uneven holes are a characteristic of this bread, possibly due to the dimpeling - it might force the gas into larger bubbles.
I haven't actually seen the crumb of a Lighthouse-made pugliese, but the loaf I took home from the course looked the same. I'll ask Liz about that.
When Liz - our teacher - dimpeled her loaf a cloud of flour rose between her hands! She calls it "the fun bit".
Here is a picture of the crumb from a loaf I made yesterday:
I made 2 loaves at the same time. One looked pretty much like the ones I did before (and like yours), and the other one - when I shaped it got too sticky. I had to handle it more than I wanted to get it into a nice shape. The crumb is quite dense, but it still has the creamy, cool quality. And it has some big holes near the top.
How did you scale your loaves? At the Lighthouse Bakery they scale them at about 900g (dough based on 1000g flour makes 2 loaves). At this weight they come out quite high, and you wouldn't cut them in half like a foccacia or ciabatta. The shape is more like a high-hydration boule. THAT is really the fun bit for me: dimpeling (docking in a way), and then watching the bread puff up in the oven. (No TV show can be that exciting, I know, getting a bit nerdy)
And Akiko, As somebody on this site wrote before, you are the Queen of FRUIT Yeast! I think this formula with its low overall yeast content lends itself very well to raisin yeast, and I trust you will make something extraordinary out of it.
I am very glad you enjoy this formula, and I look forward to hear more from you,
Juergen
Hi, Juergen
Thank you for your compliment, Juergen. Your loaf looks really great. I like the crust color and the dimples on the top. :)
I made a mistake that I divide the 950g total dough in 4 pieces. I should have made one loaf like you discribed!! I will make one loaf next time.
I think that Mini left the comment, " The Queen of Fluff" I guess :) What a compliment she gave me, and you made me smile. I just keep baking and looking for something new for my family. I will study to make this great Pugliese with my raisin yeast water :)
Thank you for sharing your experience, Juergen!
Akiko
Hi, Juergen
I tried it again :) This time, I made a big loaf like you wrote above. Again, I got a lot of holes around the top of the crumb. :0 It certainly tasted good. I think that my ovan is pretty hot, After baking 15 minutes at 430F, It started brown, So I decreased the temperature to 400F to bake more 20 minutes.
Should I poke the dough harder? My husband said, " What the heck is that?" :P He ate some of them and left, then came back to eat more .. :) It is kind of funny or funky looking, but it is surely tasty. Thank you, Juergen. By the way, the biga is 3rd day's that I kept it in a refrigerator.
Best wishes,
Akiko
Hi Akiko, Your husband returning to get more - that is success!
Your bread looks exactly like the one I took home from the course, except that I had a few more strands between the bottom part and the crust.
Judging from your quite even crust you might want to try pushing a bit harder. I think more of "docking" than "dimpling". The question is with the bakers and I am sure they will come back to me with an answer soon.
The Biga keeps well in the fridge, I successfully used 5 day old biga. They say you can use it for about a week.
When I bake this bread I am always tempted to teake it out quite early.because it turns golden so quickly. I managed to stay calm and leave it in for about 35 minutes.
I will go the last 5 minutes one day ...
Searching the net I found there is one bread from Puglia which has a controlled origin status - like a good wine. Pane di Altamura DOC
One of the important characteristics seems to be the dark brown color and a thick crust ...
I also found this post (featuring a recipe from Carol Field's The Italian Baker) using a fairly similar recipe to the one here, and there are the holes as well ...
Best Wishes,
Juergen
Thank you for taking the time to examine my bread, Juergen. I really appreciate it. Thank you!!
I think that I may found the key point from the link you left the last before you get the answer from the bakery.
I will try the method, next time! Keeping the biga in a refrigerator for a week is kind of easy for me. That is very fun to make it, Juergen! I will give the dough "SHIATSU chop" instead of dimpling. :)
Baking time: I will wait and watch like a good dog! :)
Best wishes,
Akiko
Hi Akiko,
I am glad you enjoy this formula.
I think, Shiatsu is the way with this! Good Luck!
I made another batch yesterday evening, and dimpeled with a "docking" kind of consciousness (I suppose that is really comparable to a shiatsu touch, I like that connection you made).
The loaves came out with less big holes under the crust.
I baked the two at the same time. The one on the upper shelf was ready in 35 minutes, the lower one took 40 minutes at 220C, judging from the bottom of the loaves.
Best Wishes,
Juergen
r
Thank you for your praise, lumos.
Yes, I enjoyed the course very much, but what I enjoy more is how it transformed my baking - before the course and after.
Before I went there I wanted to have some questions to ask. That actually got me to really use TFL and try out lots of things.
On the course we made 5 different breads with 5 differen pre-ferments - all within 5 hours (the pre-ferments were prepared and ripe). The main things I took from there were the smells, tastes and a feeling for textures of doughs ready for the next step, as well as an impresion of what professional equipment can do. And a great technique to handle lower hydration doughs.
The course is held in a small bakery, and production is going on during the course. You see their products going in and out of proofers, retarders and ovens, you see them being shaped etc, and everybody was happy to have a chat.
You ask about my experience with old vs young biga, I used up to 4 day old biga and couldn't find a difference. You know when the biga has gone over ...
And you ask about other flours.
Just this week I tried out semolina, you can find my write-up here:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/24199/baking-italian-flours-first-experiences
The dough with durum is easier to handle, but you need the durum flour, not fine semolina that's too coarse.
And, you make me curious to visit Borough market. Haven't been there for a while.
Thanks again,
Juergen
Thank you for the (extremely) promt reply. :D Sorry I erased my post. Didn't realize you're replying it while I was doing it. Wasn't sure which thread was better to post.
So glad to finally found someone who've been to Lighthouse's course. It'd take me 2 hrs to drive there from where I live, so I've been contemplating if I should enroll or not. But what you told me is very assuring. I'll have a plenty of time after my daughter starts university in October, so I'll definitely go to enjoy the course.
And thank you very much for the information on the flour, too. It's really interesting you found using Italian flours worked best. I was wondering if UK bread flour was suitable for making Puglise, because if my understanding is correct, Italian flour is softer than ours and many Italian chef/cook suggest using 00 flour to make breads in their books. The Puglise I buy in Borough Market does have a slight tint of yellow, but not as much as the one you posted on the other entry.....and definitely not as good looking as yours, either!
I haven't got durum semolina flour at the moment, but I still have some leftover 00 flour (which worked great for foccaccia) , so I might try mixing it with strong flour to see how it works.
Re Borough Market; I go there quite regularly because I live in Greater London area, but everytime I go I see changes a lot, especially since they started the work on Cross Rail project. The rail runs right above a part of the market! It's also much bigger place than a few years ago with more stalls with more diversity which is great thing, but it's getting even more expensive and busier with tourists which is not so great. So if you're thinking of going there one day again, try to arrive there quite early on Saturday morning or you'll find it very, very difficult to move around. (The market is open on afternoons on Thursday and Friday, but many of the smaller stallholders only come on Saturdays)
Thank you for the info about Borough market - I commute into Holborn 3 times a week and sometimes travel via London Bridge - but working in London I never really get to see all these fancy places ...
And about the courses, call them and have a chat, they are very approachable.
About the flours:
The book that really got me going was Andrew Whitley's Bread Matters, and his trong arguments for using organic flours made me go to Infinity Foods where they sell Shipton Mill flour in 2.5 Kg sacks.
I tried other flours, but the Shipton Mill ones are my favourites.
Currently O use their No 4 flour, and it works great for prewtty everything I'm doing at the moment - from German rye sourdoughs to Pugliese. The biga comes out tasting sweeter with the No4, and it would be hard for me to tell which I'd prefer.
Happy Baking,
Juergen
I really love Shipton flour, too. I used to buy it regularly, mainly their French type 55 flour, rye flour (both dark and light), and but I had a awful problem of flour bug once which started from one of their bags and spread into all other bags I kept in a same place, so since then I stopped buying from them. I'm sure it's not a sort of things that happens a lot and probably I was very unlucky (though it tends to happen more often with organic flour), but until I find a way to prevent it or get another freezer to keep my flour in, I'm not very keen on the idea of buying flour in a large bulk, just in case. (There's no stockist of Shipton flour near me, so I'd have to buy in bulk to be economical to mail order with P & P cost.) You're lucky you have the stockist nearby. I'm green with envy....
I borrowed Bread Matters from a library a few years ago to see if it's worth buying myself and though I thought it was a very good book, Most of things that's written in the book overlaps with things in other books I'd already owned and his fortes seem to be northern European breads while I'm more interesteted in southern European breads, like French or Italian, I decided not to buy it. I see you like Richard Bertinet, too, from your profile. His books are the ones which inspired to explore into artisan-style bread making, but I must say Hamelman's is my favourite 'bible.'
I have rung Lighthouse Bakery several months ago and talked with one of them (Probably Rachel, because she didn't have American accent) , but I'd rather wanted to hear from someone who've experienced their courses rather than someone who owns the place, so it was really good of you to share your thoughts about them. Thank you. (And you're so near to them, you're lucky again!)
Am I right in thinking the course you took was European Baking? The coursed I'm interested at the moment is their Advanced Baking and French Baking and can't make up my mind which to take first. :p
I know what you mean. When I used to work in the City, I never had a time to walk around in London to see 'interesting places.' It's only after I had my daughter and left work, I started exploring those places.
BTW you might have tried it already, but if you go to Holborn, a Korean restaurant right next to the tube station is quite good. The facade looks rather cheap and gaily and not too assuring, but the food is much better than its front appearance. They do very reasonable set meals and one bowl which's suitable for quick lunch, too.
Best,
lumos
Hi,
Yes, the bugs. I had a few of them crawling around after the last delivery, but none were actually in the flour. It seemed that they were just in the packaging.
My lilttle one played with (in) the paper sack the flour sack has been delivered in, and he came out of it with a bug crawling on his back.
But I had no further encounters...
At the Lighthouse Bakery I took the advanced course, but I have the impression that the main things I took away with me were somewhat independent of the theme.
And about Holborn: I know the place you mean, I haven't had food there yet, I'll try it. I really like the place called Asap, an indonesian place further down High Holborn, towards Holborn Circus.
And please don't be envious: I don't have a car. To get to the Lighthouse Bakery in time for the course I left Brighton at 6.20, took the train to Robertsbridge and a taxi for the rest, took me 3.5 hours and cost about 40 pounds ...
Hello Juergen
I enjoyed reading this thread on you bread. it is like a masterclass to me. your bread is as neat as the ones Lumos makes.I am going to try your formula and make this bread by the weekend. I have some durum flour .
I am coming to London soon and think a visit to some bakeries and borough market will be just the ticket. bye albert
Hello Albert,
Nice to hear from you. Thank you for your comments about my postings, the year since I joined TFL has been quite a ride for me...
Which bakeries do you want to visit?
London is such a funny place - around the corner from my work (on High Holborn) ins a beauty saloon, and they always had a posh looking coffee corner. Last time I walked past there I noticed that a deck oven and bannetons had been added, with a nice lineup of rustic looking breads on a shelf ...
PM me with the times, we might be able to catch up,
Juergen